New Bans – Old Demands

B"H

Whoever was walking through Mea Shearim last Shabbat, couldn't escape the new red posters (Fakshivilim) hanging around on all the walls. You could call the Fakshivilim the local news agency because this is the way, how many Haredim communicate. Thus you are being informed about bans, halachic decisions of the anti – Zionist umbrella organization "Edah HaCharedit" or the latest anti – Zionist boycotts of the Neturei Karta. Whatever you want, the news is screaming at you from the walls of Mea Shearim.

And last Shabbat it was screaming at me: "AM:PM is still open on Shabbat and therefore, the ban over the "Shefa – Market is continuing. Don't buy at "Shefa".

AM:PM and the "Shefa – Market" are Israeli grocery chains belonging to the Dor – Alon Group. Two different grocery chains with two completely different policies. AM:PM wants to attract secular Tel Aviv customers. While walking around in downtown Tel Aviv, you cannot escape any of those chains. Sometimes every second store already belongs to AM:PM. As the name says, the shops are open 24 hours a day; also on Shabbat. And here, the Haredim enter the game.

The "Shefa – Market", on the other hand, wants to attract haredi customers and is mostly located in their neighbourhoods. Whereas AM:PM is extremely expensive, Shefa is cheap. Usually the haredi population doesn't have too much money and therefore depends on cheap groceries. Both chains are tremendously successful despite the horrendous prices at AM:PM. If you want to enter the "Shefa – Market", be aware that you are dressed modestly. Men in long pants and a head cover and women in a long skirt and the arms covered until the elbow. A guard is watching outside and in case you are not modest enough, he will let you know. Buying at Shefa is nice and cheap which I can confirm. Their only problem is the haredi rabbinic ban (of Rabbi Eliyashiv and the Gerer Rebbe Yaakov Aryeh Alter). With the ban on Shefa, the Haredim want to force the Dor – Alon Group to close AM:PM on Shabbat. Without any success, so far.

Some might ask if such a ban can be successful at all. Who cares ? Aren't there enough customers anyway ?
Although the present State of Israel is mostly secular, no one should underestimate haredi customers and their influence on the market. Many kids – many customers.
And companies looking for huge profits have to take the haredi population into their considerations. There is no way around. Entrepreneurs understood this challenge a long time ago and started running modest haredi commercials and posters. Besides their regular commercials.

The leading mobile phone companies Cellcom and Orange have branches in all haredi neighbourhoods. The religious love their mobiles phones including all the trivial things such as cameras and games. And, of course, how else could it be – after a short while a certain problem appeared. The Haredim received porno spam as SMS. And in oder to prevent everyone from following his Yetzer (evil side in us), leading rabbis put a ban on regular cell phones. The companies reacted immediately and introduced "kosher" mobiles. If you have a phone with a 057 - number, you are definitely haredi. These phones block all kinds of spam.
And the haredi world reacted as well. Today their Beit Yaakov and Talmud Torah schools do not accept any students whose parents don't have a "koscher" phone. However, reality can be sometimes very different. Besides their "kosher" phone, many Haredim still continue keeping a regular phone.

But, pshhhh, the neighbours don't need to know everything.