As far as I can tell (people are very vague on this) there really is no enforceable law against driving, it just isn’t done. The police could stop you, but they’d just ask why you were driving, tell you to be careful and let you go. There is no religious police to enforce this kind of thing in Israel as it isn’t a religious state.

Now it is true that this happens in places where observant, religious Jews live in large majority: parts of Jerusalem, highly religious towns like Tzfat (Safed, Zefad, whatever) and many others on every Sabbath: but on a regular Sabbath in Tel Aviv Friday night traffic is bad and the restaurants serving pork or shell fish are full to overflowing.

On Yom Kippur, however, everything stops. Non-observant Jews and observant Jews alike, just hide the car keys. For sure, if your kid falls off his bike and needs the hospital nobody (from both those communities) would think twice about driving the car to the hospital.

But on Yom Kippur the non-religious Jews just organize their lives such that they don’t need to drive.

For sure many of them will not fast, and they probably stock up on DVD’s because the state TV channels shut down (but there’s plenty of other cable channels).

But they just don’t DRIVE their cars. The air smells good, the visibility gets better and from sundown to sundown the streets are full of people strolling or cycling along 10 lane highways. People have found a way to organize their lives that for just one day a year, nobody drives except for emergencies.

I left my apartment to have a look this year and I saw one pickup truck and 3 police cars moving. Slowly. Through the crowds of children on bikes.

Below is a slideshow of what that looks like in Tel Aviv that I found on YouTube, there are many more videos but this kind of gives a good idea.

Yom Kippur in Tel Aviv on YouTube

However, some of you may have heard the stories of violence in Acco this year. Of course this wide agreement among JEWS to selectively observe one of Yom Kippur’s rules and not to drive cars can be abused. As I’ve tried to explain, non-observant Jews almost uniformly observe this rule even though their usual behavior isn’t to observe the laws of the Sabbath (of which Yom Kippur is really a special case).

Arabs, on the other hand, don’t feel this need and as the streets in Jewish parts of Israel are full of children riding carelessly on streets that would normal be chock full of cars, if an Arab decides to drive through these parts, the children’s parents have a right to feel annoyed.

It’s just not something that other Jews do and if they do it, its an emergency and they are driving VERY VERY CAREFULLY (which is certainly not the norm here!)

This is the kind of background you’d never get when AP tell tales of Jews and Arabs fighting over something stupid like someone driving on Yom Kippur. Meryl Yourish picks apart the bias but without really explaining why driving in Jewish areas on Yom Kippur is such a big deal. That’s not a criticism of Meryl, I’ve never really understood or believed the no car thing here until I saw it this year with my own eyes.

Even when you read a first hand account, its not till you understand how widely observed the no car rule is that you get a feel for why fast moving cars driven by anyone, Jew or Arab, on Yom Kippur are SUCH A BIG DEAL.

Sometimes you really do just have to be there.

Update: Still on the subject of Israeli commercials, I thought it time to dust off the cobwebs and bring this classic out again.

An Israeli army rabbi is under investigation for putting a mezuzah up in an off-limits area of Hebron.The rabbi of the military’s Judea Brigade was photographed this week putting up a mezuzah in the casbah, or old city of Hebron, accompanied by Chabad supporters.

The Hebron casbah, from where many Palestinian residents have fled during the past six years of violence, is off-limits to Israeli civilians out of concern that settlers might try to squat in its buildings.

Many Israelis say casbah properties were originally Jewish-owned and should be reclaimed.

“This gate is one of several gates through which people enter the casbah,” Noam Arnon, a Hebron settler spokesman, told Israel Radio on Thursday. “Chabad wanted to put up a mezuzah, a very welcome act. This, of course, did not bother anyone, particularly not the Arabs.”

Following protests by left-wing Israeli groups, the military top brass said the rabbi was under investigation and that the mezuzah had been removed.

The Jerusalem Post adds:

Rabbi Yossi Nachshon, a Chabad emissary in Hebron who helped organize the ceremony, said he did not understand the IDF’s extreme reaction.

“The media and the IDF have totally blown the whole thing out of proportion,” said Nachshon. “We affixed the mezuza in a place where IDF soldiers are stationed near a Jewish neighborhood. We do these types of things all the time. On the same day we affixed mezuzot in various settlements around the Hebron hills.”

Nachshon said that according to Jewish law there was no obligation to affix a mezuzah near the casbah. However, he added that a mezuza was believed to offer protection against physical dangers.

Nachshon said that a Jewish settler had been killed near the scene of the contentious mezuza.

So it was just a gesture of support for the IDF, a symbolic wish for their safety, not a political act.

