Holiday
Right To Close
On Shabbat
CARL ALPERT
Special to The Jewish News
I
From
Tradition! Tradition!
(810) 557-0109
Alicia R. Nelson
Tut and Anita
and the entire staff of
rob-
gmbitioa
wish all our family, friends and customers
a HAPPY, HEALTHY
NEW YEAR
248-541-5400
Custom Window Coverings
May the Corning Year Be Fated, With Health, and
Happiness and Prosperity For All Our Clients and Friends.
9/26
1997
R44
HAPPY NI-V YI- AR
ACID 81-101D SAMS
Orchard Mall, West Bloomfield 248-626-7467
f an Israeli businessman were to
open a store in Meah Shearim or
in Bnei Brak and insist on keep-
ing open on Shabbat, can you
imagine what the local reaction would
be?
But what if an Orthodox business-
man were to open a shopping center in
the heart of a secular neighborhood
and keep his doors shut on Shabbat?
What would the reaction be?
Not what you might have expected!
When the Africa-Israel company, a
large conglomerate with real estate,
tourism and industrial holdings
announced that its new shopping mall,
in the northern Tel Aviv neighborhood
of Ramat Aviv, would be closed on the
Sabbath, an uproar went up.
Individuals and organizations dedicated
to combat religious coercion,
denounced what they called an attempt
to dictate to the public when they
could or could not shop. It constituted
a threat to democracy.
The mayor of Tel Aviv vowed he
would see to it that the Africa-Israel
company would get no approval for
any other commercial activity it may
contemplate in Tel Aviv.
On the other hand, some of the
.
neighbors of the new mall, secular and
religious alike, welcomed the decision.
They had been unhappy about the
intrusion of a bustling shopping center
in the midst of their quiet residential
area. Now at least on Shabbat they
would be spared the bustle and the
noise, the crowds and all the traffic.
How does a large commercial firm
come to make a decision which, most
observers acknowledge, will reduce its
income considerably? The answer is a
40-year-old Russian immigrant by the
name of Levi Leviev.
Mr. Leviev was born to a Haredi
family in Tashkent. He was ambitious,
and even as a child was a hustling street
peddler. He came to Israel at the age of
15 and got a humble job in the dia-
mond industry, where he gradually
worked his way up. By virtue of shrewd
analysis of the markets and good busi-
ness deals he hit it big. By 1995 his
exports totalled $340 million, and he is
today considered Israel's top diamond
exporter. Through it all, he remained
strictly Orthodox, and a loyal Israeli.
He served in the army for three years.
When opportunity offered, he
bought a controlling interest in Africa-
Israel for a mere $190 million, and
decreed that any mall owned by him
C±\
would not do business on Shabbat. His c'
business associates argued with him;
some of his board members resigned.
Some of the retailers and franchisers
who had signed up for space, among
them McDonalds, may sue, but Leviev
stands firm.
Religious circles have sprung to his
defense and threaten that Israel's size-
able Orthodox buying public will boy-
cott any companies that make them-
selves a party to efforts to compel
Shabbat opening of the mall.
c"--/
The Ramat Aviv shopping mall has
become a cause celebre in religious, sec-
If a man
ular and commercial
follows his religious principles and
refuses to open for business on
Saturday, is he forcing his views on the
non-observant public? Israel's belliger-
ent secularists, already chafing under
what they regard as Orthodox intrusion
into their private lives, seem to think
so.
Is Mr. Leviev making a bad business
decision? He seems to have done pretty
well for himself thus far, as have large
numbers of other religiously observant
Jews. People have been watching the
fortunes of an oil prospecting company
by the name of Givat Olam, which sus-
pends all activity on Shabbat. As a
result, large numbers of haredi investors
had bought stock in the firm, expecting \---`
that such a policy is bound to bring
success.
The Ramat Aviv mall controversy
continues to capture headlines. Is it a
case of secular coercion? Lev Leviev
N
stands impervious.
,—/
JNF Park
Inaugurated
The Jewish National Fund's Baba Sali
Park was officially inaugurated recently
at the northern Negev town of Netivot,
in the presence of former Sephardi
Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu,
Education Minister Zevulun Hammer,
Deputy Religious Affairs Minister
Yigael Bibi, JNF deputy chairman
Haim Cohen and Rabbi Baruch
Abuhatzeria, son and successor of the
Baba Sali, the revered Moroccan sage
(1890-1984).
The park, adjoining Baba Sali's
tomb, was designed by landscape archi-
tect Reuven Amir in the shape of a
Hamsa (a Judeo-Muslim amulet in the
form of a hand commonly worn
against the "evil eye.")
A plaza with a decorative fountain
will crown the park's landscaped center,
with tree-lined aisles.