Tel Aviv, Israel – Erev Pesach Stripper Strikes Again To Protest The Sale of Chumetz At Local Supermarket

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    The student striped in front of this storeTel Aviv, Israel – A man stripped down to nothing but a strategically placed sock at a Tel Aviv supermarket in protest at its decision to sell bread over Passover in violation of Jewish religious laws.

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    The Haredi yeshiva student Aryeh Yerushalmi stripped nearly naked in a supermarket in Tel Aviv to protest the sale of hametz (bread and other leavened grain products) in the store during Passover.

    Yerushalmi, who did the same thing last year in a supermarket in Bat Yam, claims the law is on his side and dares the police to try and prosecute him.

    Yerushalmi, who is 28 and lives in Bat Yam, arrived at the Tiv Taam supermarket in the Nahalat Binyamin neighborhood of Tel Aviv. He proceeded to the bread section and began removing his clothing, leaving only a sock to cover his private parts.

    Several customers thought the scene was rather amusing, but the store manager and security guard asked the nudist to leave.

    Police, whom Yerushalmi claims he himself called, arrived on the scene and arrested Yerushalmi, after which he agreed to put his clothes back on.

    As Yerushalmi said after last year’s incident, if hametz can be legally sold in a store during Passover, than he can lawfully disrobe there as well.
    Arieh Yerushalmi [photo credit:ynet]
    As he explained, the 1986 Hametz Law forbids the sale of bread products in a “public” area on Passover. The law was never enforced until 2008, when then-Jerusalem mayor Uri Lupolianski directed police to bring a case against four Jerusalem stores caught selling hametz during the holiday.

    In the ensuing court case, judge Tamar Ben-Tzaban ruled that the inside of a store does not constitute a public place.  Only the sale of hametz outside the store would be considered a violation of the law against selling hametz publicly, the judge stated.

    Yerushalmi took on the mission of showing the fallacy of the judge’s argument, using the law banning a person from performing an indecent act in a public place. According to the judge’s reasoning, “public” places do not include the inside of the supermarket – and therefore he should be allowed to disrobe there as well.

    Last year, police released Yerushalmi without charging him. Yerushalmi claims that he wanted to go to court, but the police preferred not to give the case too much publicity.

    This year, Yerushalmi was brought before the Tel Aviv district court. The police prosecutor explained to the presiding judge that the suspect had disrobed in public after which a civilian called the police to arrest him. Yerushalmi interjected and said, “The civilian who called was me. I wanted to limit my demonstration to a short period of time.”

    The judge asked Yerushalmi if he plans on repeating his performance again, to which Yerushalmi replied that he would “think about it,” after which the judge chose to place Yerushalmi under house arrest for a week.

    Leaders of the ultra-orthodox community, meanwhile, have written to dozens of stores and restaurants in Jerusalem urging them to reverse a decision to sell leavened food during Passover.

    “At the last minute, refrain from doing this and declare that you will not burn your souls for a one-moment pleasure as well as financial profit,” the ultra-Orthodox rabbinical Court of Justice said.

    “The punishment for the blasphemy expected to hit the Holy City is extremely severe, and you will be the ones reponsible for this,” their letter said.


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    54 Comments
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    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    The same country that has so much torah and mitzvos… has soooo much chillul hashem.

    Fact!
    Fact!
    14 years ago

    Self Promoting, sick disgusting vile publicity hound, nothing more! Also, it must be pointed out that a guy like that isn’t frum at all!!!!!

    Lakewood Masmid
    Lakewood Masmid
    14 years ago

    Kiddush Hashem !!! Its a sheilah,if he did the right thing,yet the kavanah was fully lshem shomaim. Kul hakovod.

    bitachon
    bitachon
    14 years ago

    Don’t do this on Pesach sir, since there is an issur of baal yeraeh on yom tov.

    Milhouse
    Milhouse
    14 years ago

    What’s wrong with what he did? He’s drawing publicity to the hypocrisy of the shops claiming that they are not public places, so they can sell chametz. If police won’t arrest the shopkeepers for selling chametz in a public place, then how can they arrest him for indecent exposure in a public place?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    please remove this affensive post horrable

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Great. He has the right to do it.

    yossi
    yossi
    14 years ago

    I am sorry but israel should not have the right to enforce relgious rule upon private industry. We scron saudi arabia and other arab nations for enforcing strict islamic laws on its citizens, and this is no different.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Israel is a secular country and has nothing with torah or halacha therefore they should be let alone and let them sell chometz on pesach and pork all year round.

