Throughout Israel, posters on city billboards are calling upon people to hold Kabbalat Shabbat this week outside to protest an increasing public desecration of Shabbat. The posters read:
The Shabbat is a part of the Tuedat Zehut (Identity Card) of Medinat Yisrael, and of every Jew. To the extent that the Jewish Nation has guarded the sanctity of Shabbat, the Shabbat has guarded the Jewish People. Recently, there have been cases where public businesses and public transportation have operated on the Holy Shabbat, blemishing the Jewish character of our State. Therefore, on Shabbat Parshat Bo, we call upon everyone throughout the Land to demonstrate their love for our day of holiness and rest, and to actively express their protest against the public desecration of Shabbat in the State of Israel, by conducting the Kabbalat Shabbat service outside the Beit Knesset and in the wayfares of the city. In that way, we will express our dedication to Shabbat and our unshakable commitment to preserve our holy day, upon which the future of our country depends.
Rabbis signed on the proclamation include Rav Meir Mazuz, head of Kisey Rachamim Institutions; Rav Shlomo Moshe Amar, chief Sephardi rabbi of Jerusalem; Rav Aryeh Stern, chief Ashkenazic rabbi of Jerusalem; Rav Avigdor Nevinztal, rabbi of the Old City; Rav Zefania Drori, chief rabbi of Kiriat Shimona; Rav Dov Lior, former chief rabbi of Hevron; and Rav Yaacov Ariel, former chief rabbi of Ramat Gan.