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Mall In The Middle
11011EY
MARKET*
An observant Jew threatens to close his new mall,
in a secular neighborhood, on Shabbat.
LARRY DERFNER ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT
R
amat Aviv, in northern
Tel Aviv, is the center of
Israel's secular, leftist cul-
ture.
Here sits Tel Aviv University
and the nation's intellectual cen-
ter. Surrounding homes are
owned by people such as Shimon
Peres, Leah Rabin and Yael
Dayan. In short, it's the heart of
the country's secular, left-lean-
ing elite.
But now the most benign of
events — the sale of a new shop-
ping mall — has put the area in
the center of the struggle be-
tween the country's religious
and secular populations.
The new owner of the mall is
Lev Leviev and he is a haredi,
or "black hat" Jew. And he has
recently announced a couple of
changes: the mall will close on
Shabbat, and all
its restaurants
— including the
determinedly
non-kosher Mc-
Donald's — are
to keep kosher.
However,
McDonald's
(whose Israeli
franchiser, Omri
Padan, was one
of the founders
of Peace Now),
local residents
and the secular
activist organi-
zation Am Hof-
shi (A Free
People) are
fighting back.
They threaten
a boycott of the
mall. Tel Aviv
Mayor Roni
Milo, a rising
champion of the
secular public,
says he would
support it.
"People are
willing to go
along with a lot
of things, but when an issue af-
fects their personal way of life,
it can bring them out on the bar-
ricades," the mayor warned.
The mall battle is an unusu-
al one in the culture war. Secu-
lar activists ordinarily fight to
keep the Orthodox and haredim
from having their way with pub-
lic policy, such as in the Shab-
bat closure of Jerusalem's
Bar-Ilan Street, and in the Or-
thodox hegemony over Israeli
marriage, divorce, burial and
conversion.
But in this case, the secularists
are trying to keep a haredi busi-
nessman from setting policy on
his own business. Their main ar-
gument is that a shopping mall
barring kosher restaurants and
Shabbat business would be an af-
front to the values and lifestyle of
the community.
Yet wouldn't this infringe on
Mr. Leviev's rights to run his
business as he sees fit?
Not so, argued Tel Aviv Uni-
versity philosophy Professor Asa
Casher, an Am Hofshi ideologue
and intellectual leader of the
left. The secular public forgoes
its "rights" as a matter of course
out of consideration for Ortho-
•
•-0,;..fm.k.w..
Roni Milo:
Rising champion.
dox sensitivities, and it is now
for Mr. Leviev to do the same for
the secular residents of Ramat
Aviv, he said.
"Nobody would open a shop-
ping mall on Shabbat in [the
predominantly haredi city of]
B'nei Brak. Nobody would want
to. What we are insisting on
here is symmetry," Mr. Casher
said. If Mr. Leviev feels reli-
Apy
giously bound to keep the mall
kosher and closed on Shabbat,
Mr. Casher added, he has the
option of selling it.
The dispute points to a new
kind of haredi power — eco-
nomic power. They usually wield
influence through votes or mas-
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Even the
Tel Aviv mayor
is threatening
a boycott.
sive, disruptive street demon-
strations. Mr. Leviev, reportedly
a Chabad follower, took control
of the mall last November when
he purchased controlling inter-
est in its builder, Africa-Israel,
a large real estate company.
He has sent mixed signals on
his plans for Africa-Israel's prop-
erties, which include hotels,
among them Holiday Inns. On
one hand Mr. Leviev has direct-
ed company officials to investi-
gate whether the company's
hotels, malls and other holdings
operate in line with Jewish law.
On the other hand the company
has pledged that another Africa-
Israel-owned mall and gas sta-
tion will continue to stay open
on Shabbat, as they have in the
past.
But no Africa-Israel property
will be the object of as much con-
troversy as the Ramat Aviv mall.
Am Hofshi purchased about $300
million in Africa-Israel stock so it
would have the right to speak up
on policy decisions. And a local
boycott seems possible.
"It would be interesting to see
how long Leviev can hold out
without customers. Perhaps just
this once the secular majority
can prove that it, too, has val-
ues, principles and dignity,"
wrote Nehemia Stressler, eco-
nomics editor of the liberal dai-
lyHa'aretz, which has made the
mall a cause celebre.
Mr. Leviev is used to getting
his way. So are the folks of Ra-
mat Aviv. So is McDonald's.
Whichever rich and powerful in-
terest wins this latest battle in
Israel's culture war, there will
be no need to cry for the loser. ❑
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