"Shabbat Shalom" or "Shalom Shabbat" ?

B"H

"Shabbat Shalom" or "Shalom Shabbat" - this is the headline of a new Fakshvili (news poster) in Mea Shearim. And once again, the boycott of the Shefa - Market is the subject. The Shefa - Market belongs to the Israeli Dor Alon - Group and the company also owns the grocery chain AM:PM. Until the start of the boycott a few months, Shefa mostly attracted haredi customers but now many of them stay away. The reason is that the owner, the Dor Alon - Group, keeps its secular grocery chain AM:PM open 24 hours a day, including Shabbat. And through the boycott on Shefa, the Haredim want to force Dor Alon to close the AM:PM branches on Shabbat. So far, without any sign of success. There is definitely a need for groceries around the clock and most AM:PM branches in Tel Aviv are always full of customers.

Some time ago I heard from the haredi side that AM:PM also sells non - kosher groceries. Maybe I shouldn't admit it but I do: Already a few times I went to AM:PM in Tel Aviv and bought a few groceries. While I was looking through the shelves, I didn't see any non - kosher items. All groceries were either produced in Israel and had a Hechsher or were manufactured abroad but still had a Hechsher. Of course, the products from abroad didn't have a Badatz (Beit Din Zedek of the Edah HaCharedit or Chassidut Belz) Hechsher but they had some kind of a recognized one by the Chief Rabbinate.

Now, new pamphlets appeared in Mea Shearim and the Haredim call for an extension of the Shefa Market boykott. And everyone seems to see the Shabbat Menucha (Shabbat rest) in great danger. AM:PM branches are spreading all over the country and cause Jews either to work or to buy. Other grocery merchants would soon be ruined, as many customers only buy at the non - kosher AM:PM. And more and more factories would keep on working on Shabbat. Where is the biblical Shabbat commandment ? Where are G - d and His Torah ?

I don't have a satisfying answer to this question. Of course, there is a great danger that more and more factories start producing on Shabbat and AM:PM won't change its Shabbat policy. But no Jew keeping Shabbat would be animated to suddenly storm into the grocery chain to buy, neither would he agree to work on Shabbat. On the other hand, people who keep a traditional Shabbat fear about their jobs. If the boss decides to let his employees work on Shabbat what should the staff do ? And I admit that there is a danger of breaking Shabbat (Chilul Shabbat). Laws should be added and make the situation quite clear. But what if the jurisdiction doesn't care at all, and neither the trade unions ?

I have no answer and doubt that, at the moment, anyone has an answer to this issue.