The ‘Status Quo’ Agreement And Shabbat Observance In The Early Days Of Israel

Photo Credit: Saul Jay Singer

Contention between charedi Jews and secular Zionists, and agreements bridging the gap, did not begin with Israel’s birth. For example, even in 1917, during the early settlement years when the Jews of Eretz Yisrael were engaged in preparations for the election of the Founding Assembly that would govern the Yishuv, the right-wing charedi community was vehemently opposed to women voting in the elections. Chaim Weizmann feared a religious boycott of the elections and that the charedim would break off to create their own governing body, which would have a seriously deleterious effect on upcoming crucial negotiations between the Zionist Organization and the British Government and, swallowing his bile, Ben-Gurion compromised by permitting charedi voters to cast votes on behalf of eligible women in their homes.

During the 19^th Zionist Congress in Lucerne (1935), the Zionist Organization was terrified by the possibility that Mizrachi might leave to unite with Ze’ev Jabotinsky and his Revisionist party and create a separate – and highly influential – Religious-Revisionist front. Desperate to keep Mizrachi in the fold, the Zionist Organization Executive Committee determined that all Jewish National Fund settlements and all settlements funded by Keren Hayesod funds must observe Shabbat and kashrut.

In this 11 Iyar [May 3] 1936 correspondence on his chief rabbi letterhead, Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, citing a visit on Shabbat Chol HaMoed Pesach, thanks Israel’s postmaster general for the arrangements made for Jewish postal workers permitting them not to work on Shabbat and Yom Tov and expresses his hope that no person will be forced to transgress his faith. However, he adds that there are still complaints from the Haifa area concerning this issue, and he respectfully requests that the postmaster ensure that no Jew is forced to work on Shabbat.

In this December 31, 1936, correspondence on his Jewish Agency letterhead, Ben-Gurion writes to Rav Y. L. Fishman (aka Rav Yehuda Leib Maimon) regarding Jewish newspapers observing Shabbat:

In the meeting of the Administration this afternoon, Shertok’s [later Prime Minister Moshe Sharett] letter was read to the panel. Pursuant to Mr. Ussishkin’s suggestion, it was decided to publicize Shertok’s declaration to the panel, discussing the matter of the newspapers observing Shabbat, and R. Fishman should know the administration is very sorry that you did not come to the meeting, and we are accepting your resignation.

Rav Maimon (1875-1962) played a leading role in the Vilna founding conference of Mizrachi; he participated in all the Zionist Congresses from the Second Zionist Congress forward, served as Mizrachi’s representative on the Zionist Executive and headed the Department of Religious Affairs, and was a founder of Mizrachi’s extensive educational network in Eretz Yisrael; and led the effort to establish the chief rabbinate in Israel.

Founding father Mendel Ussishkin (1863-1941) is perhaps best known for publishing Our Program, which laid out his “five-point program” for Zionism that thereafter dominated the Zionist Movement: political action, acquisition of land, aliyah, settlement, and educational and organizational work. He launched the idea of the moshav ovedim (“worker’s settlement”), settlements in which Jewish workers, and only Jewish workers, cultivate JNF land.

In this stirring 1940 correspondence, Chief Rabbis Rav Isaac Halevi Herzog, Rav Moshe Avigdor Amiel, and Rav Ben-Zion Meir Chai Uziel write to all the worker’s organizations in Eretz Yisrael regarding the importance of Sabbath observance:

To all the Workers’ Organizations in the Land; Greetings and blessings:

The community of workers in the land who have taken upon themselves to carry the burden and responsibility of working to build the land, and who with exceptional dedication bent their shoulders to bear all the difficulties and not to back away from any sacrifice in body and soul for the redemption of the land and revival of the nation – we turn especially to you with our call from the depths of our trembling heart, because of the destruction and ruin that has been revealed before the eyes of all Israel, regarding the desecration of Shabbat through work and toil, particularly during this season of the picking of the fruit, transporting it, and loading it on trains and airports.

To the very depths of our souls, we stand in front of a depressing scene which weakens the stature of Israel and its defilement, G-d forbid, by Jewish workers in the land who cannot withstand the trial and who publicly desecrate the Shabbat through all prohibited work, depreciating the holiness of Shabbat to their families and households and exhaust the strength of the workers with the lack of rest even on Shabbat, a special day that is designated for rest and holiness for every Jew.

