The discourse surrounding religion and state in general, and the issue of Shabbat in particular, has been an integral part of Israeli social life since the founding of the state.
In recent weeks, the issue of railway work on Shabbat has not been off the public-media agenda on both sides of the fence - both the secular and the ultra-Orthodox side. The former mostly serves as an advocate, and the latter as a category.
The words 'pikuach nefesh' are the key words in all this chaos, but to be honest, it's a bit ridiculous.
Disruption to train traffic at the beginning of the week could lead to a state of panic in a country that is proud of its army, one of the strongest in the world.
Unlike the Mishnah affair - a giant turbine from the electric company that needed to be transported on Israeli roads - and was intended to be moved on Shabbat, this time it was a little different. At the time, there were those who tried to prevent this, such as Bozi Herzog - the government secretary at the time, and Yossi Beilin - the justice minister in that government, when they presented alternatives to Ehud Barak in order to avoid desecrating Shabbat, which would lead to a coalition crisis. Despite this, they refused - claiming that if he agreed to the arrangement, he would be portrayed in the eyes of his interlocutors, such as Yasser Arafat, Assad and other haters of Israel - as someone who could be easily bent and also so that he could be portrayed in the eyes of his voters as someone who would not give in to the ultra-Orthodox.
But now they apparently preferred to go all out, but on the negative side: both to desecrate the Sabbath, and to appear in the eyes of the world as such a weak country that something as simple as transporting soldiers at the beginning of the week on buses and not, as we have been taught for generations, on trains, could lead to a situation of life-saving measures.
Although only about a week later, we were proven wrong when we saw that they had shut down the train in a very central area for several days in a row.
We all know the result of that mischief. The turbine did reach its destination, in a shameful desecration of the Sabbath, but the electric company did not get to enjoy it – the turbine was damaged when it was unloaded from the truck. They also failed to make the political capital they tried to make on its back. On the contrary, the same turbine, or more precisely the same one
The one who made sure it was passed was indirectly the Dominionist who brought about the overthrow of his government within a few months. Over a hundred million shekels went down the drain. Dozens, if not hundreds of workers, lost their weekly Shabbat rest, and one Shabbat that claimed its insult.
We have one small, positive thing left from this.
Behind the curtain, where we choose between right and left, religion/tradition or vice versa, that's precisely where we remember the Sabbath in general and the Mishnah in particular. United Torah Judaism and 'Sabbath', a word that was labeled after the party's withdrawal from that government, whose burial place is unknown.
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The late Rabbi Yechezkel Levinstein, the late Rabbi, often emphasized the importance of observing the last two Shabbats of the year, with all its details and laws, and even made them stricter in ways that are not practiced during the Shabbats of the year.
The source for his words is Tractate Shabbat, page 128: "Rabbi Yochanan said in the name of Rashbi, "If Israel had not observed two Sabbaths according to their custom, they would have been redeemed." And the Mashgich explains: If observing two Sabbaths by all of Israel can lead to redemption, then observing two Sabbaths by an individual can save him and redeem him, so that he may enjoy a good and sweet year.
This speaks to all of us. It's not too late, we haven't missed the train. There are so many beautiful and positive things in our Shabbat, it's a shame to let the train run them over.
And to distinguish between the world of Torah and the world of everyday life: I would like to end with a quote from one of the speeches of the late Menachem Begin, z"l, which was given at the time of the establishment of the state: "The State of Israel is what we established. We will preserve the state, we will preserve Israel. And from this perspective, perhaps the entire social and state idea can be summed up in one verse cited in the writings of Ahad Ha'am: More than Israel preserved the Sabbath, the Sabbath preserved Israel.".
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