    Expatriate Owl
    Expatriate Owl
    14 years ago

    Well done!

    Somebody ought to buy the man a beer!

    Yossi
    Yossi
    14 years ago

    Without clothes how do they know he is chareidi?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    He’s a Shoiteh and is Obviously Putir from all the Mitzvois anyhow! And dont him sell me that he’s frum and means Leshem Shumieyem cuz these Ideas come from TV not from the Toreh Hakdoisheh!

    Joe
    Joe
    14 years ago

    This guy is sick and he’s using that to do what he always wanted, BUT he has a point there. Only “2 wrongs don’t make a right”

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    damn ! that kind of stripper , thanks for wasting my time.
    note to self cancel plane ticket to israel

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    kol hakavod

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Around 20% of Israel’s population isn’t even Jewish. If the ban on selling chametz is enforced, then I would expect Moslem and perhaps also shopkeeps of other faiths besides Judaism to bring a lawsuit defending their rights to sell chometz on Pesach.
    Perhaps a better method is for a law to be passed that a store can’t call itself kosher and no rabbi is allowed by law to give kashrut hashgacha for a store or on any unsealed items or items a store prepares if they sell chometz on Pesach. This would probably be very effective, and would not only convince many Jewish owned stores in Israel not to sell chometz on Pesach, but would also pursuade Moslem owned stores that sell to many Jews to also not sell chometz on Pesach(and hopefully prevent some Jewish customers from eating chometz on Pesach).

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    #6 lol…he did the right thing he is a hero and a good devil advocate abisel meshugah but he explains himself well betiv tam voodas keep it up yerushalmi we need more of the scenes during the year

    Manny
    Manny
    14 years ago

    Maybe he has a hidden agenda!? The poor boocher is looking for a shiduch.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    It is perfectly legal for private stores to sell chametz on pesach. Frumme yiddin may not want to patronize such stores, but is its not illegal to sell such food to approximately 2 million non-observant jews, christians and arabs.

    However, I find that the behavior of this young man to be inappropriate and may not be in accordance with the laws of Tznius.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    i dont know if this is funny or sad
    should we laugh or cry
    one thing is for sure, its sad that this is even a subject in Israel

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Some in Israel want public transportation on shabbat. There will be many battles between the religious party and others in Israel. There is no easy answer to this.
    Should Israel be a democracy or a theocracy?

    quite creative
    quite creative
    14 years ago

    Wow what a creative way to get a point across. Sock it to him….

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Kiddush Hashem? Kol Hakavod? What is wrong with you people. What happened to simanei Yisroel? Remember, byshanim?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Thank G-d he wasnt protesting Bris Milah!

    PMO
    PMO
    14 years ago

    Milhouse – I will start by saying that I love you and respect you (yes, I mean it).

    Absolutely I care about the law. A judge has decided that this is not “public selling”. The ruling has been made, and the odds of changing the ruling or the law are slim. Fine. There are other ways to get things done. We have the strongest tool possible to convince them. MONEY. The free market itself.

    1. Never again shop in a store owned by a Yid that knowingly sold chometz on Pesach. Make his name public.
    2. Pull the Hashgochos from those places and make the names of any hashgocho that won’t go along with it public… we should know not to trust them.
    3. Stop buying products from any distributor that also knowingly sells to these businesses and make their names known as well.

    We absolutely must respect the rule of law, it is the foundation of any society. But in business, we have the right to mobilize and use the markets to affect change. We, as the consumer, have the CHOICE and therefore WE have the POWER. We can impact the bottom line in ways that they will conform to because they want our money. That is the whole idea of a FREE market.

    This still plays within the rule of law. You are just affecting supply and demand.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    What about the what we say in the haggadah, Chayiv Adam Liros Es Atzmoh?

    ezras nashim
    ezras nashim
    14 years ago

    rabbosai: he exposed a phallusy in the logic of the court!! —
    and anyway no one thinks Israel should FORCE anyone to observe Torah laws and Jewish customs: we just don’t like the idea of a JEWISH state doing business as usual on Jewish holy days Sorry — those who don’t like it can move to Gaza or Jordan.
    have a chag kasher vesameach

    rikki  a 405 girl
    rikki a 405 girl
    14 years ago

    i dont believe this! this is crazy why would a bochur do something this crazy??
    i think that if some1 thinks its not right to sell chametz on pesach then they shouls write a petiton or something

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Its about time people has Mesirus Nefesh for Judaism! This guy is a hero… He sacrificed his soul for the sake of Pesach!