Who Loves Shabbat?

Last week, Shelly Yachimovich, chair of the Labor Party, was invited to the Haredi Kiryat Ono College as part of a weekly public discourse forum where public figures and Knesset members engage with Haredi students. About 200 Haredi female students attended, and Yachimovich expressed enthusiastic support for honoring Shabbat in public spaces.

"Shabbat is the greatest gift Judaism gave to humanity," Yachimovich said during the discussion. "It's a premier social law. People always talk about the status quo, which is constantly challenged by both sides. Today, nearly 600,000 people work on Shabbat, many against their will, at exploitative hourly wages without an alternative day off. It's not a fight for freedom but rather about enslavement and significant regression in the world of work."

Surprised? This isn't the first time Yachimovich speaks so positively about Shabbat. Her fondness for Shabbat is well-known. For example, she is renowned as a Knesset member who strongly opposes businesses operating on Shabbat. About six months ago, during the controversy around Intel's Jerusalem plant employing workers on Shabbat, she made a strong statement on the matter in a Radio Kol Chai interview: "I would like secular people to protest against businesses open on Shabbat. To demonstrate against worker exploitation. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen, and irrespective of its religious mandate, it's the most wonderful social law ever legislated."

In her blog, where she shares personal opinions, she wrote about four years ago: "The historical roots of this day are in our sources, in keeping Shabbat holy. It’s a millennia-old social decree, surprisingly enlightened, given it was written during times of slavery and subjugation. According to the decree, everyone - even servants, immigrants, and even animals - has the right to one day of rest a week."

Yachimovich, who defines herself as "completely secular," explains her stance from this perspective. In her book "We," published last year on her socio-economic beliefs, she writes: "My freedom as a secular person to buy sneakers on Shabbat does not justify the enslavement of the poor worker, the destruction of small businesses, and the loss of public rest in Israel. It's not a secular-religious struggle. It's just about money, not to mention greed. A massive engine of profit-making lies on the shoulders of workers and small businesses. Let's now apply a secular-conscientious control when we see people working on Shabbat."

She further adds: "Most workers on Shabbat do not do so by choice. They won’t get the job if they don't commit to Shabbat work. Many do not receive legally required compensation for Shabbat work, nor an alternative day off. What slaves thousands of years ago received through an unparalleled moral command, today the cashier from Migdal HaEmek does not receive. And by the way, neither does the hi-tech employee. It's clear that even at home on Shabbat, he continues to see the computer screen more than his children, employed under a global contract stripping his basic legal rights, including the weekly day off. A neighborhood grocery store doesn't open on Shabbat, nor does a clothing store. Meanwhile, shoppers go to the mall on Shabbat, and by Sunday won't visit the local shop. Concentrating commerce in giant businesses’ hands and starving small businesses is damaging—not only to the small business owner but also to the employees and the entire economy."

Just a week ago, during a debate on operating public transport on Shabbat in the Tel Aviv area, Yachimovich took a clear stance, posting her personal opinion on Facebook: "I will not vote for Zehava Galon's and Nitzan Horowitz's Shabbat transport law. It's extreme, harmful to workers, and turns Shabbat—a day of rest with significant social value—into a weekday, with all that implies. The law won't pass anyway, but the statement matters to me. Today, rest is already snatched from 600,000 poor workers, forced to work. Shabbat with full transport is noisy, polluting, exploits drivers who will be contract workers, and opens more workplaces, causing deep social harm."