But the left-wing reaction was furious:

Peace Now issued a statement calling for Rabbi Peretz and the soldiers who participated in the ceremony to stand trial.

Knesset members also weighed in on the contentious move. MK Ran Cohen (Meretz) said that “this is a thuggish act vis-à-vis Palestinians who have not been able to live their lives for years. Even worse than that, this time it was not only done under IDF auspices but by soldiers who were engaging in severe political provocation.”

MK Avshalom Vilan (Meretz) called on Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi to convene a discussion on the matter and deal with the perpetrators “to the fullest extent of the law.”

“A uniformed rabbi who participates in an act with lawbreakers disgraces the IDF and should be punished,” said Vilan.

Notice anything missing?

Even though it has been a full 24 hours since this event occurred, I have not seen one mention of outrage from any Arab or Muslim about this supposedly outrageous act. The people who riot at the drop of a hat, who obsessively follow Israeli media to find things to offend them, have not said a single word about affixing a small scroll with words of the Torah to the entrance to the old market. I have seen nothing in the Arabic press nor in their English-language press.

Israel’s left wing is now more offended on the Arabs’ behalf than the Arabs themselves are. Their eagerness to co-opt Arab outrage for their own leftist purposes show that their goal is hardly protecting Arabs as much as it is showing their seething hate for the Right – and religious Jews.

Israeli Arab lawmakers responded angrily Wednesday to proposed legislation that would prevent anyone who travels to a country classified as an enemy state from serving as a Knesset member.

The Knesset plenum approved proposals for two bills on this issue in preliminary readings on Wednesday.

The bills were drafted by right-wing MKs Zevulun Orlev of National Union-National Religious Party and Esterina Tartman of Yisrael Beiteinu.

MK Ahmed Tibi (Ra’am-Ta’al) said that “the Knesset is steeped in racism. Corrupt members of Knesset want a Knesset without Arabs. The face of the Knesset is the face of Esterina: Knesseterina. If I am invited [to enemy states] I will go regardless of the law. I am sure that a person who violates an unjustified law, or whose conscience is not completely clear, and is willing to pay the price and be imprisoned in order to raise public awareness regarding the injustice in the law, then that person is showing his respect to the most supreme values.”

And I thought “That is not a drug. It’s a leaf” was absurd.

Where I come from, visiting an enemy state is called treason, and being prevented from serving in parliament would be the least of your worries. The fact that Arab MKs would be most affected by this proposed legislation speaks more about them than proponents of the bill.

But this theater of the absurd gets more absurd.

Talab A-Sana (Ra`am-Ta`al) said that “the bill is opposed to peace, the Arab public, and its representatives that are visiting Arab states. This is a dark bill that constitutes political persecution, and shows what a substandard level the Knesset has reached.”

Visiting an enemy state to promote peace? I don’t think so.

The Haifa District Court convicted Asaf Ben David, a Palestinian who converted to Judaism, of contact with a foreign agent and conspiring to aid the enemy.

The 39-year-old Ben David (originally Hussam Sawatmeh) was convicted of trying to help his brother Salah, an activist in Islamic Jihad, attain nitric acid for the purpose of preparing explosives.Ben David was born in the West Bank town of Kfar Tuba. However, after converting to Judaism he married a Jewish woman and moved to the Haifa area. The youngest of his four children is currently serving in the Israel Defense Forces.

According to the court’s ruling, Ben David was in contact with his brother regarding the supply of nitric acid between October 2006 and until his brother’s death in December of 2006. Following his brother’s death, Ben David apparently returned to Islam.

According to the verdict, while mourning his brother’s death Ben David lamented the fact that he did not have a chance to supply him with the acid before he died.

It’s kind of like those men who have sex change operations to become women, only to become a lesbian. I’m left scratching my head.

Update: Here’s more on Ben David.

Pupils in Jerusalem’s Har Homa neighborhood can now aspire to reach the stars, thanks to a new curriculum from first grade that includes astrophysics, astronomy and space studies. It will be offered this year at the Ilan Ramon Elementary School, named for the late Israeli astronaut who died during the ill-fated Columbia space shuttle mission in 2003. Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski will visit the children and the modern, well-equipped science labs when school opens next week.

The Jerusalem Municipality also announced that pupils in the 11th and 12th grades in state schools throughout the city will be sent to the Belmonte science labs on the Hebrew University’s Givat Ram campus to focus on astrophysics, cosmology and space studies.

Well, how are we supposed to take over the world without advanced education?!

So in case you missed it the first time I posted it over 2 and half years ago, here it is:

Called the Social Seal or Tav Chevrati in Hebrew, the certificate which is now being prominently displayed in over 300 Israeli eateries from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv and various other locales was introduced by Bema’aglei Tzedek to combat what the organization’s director Asaf Banner calls “an all too often ignored, yet deeply troubling aspect of Israeli society.”

