The chief rabbis of Israel have accused the government of “desecrating” the Sabbath after it announced plans to run trains this Shabbat to help returning Israelis who were stranded abroad leave the airport.
Jewish religious law influences public transport policies across much of Israel, and the country’s national rail network normally suspends passenger services during Shabbat, from Friday evening until Saturday night.
However, Israel Railways said this week it would run semi-regular trains between Ben Gurion Airport and Tel Aviv this Friday afternoon until Sunday morning to ensure Israelis returning to the country can travel home.
In a letter to Transportation Minister Miri Regev, Kalman Ber, the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel, and David Yousef, his Sephardi counterpart, said the move was being planned without consultation with religious leaders.
They wrote: “We hereby protest vigorously against the mass desecration of the Sabbath planned for this coming Shabbat, conducted officially by the Government of Israel, in situations where there is certainly no element of pikuah nefesh whatsoever, and without consultation with the rabbis.”
Pikuah nefesh is a fundamental Jewish principle that prioritises the preservation of human life, allowing one to override religious laws and commandments to save it.
There have been more than 100,000 Israelis stranded abroad for the last five days since Israel closed its airspace at the start of the war with Iran. On Thursday, Israel reopened Ben Gurion Airport for limited civilian flights for Israelis returning home, with the Transport Ministry estimating it could take between seven and 10 days to get them all home, depending on the security situation.
Miri Regev has not publicly responded to the letter.
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