It is in your hands, you group of workers, to remove this shame from you and from the entire Yishuv. A very strong decision from you [is required] not to work on Shabbat in any manner, not to work for individuals and not to work for businesses – cease the assassination of our holy Shabbat and attack the power to nullify Shabbat more than what is allowed, and not to be taken advantage of. [The fact that you won’t let them work is a “korbon.”]

Give to the national land the holy Shabbat, this is the day that symbolizes the tie between Israel and their Father in Heaven, freedom of persons from servitude and slavery and the subjugation of Israel.

We hope that you will lend an ear, dear brothers, and pay attention to our request, our hope, demand of the Jewish nation that is in bad shape and is fighting for its survival in the Diaspora and on redemption in the land and its hope to become a nation again and returning the Shechinah of Israel and the Torah of Israel to the land of Israel.

Exhibited here is a January 1, 1943, Kol Koreh issued by the Central Office of the Jewish National Fund and signed by Menashe Meirowitz, Avraham Granot, and Berl Katznelson which was sent to the settlements on JNF lands about the importance of Shabbat, a call to avoid working on Shabbat, and including a touching description of the importance and national significance of Shabbat in the life of the Jewish people.

Meirowitz (1860-1949), “the Last of the Biluim,” was a leading Eretz Yisrael agriculturist who, as president of the agronomists in Palestine, greeted Albert Einstein on his only trip to Eretz Yisrael on behalf of the farmers’ association. He founded a school at Moshav Ekron at Zichron Yaakov for 50 students, a Mishna study group, a guest house, and a loan fund.

Granot (1890-1962), a signer of Israel’s Declaration of Independence, was appointed director-general of the Jewish National Fund (1940), which he later served as chairman. He was elected to the first Knesset as a member of the Progressive Party and he sat on the Board of Governors of Hebrew University and the Weizmann Institute.

Katznelson (1887-1944) was a leading intellectual founder of Labor Zionism and the editor of Davar, the first daily newspaper of the workers’ movement. One of the few traditional voices in the non-religious labor camp, he pushed for Shabbat observance, kashrut in Histadrut kitchens, and the circumcision of kibbutz children.

When the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) began a fact-finding tour in 1947, it expressed concern that a secular State of Israel might hurt the religious population. Ben-Gurion was also worried that Agudath Israel could cause great damage to the Zionist cause of birthing a Jewish state, and Moshe Prager arranged a meeting between Ben-Gurion and Rav Yitzchak Meir Levin of Agudath Israel.

Prager (1909-1985), at once a brilliant writer and journalist, a Ger chassid, a Haganah fighter, and a brilliant philosopher, is best known as the earliest Holocaust historiographer. As a secret correspondent for the Joint Distribution Committee during World War II, he engaged in broad hatzalah (rescue) operations, including facilitating the miraculous rescue of the Imrei Emet of Gur from under the noses of the Gestapo. He used his close relationship with Ben-Gurion, who saw him as “the symbol of the eternal Jew,” to convince him that no Jewish state could survive unless it recognized its link with Jewish history and, largely forgotten to history, he was the crucial link between the charedi community and the secularists in facilitating the guarantee of official recognition of Shabbat, kashrut, and rabbinical control over personal status.

Prager’s effort led to the famous “Status Quo Letter of 1947,” which became the basis for the Status Quo Agreement, in which Ben-Gurion was supremely careful to recognize full religious rights not only for all Jewish sects but for all faiths:

From: The Jewish Agency for Palestine, etc.

To: The World Organization of Agudath Israel, etc., Jerusalem

 

Dear Sirs,

The Agency’s Executive has learned from its chairman of your requests concerning guarantees on matters of matrimony, Shabbat, education, and kashrut in the Jewish state, once it is established in our days.