Banner, who was among the organization‚Äôs founders in 2004 says, ‚ÄúThe way that tens of thousands of workers all over Israel are being treated without regard to their most basic human rights was a situation that demanded to be addressed.  We saw that the social seal was a great way of bringing attention to this issue.‚Äù  While the campaign began locally in Jerusalem with organization representatives using the seal as a means to promote the good labor practices of shop owners, it has quickly gained steam and spread across the country.

Roey Zisman who manages the popular Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Caf√© on Jaffa Road in downtown Jerusalem believes that the seal is something many of his customers greatly value as well as acting as a motivating factor for employers to  improve worker conditions.  ‚ÄúThe Social Seal is very important in our relationship with our workers,‚Äù says Zisman. ‚ÄúI hear many people coming in and asking about it and we feel that there is a large clientele that comes to eat with us because of it.‚Äù

Since its founding, Bema‚Äôaglei Tzedek has been active within the Israeli school system and in the country‚Äôs numerous youth movements.  According to Marla Haruni, a New York native and Jerusalem resident, it was her children who taught her about the seal and since that time the family will only visit eateries that have received the organization‚Äôs approval.  ‚ÄúMy children have really come to view the Social Seal with the same level of importance as the kosher dietary certification,‚Äù the mother of four said.    ‚ÄúI think it’s crucial that people recognize that a restaurant being truly kosher requires that they act in accordance with all Jewish values beyond just ensuring that the food is prepared properly.”

In order for an eatery to receive the seal, representatives of the organization will visit the restaurant and observe overall conditions as well as speak with the workers.  According to Banner, several seals have been revoked after it was reported that workers‚Äô rights were being repeatedly violated. Violations include cases where workers are being denied breaks or being paid below the legal minimum wage or where the restaurant is lacking appropriate access for the handicapped.

The seal has also gained the attention of many members of the Israeli Knesset across the political spectrum.  Amir Peretz, who until recently served as Israel‚Äôs Defense Minister and was the longtime head of the Histadrut national union said the seal is establishing a new standard of ethical practice in Israeli society and that ‚Äúhighlighting the issue of worker‚Äôs rights will create a better future for the people of Israel.‚Äù Zevulun Orlev, a member of the Mafdal party, notes that this effort brings to the forefront an issue which is of critical nature to the national and Zionist cause. ‚ÄúIn order for us to be a fair and just society,‚Äù he says, ‚Äúit is necessary that workers have the assurance that they will receive the proper treatment and compensation they deserve.‚Äù

As one of the numerous events throughout the year advancing this cause, on Tuesday, July 3rd, Bema’aglei Tzedek held a conference at Jerusalem ’s Rose Garden across from the Knesset entitled “Fighting the Exploitation of Custodial Workers.”

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Chief Rabbi of Efrat who addressed the conference which attracted approximately 1500 according to police estimates, said that despite often being pushed to the side of the social agenda, workers rights is something which is deeply entrenched in Jewish values.  ‚ÄúThe Torah teaches again and again that our ability to stay on this holy soil of Israel depends on our being a holy people specifically in the realm of human relations – including those between employer and employee,‚Äù he said.

Taking place on the fast of the Seventeenth of Tammuz at the outset of the summer break, a collection of the conference attendees were North Americans visiting Israel over vacation.  Rabbi Chaim Sidler-Feller, Director of the Hillel at UCLA said the lessons being conveyed by this organization were important ones for a younger generation that often could feel alienated by Jewish traditions.  ‚ÄúThis effort serves to show the ‚Äòoperationalization‚Äô of Judaism by displaying how values are not just in the mind but need to be acted upon.‚Äù

Asaf Banner believes that the Social Seal truly has the potential to change how an Israeli society often ambivalent about these types of issues views the question of how its workers are being treated.  ‚ÄúFor every additional restaurant or caf√© that joins the ranks of those bearing the social seal we feel that we‚Äôre making that much more of a difference,‚Äù he says.  ‚ÄúAs more and more consumers become familiar with this seal, we know business owners across the country will begin to take notice and at that point anything is possible.‚Äù

[His high school teacher].. said that he stood out among his classmates. “When they coined the phrase ’salt of the earth,’ it was for people like him. He was decent, sensitive and always willing to help.”

 

Hagit Baruch, Arbel’s high-school literature teacher said: “Arbel loved life and loved his friends. School did not really interest him. He only decided to take the bagrut (matriculation) exams towards the end of his senior year.”

Update: Mobius has managed to capture screenshots from many (if not all) the sites this morning.