Exodus 16:29 (New International Version, ©2011)
29 Bear in mind that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.”
One of the hardest things to adjust to while living in Israel is the difference in the weekend and what it represents.
In the US, the weekend is quintessential freedom—the freedom to rest, the freedom to play, the freedom to eat out indulgently and the freedom to shop. All stores are open and ready for business as crowds of people who worked through the week hit the mall, go out for large lunches, or otherwise indulge in rampant consumerism. The weekend is a time when revenue flows into local suburban communities and all the stores are ready to receive it. Sunday is just a repeat of Saturday with perhaps a slightly later start to accommodate those who wish to attend Sunday morning church. Restaurants thrive on the hoards of people going out to eat after church—it’s practically tradition. It’s a world of 24/7 availability and weekends are when the purse strings get a little looser and the family gets a little fatter.
The weekend in Israel bears little resemblance to its hedonistic US cousin. For starters, it is Friday-Saturday to correspond with the Jewish Sabbath. Decades ago the weekend was only the Sabbath—Friday was a normal work day, ending just before sundown after which everything shut down. Fortunately, they have embraced the two-day weekend which is almost necessary now because Friday is always market day. Any shopping that couldn’t happen during the week happens on Friday before 3:00 and stores are absolutely packed. Kenny and I tried to go to the largest mall in Haifa, the Grand Canyon, and although it boasted 2500 parking spaces, there wasn’t one to be had in the entire garage at 10:30 a.m. People had parked illegally, up on curbs, in the middle of the road and still the cars circled like a school of sharks trying to find one open patch of concrete. After 30 minutes of circling and several near-accidents we decided that the mall was not for us.
On Saturday, the only action is in the Arab towns and villages. Nazareth was humming like any other city due to its large Arab population and its popular Christian sites. Churches are open on Saturday, no problem. In Haifa, the Christian Arab section of town in Wadi Nisnas holds its outdoor market and keeps open its falafel and shwarma stands but wander out of that small quarter and it’s a ghost town. Cafes are shuttered. Supermarkets are shut down. Streets are empty. In the US, the only equivalent is Christmas Day in a big city. Like Christmas, you have to plan for this and the anxiety about having 2 days bread on hand by the time the sun sets on Friday makes the weekend a much more worrisome prospect than it is in the states. Haifa is one of the more progressive cities. With its mixed Jewish/Arab population the city bus company allows buses to run on Saturdays (albeit with a reduced schedule). In all other cities, public transportation is completely shut down. Even the elevator in our hotel runs on “Shabbat mode” which means it stops at every floor in sequence so that a person wishing to avoid the “work” of pushing an elevator button can simply hop on and ride it to the desired floor. In practicality, it takes an elevator out of commission and if the Shabbat elevator happens to be on your floor when you wish to take the other ones, you must wait for it to go on its merry way before calling another one.
After the sun sets on Saturday, the whole world of commerce suddenly springs to life. Lights flash on, restaurants open up and the market place is humming again. If you can wait until dark, there are once again a host of dining options, buses and trains.
The day of rest is definitely a mixed blessing to the foreigner living here. On the one hand it concentrates shopping into one big hectic morning rush which is not very pleasant. On the other hand, the day of rest allows families to visit, books to be read, and a sense of quiet and peace otherwise missing in a big city to once again prevail.
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