As you were informed by the Chairman of the Executive, neither the Agency’s Executive nor any other body in the country is authorized to determine the law of the Jewish state in advance. The establishment of the state requires the approval of the United Nations, and this is impossible unless freedom of conscience in the state is guaranteed to all its citizens, and unless it is clear that there is no intention of establishing a theocratic state. The Jewish state will also have non-Jewish citizens, Christians and Moslems, and, evidently, it will be necessary to ensure in advance full equal rights to all citizens and the absence of coercion or discrimination in matters of religion or in any other matter. We were satisfied to hear that you understand that there is no body authorized to determine in advance the constitution of the state, and that the state will be, in some spheres, free to determine its constitution and regime according to its citizens’ wishes.

Still, the Executive appreciates your demands, and is aware that these are matters that worry not only the members of Agudath Israel, but also many of the religious faithful in all Zionist parties or in no party, and it is sympathetic to your demands that the Agency’s Executive inform you of its position regarding the issues you have brought up, and what it is willing to do, as far as its influence and directives reach, in order to fulfill your wishes regarding the said issues.

The Agency’s Executive has authorized the undersigned to formulate its position regarding the issues you have mentioned at the meeting. The position of the Agency’s Executive is as follows:

A. Shabbat. It is clear that Shabbat will be the legal day of rest in the Jewish state. Permission will naturally be given to Christians and to those practicing other religions to rest on their weekly day of rest.

B. Kashrut. All means should be pursued to ensure that every state-run kitchen for the use of Jews serves kosher food.

C. Marital Law. All the members of the Executive appreciate the seriousness of the problem and the grave difficulties pertaining to it, and all the bodies represented in the Agency’s Executive will do whatever possible to satisfy the deep need of the religiously observant in this matter, lest the House of Israel be divided in two.

D. Education. Full autonomy will be guaranteed to every education network (incidentally, this policy already exists in the Zionist Federation and Knesset Yisroel) and the state will not infringe on the religious philosophy or the religious conscience of any part of the Jewish people…

Sincerely,

On behalf of the Jewish Agency Executive,

D. Ben-Gurion, Rabbi Y.L. Fishman, Y. Grinboim.

Although the Agreement had far-ranging influence, it had little, if any, legal status. After the establishment of Israel, however, several laws were enacted that gave legal standing to certain Agreement provisions, including the Kosher Food for Soldiers Ordinance of 1948 that guaranteed kosher food for Jewish soldiers; the Hours of Work and Rest Law of 1951 (recognized Shabbat as the country’s official day of rest); the Rabbinical Courts Jurisdiction Law of 1953 (gave the Jewish courts jurisdiction over Jewish marriages and divorces); and the State Education Law (1953) (recognized the autonomy of religious schools and make them eligible to receive government funding). Other provisions of the Agreement were supported by policy decisions, including serving kosher food in government institutions besides the army (where it was established law), and the ban against public transport on Shabbat except where it was established before the founding of the state, which is why Haifa, among other cities, still has public buses running on Shabbat.

During Israel’s early years, the general public mostly accepted the Status Quo Agreement for several reasons, including that most Jews who were not observant were still generally traditional; there was broader interest in preserving unity in the young country; and Ben-Gurion and other secularists believed that the charedi population in Israel would be a very short-lived phenomenon. Interestingly, the Agreement was accepted with the understanding that its provisions could be altered when Israel adopted a constitution, which was expected to take place shortly after the establishment of the State; it never came to be, however, in part because the chasm between religious and secular seems unbreachable. Leftists and extreme secularists continue to seek to eliminate the Status Quo Agreement in its entirety but, interestingly, some secularists – albeit a steadily declining number – still regard it as useful in resisting efforts by charedim to make Israel more religious.

* * * * *

Following is a selection of correspondence from my collection to and from various Israeli leaders and Rabbanim regarding Shabbat observance after the Status Quo Agreement.

In this June 28, 1949, correspondence, Rav Yitzchak Meir Levin writes to Zerach Warthaftig:

At the previous meeting, you raised the question of the drafting of the Shabbat constitution for the State.

I would appreciate it if you would let me know what was agreed at this meeting.

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In a handwritten response, Warthaftig writes:

At the previous meeting, there was general agreement for the government’s proposal, which is being processed at the Ministry of Justice. Through rumor, I know that at the Ministry of Justice is undecided about the wording, and I am concerned that the fears of reducing the tradition of the legislative proposal, particularly with respect to [Shabbat observance in] public transportation, restaurants, kiosks, ports, and more.. By the way, the assistance for Shabbat observance in Haifa that has been received and been promised is much less than the assistance provided to the Tel Aviv municipality. The Ministry of Justice proposal for Haifa is [ ] regarding kiosks and factories from establishing businesses. The religious activists in Haifa are putting forth their best efforts to distribute the assistance.

