Jerusalem – Israeli Soccer Strike Averted, Play On Sabbath To Go Ahead

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    FILE - Israel national football team players training in Tel Aviv on Sept. 4, 2013. (Flash90)Jerusalem – Israeli soccer authorities called off a threatened strike on Wednesday after the attorney-general announced that nobody would be prosecuted for playing on the Jewish Sabbath.

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    Matches on Saturday came under threat after a court ruling on a petition by religiously observant players against taking to the field during the Sabbath.

    Their refusal to participate in some matches that in previous years have been held on weekdays, led an Israeli labour court to rule that without a special waiver that allows companies to employ workers on the Sabbath, which runs from sunset Friday to sunset
    Saturday, Saturday soccer is illegal.

    But Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein said he saw no reason to suddenly enforce a law that had been ignored for decades and that nobody would be prosecuted. Following that, the Israel Football Association said all matches would go ahead as planned.

    Soccer matches have operated for decades without a waiver, as part of a so-called “status quo”. The arrangement between Israel’s secular Jewish majority and religiously observant minority governs which businesses, public transport and places of entertainment can open on Saturdays.

    As a result of the court decision, Israeli Economy Minister Arye Deri, an ultra-Orthodox Jew, had to decide whether to issue a soccer waiver.

    To do so would violate his own religious beliefs, but with soccer being the most popular sport in Israel, he ran the risk of angering many Israelis by cancelling matches on Saturday, their only day off work.

    Income from business surrounding soccer — support staff, broadcasting, transportation, policing, stewarding and refreshments — would all also have been hit.

    Some of the professional matches in Israel’s two top leagues are held on Saturdays but hundreds of others involving non-professional teams are also played on the Sabbath.

    Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, an avid soccer fan, said on Wednesday that the Saturday games should go on.

    “I think that the custom for the public in Israel is that on Saturday you go to synagogue and afterward you go to the (soccer stadium),” he said on Army Radio. “This is the status quo.”

    Sports Minister Miri Regev praised Weinstein’s decision and said a committee would seek a solution that would accommodate players who did not want to play on the Sabbath.


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    4 Comments
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    Speaksoftly
    Speaksoftly
    8 years ago

    Yes President Rivlin, Shabbos soccer games were status quo in your grandfather’s home town as well! Shul in the morning, soccer in the afternoon, and then to a bar or club for Melava Malka. What a fargenigen! Nebach- after two thousand years of golus we come home to such an exemplary leader. There is much to daven for this Rosh Hashona – vehoeir eineinu besoresecha!

    anonyid
    anonyid
    8 years ago

    Yehuda Weinstein and Reuven Rivlin, 2 secular Jews, think they have the right to pasken halochos. If this is not chutzpah, what is?

    jack-l
    jack-l
    8 years ago

    Stop bashing the secularists.. They aren`t shomer Shabbos and are not paskining shailos. For that we need a Sanhedrin, a mechel, a novi, a Kohen and a beis hamikdash . We are greatly lacking. The RSO has not given us those blessings yet.
    What we do have and we should say BH is jews of all stripes and goyim and politicians living in Eretz Yisroel right now. 8 more than a 100 years ago. We should say BH that jews can live in this holy land without fear of crusaders, pogroms,or muslim hoards using us for target practise or rounding up the yids into the shtiebel and burning them alive. Lets not forget the Nazis either .ysvz.

    We should all do some tshuva , become a jew lover, beg for forgivness and plead with the RSO for a better year.

    ActualJew
    ActualJew
    8 years ago

    Frum Jews in Israel should be trying to makarve their fellow citizens with positive, not punitive measures.