EARN HIGHER YIELDS! •Itru 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- VISIT ONE OF OUR LOCATIONS NEAR YOU! Sterling BERKLEY • (810) 546-2590 BIRMINGHAM • (810) 646-8787 CLAWSON • (810) 435-2840 bank &trust ROCHESTER • (810) 656-5760 SOUTHFIELD • (810) 948-8799 W. BLOOMFIELD • (810) 855-6644 "We create solutions."e Irosj ANNUAL PERCENTAGE YIELD EFFECTIVE AS OF I 1/15/96. RATES SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT , NOTICE. 'MONEY MARKET: $2.500 MINIMUM BALANCE REQUIRED. STATEMENT FEES MAY REDUCE EARNINGS IF MINIMUM BALANCE IS NOT MAINTAINED. 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. 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