Rav Levin (1893-1971) was an Agudath Israel founder in Poland who, after fleeing the Nazis to Eretz Yisrael (1940), became head of the local branch of Agudath Israel, cooperated in the establishment of the State of Israel, signed Israel’s Declaration of Independence, joined Ben-Gurion’s provisional government as Minister of Welfare, and was elected to the first Knesset as a member of the United Religious Front, an alliance of the four major religious parties (1949).

As chairman of the Knesset Law Committee, Warthaftig (1906-2002) directed legislation to enforce Shabbat laws in Israel, to create rabbinical courts and religious councils, and to enact the Law of Return (1950). Also a signer – and drafter – of Israel’s Declaration, he was among the founders of Bar-Ilan University.

In this October 14, 1951, correspondence on Magen David Edom letterhead, Mr. Vegolik writes to Rav Moshe Glickman Porush denying the Rav’s allegation that Magen David Adom violated Shabbat and affirming that it maintains the sanctity of Shabbat and Jewish festivals.

We acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 11 Tishrei 1951. We would like to direct your attention to the fact that the 10^th of Tishrei was Yom Kippur and not Shabbat [actually, it was a Wednesday]. At 10:00 a.m. on Yom Kippur, a patient was transferred from Ein Kerem [i.e., Hadassah Hospital] to Shaarei Tzedek [Medical Center]. On the previous Shabbat, the 6^th of Tishrei, an ambulance at Bikur Cholim left at 8:45 a.m. from Jerusalem to Har Tov Bet [a settlement en route to Jerusalem] and transferred a birthing mother escorted by her daughter. A young man did not travel with them; perhaps it was a person who assisted in transferring the stretcher to the hospital.

The Magen Adom ambulance drivers are careful to the greatest possible extent to guard the holiness of Shabbat and Jewish festivals and moves family members of ill patients or birthing women only when it is necessary to do so. If you need more information, I would be happy to meet with you and to provide it.

Rav Glickman-Porush, a senior Charedi Agudath Israel activist who later became the Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem, was selected to present Anwar Sadat with the traditional bread and salt upon the latter’s historic entry into Jerusalem (1977). The Rav apparently wrote a letter to MDA complaining that a patient, and/or family members, were transported on Shabbat – but he was mistaken, as the writer states.

In this April 6, 1954, correspondence to Moshe Shapira, Minister of the Interior and Aliyah (with a copy to Pinchas Lavon, then Defense Minister), Ben-Gurion writes:

So long as there is still danger to our very existence, those who wage war against us will not cease. We will pay with our lives if we assume that our enemies will lessen their war against us because of Shabbat. I do not treat your request lightly, nor do I depreciate the importance of Shabbat to our people, but we must not enslave ourselves to routine – because that which historically optimal will not suffice for tomorrow, and I am not trying to desecrate the honor of Shabbat. With respect to the issue you raise, there is no alternative, as has been made clear to me.

Lavon (1904-1976) was an Israeli politician, minister, and labor leader best known for the infamous “Lavon Affair,” the scandal over a failed Israeli covert operation in Egypt in the summer of 1954 where a group of Egyptian Jews were recruited by Israeli military intelligence to plant bombs inside Egyptian, American, and British civilian targets.

In this July 5, 1970, letter written on his Minister of Transportation letterhead (in Levi Eshkol’s national unity government), Ezer Weizmann essentially waffles, failing to take a clear position to resolve the differing interests of the secular and religious communities regarding shutting down traffic on Shabbat and Yom Tov:

Please accept my apologies for the lateness of this response, which is the result of careful and exacting checks performed by members of my office.

The policy of my office with respect to closing roads to traffic on Shabbat and Jewish Festivals is predicated especially upon transportation and safety interests. However, this policy by no means turns a blind eye to the consideration of the interests of the religious communities wherever they may be found.

However, it is important to take into consideration keeping a balance of the different interests in the community in such communities and near them, and potential damages that might be caused as the proximate result of a decision to close a road also must also be considered.

