Small shop owners in cities outside of Tel Aviv may follow the example of Tel Aviv and campaign for their cities to uphold any laws that prohibit stores from opening on Shabbat.
The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that Tel Aviv has been mocking the law by simply imposing fines on stores that are open on the Shabbat instead of forcing them to obey the law and stay closed.
Small shop owners complained that have been turned into “Slaves” be being forced to open on Shabbat in order not to lose customers to larger stores, or face the option of losing money by honoring both the law and the halacha against doing business on the holy day.
Knesset Member Nitzan Horowitz of Meretz, who is running for mayor for Jerusalem, told Channel 2 television, “I think the Supreme Court put its finger on a very painful war. There is discrimination. There are stores that are prohibited from opening on Shabbat and there are those who make fun of the law while the city ignores it. This is not a law. This is a joke.
Tel Aviv is likely to change the law in the face of pressure from secular neighborhood residents who want to shop on Shabbat and see the Supreme Court ruling as a form of religious coercion.
