Mea Shearim – Police prevented hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews from blocking a main street in protest against a Jerusalem municipal parking lot that is open on the Jewish Sabbath.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Ultra-Orthodox activists have repeatedly staged protests since the parking lot opened two years ago. They say operating it on a Saturday is a descretation of the Sabbath, Judaism’s biblically mandated day of rest.
On Saturday, protesters gathered at a main junction, screamed at police officers and pelted them with water bags. Police stopped them from blocking traffic.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up a third of Jerusalem’s more than 700,000 residents.
Most work places in Jerusalem’s Jewish neighbourhoods shut down for the Sabbath, which lasts from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.
ah yes, protests and ‘pelting…with water bags’. Now, THAT’S the way to honor Shabbos, right?
I don’t suppose that it has ever crossed the minds of these protestors that some of the drivers on Saturday are Xtians. Saturday is not their sabbath and they are perfectly within their rights to be able to drive. I guess that logic is something they (the Chareidim) don’t have time for – they are too busy desecrating Shabbat.
I find it hard to imagine that this is what the RBSO would want yidden to do. Someone tell me otherwise but wouldnt it be enough – at the most, just to go down for 5 minutes and make their point and go on and do what one should really be doing on Shabbos. The fact that police have to bring in large reinforcements to control the crowd is not that contributing to chilul shabbos. I just find this whole thing so NOT what the RBSO wants, my take is they are not doing it l’shem shomayim but rather just as a way to vent their hatred towards yidden that are not shoimrei torah u’mitzvos. And so my question is, is this what ultimately the RBSO wants yidden to do? I have a hard time believing that the answer is ‘yes’. Correct me if I am wrong.
If the Eidah realy wanted to stop this Chillul Shabbos, they should have united behind candidate Meir Porush in the municipal elections, what the Divrei Yoel of Satmar refused to forbid.
#5. We are in Golus whether in Eretz Yisroel or Chutz L’oretz. What was righteous then is a Chillul Hashem now. Maybe we should start stoning all Shabbos desecrators??? The Chazon Ish and Brisker Rov zy”a never took part in anti Chillul Shabbos protests.
instead of protesting go out and register to vote and get yourself a frum mayor
This is not the way to protest. Sorry, but if they want people to take them seriously, do it in a civilized way. Like a poster wrote- register, go out and vote a chareidi mayor in. This sort of demonstration will surely make those on the other side of the aisle more upset and get nowhere closer to being Shomer Shabbos. And as someone wrote above, not everyone is Jewish in Yerushalayim.
I dunno, I just can’t see how this sort of protest is a positive way to get yidden closer to Hashem.
Setting aside stones and chazarai to throw at people who are michallel Shabbos? how is this allowed? (stones, in reference to RBS, first hand knowledge of it)
What a waste of time (well, maybe since these guys don’t bother to work, they’ve got lots of extra time). Closing a parking lot won’t make people honor the Sabbath; it will make them spend more time driving around looking for parking. Yelling and screaming in the middle of Jerusalem while dressed like you’re in Poland in the middle of the 18th century is unlikely to persuade anyone of anything (except that you’re odd). If these people want to see the Shabbos honored more, then they should stop screaming, and start issuing dinner invitations.