I referred the matter to the consideration/investigation of the Supervisor of Traffic to ensure that the matter was being handled consistent with police policy, and they do not believe that it is necessary to close the approach road to Rambam [most probably, Rambam Hospital] on Shabbat and Festivals.

With that, the Supervisor of Traffic will consent to the placing of a sign that will include a request to avoid traveling on that road on Shabbat and chagim, something that was achieved in other places and did not cause any complaints or opinions from anyone.

After a storied career as a tough military man and supporter of “Greater Israel” and other right-wing causes, Ezer Weizmann, Father of the Israeli Air Force, perplexed many by his turn to the left as president, even going so far as to advocate Israel’s withdrawal from the Golan Heights in exchange for a “peace treaty” with Syria and to invite to Arafat to visit him at his Caesarea home.

Established in 1938 during the British Mandate, Rambam Hospital, in the Bat Galim neighborhood of Haifa located adjacent to the Technion’s medical school, is the largest medical center in northern Israel.

In this August 23, 1971, correspondence on her Prime Minister letterhead, an outraged Golda Meir writes to Rabbi Menachem Porush excoriating Sabbath violations by stone-throwing yeshiva students in Jerusalem and injuries they caused to Jewish policemen:

I received a copy of your letter to the Minister of Police from 20 Av 1971, and I must express to you my surprise that you turned to the Minister of Police and your accusations against the police.

There are things about which we need to be ashamed and against which we should protest, especially young men who because of their “sacrifice” to sit and learn Torah and who are free of the elementary obligations of every Jew in the State, to serve in the army, are, at the same time, expending energy in desecrating the Shabbat and throwing stones at police officers and at peaceful citizens.

When there are Yeshivot that turn into centers from which stones are thrown, in my opinion the police have no choice but to enter there to put an end to this scandal which so embarrasses us, first through the land and then throughout the entire world. And, one final note, the police officers who are injured [through the stone-throwing] are also Jews, and they dafka [specifically] served and are serving in Tzahal [the Israeli armed forces].

What the Arabs don’t even dare to do in Jerusalem – to throw stones at Jews – the Yeshiva boys are doing. Maybe you know of a single case where one of these young men was brought to court by one of the Roshei HaYeshivot? [Heads of the Torah Academies]

I am saddened and deeply surprised that you do not see these matters in their proper light.

Rav Porush (1916-2010) served as a member of the Knesset for Agudath Israel, as deputy head of the Jerusalem city council (1969-74), and as Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Welfare, and established Kiryat HaYeled, an educational center for Charedi children.

In this April 8, 1973, correspondence written on his Minister of Transportation letterhead, Shimon Peres writes to Rabbi Porush:

I asked the people of the Transportation Department to be meticulous regarding observing Shabbat. However, in these days there are, as you know, counterweights regarding the saving of lives – we will try not to have Shabbat pushed aside because of them.

In this August 25, 1977, correspondence written on his Foreign Secretary letterhead, Moshe Dayan assures Rav Porush that the Foreign Ministry does not violate Shabbat excerpt as to Emergency Preparedness operations:

I seek to bring to your attention the fact that the Foreign Ministry does not work on Shabbat. However, because of tasks that fall upon this Office and upon all its emissaries michutz la-aretz (outside of Israel), because of State reasons and national security there are always people on call and some workers in the communications and security departments. Those on call are vital to ensure that the conduct of the Office is such that it will be prepared for every emergency event that needs an immediate response.

Beyond that, I go back and reiterate that, except for these tasks, there is not [G-d] forbid any Shabbat violations in the work of this Office.

Shamir’s letter to Rav Porush regarding screening movies in Jerusalem.

Finally, in this October 28, 1987, correspondence on his Prime Minister letterhead, Yitzchak Shamir (1915-2012) writes to Rav Porush regarding the public screening of movies in Jerusalem on Shabbat:

I respond to your 11 Tishrei 1987 letter to me regarding the showing of films in Jerusalem.

As is well-known, I established during those days a civilian committee of which you are a member, to seek ways to arrange the matter of Shabbat in Jerusalem. I have great hope that the committee will be successful in attaining its goal.

And the beat goes on…