When Carmel Shama disentangles arrays - well, there are those who sanctify them
The decision of the Bnei Brak municipality not to allow the Kars Forum event in its territory is a source of moral, national and social pride. A resident of the city backs the municipality's decision. opinion
Meeting of the "Karasforum" (Photo: Karasforum)
"Karsforum" meeting in Bnei Brak (Photo: Karsforum, Keenan Cohen)
Last Friday, February 14 at noon, a meeting of the "Cars-Forum" car forum visitors was held in a parking lot on Lehigh Street 2 in Bnei Brak. The city's garbage truck and that there were city inspectors as well as police patrol, said the selective and unique enforcement of time and place was intended to dissuade them from arriving and conducting the meeting at this point.
Let's make it easy, short and simple: a company that has no values, is not a member. It is at most a random group of people. Any humanist, pluralist or democrat would agree to this sentence. And in order to maintain the values, you have to respect and apply them. This is exactly what the Bnei Brak Municipality did last Saturday. As a city resident, I was very upset to see the CarS Forum members planning a mass event on our National Sabbath Day, in the city square. I was ashamed of them, really. I was ashamed that one of our most significant gospel messages is the social, family, and personal statement of the Sabbath observance. This is such a huge line that, in retrospect, the entire Western world has adopted it, and it is very difficult to understand how half the people are trying to shake off this beautiful gift.
But leave the people for a moment. In our neighboring city, Ramat Gan, the mayor of Carmel Shama HaCohen, who flaunts the eastern-traditional Teitel, is struggling with the most traditional value: the Sabbath. It bumps into it against its own values, the interests of its voters, and against most of its inhabitants. He bumps into it for one, only and unfortunate purpose: to receive applause from the barge. Enough reason to bury values? Depending on which politician you ask.
My mayor, Rabbi Avraham Rubinstein, and the municipality headed by him, know their values. Which is why I'm so proud of the decision they made: not to allow the Kars Forum event on Saturday in municipal territory, under the law. It is a decision that I am proud of because it stands behind a moral, conceptual and principled stand. It represents workers' rights vis-à-vis their employer, which cannot require them to work on Saturday. It represents the spice of spouses being together without any background noise, and embodies the freedom of the individual and his right to free time.
True, the forum ran freely, no one forced its participants to reach, but besides the social pressure exerted - the mere desecration of the Sabbath day meant opening the taboo of work on Saturday. If today a vehicle can be taken to a showcase event, tomorrow crane operators and bus drivers will have to give up their only family time in order to survive financially.
While there are those who are trying to nurture Ramat-Gan arrays - I am proud of my municipality, which further emphasizes its loyalty to its values.
