Rabbis say AM:PM to close on Shabbat

Haaretz 01:32 11/04/2008

By Nati Toker and Nurit Roth

David Wiessman, the controlling shareholder of Dor Alon, has agreed to keep all new outlets of the company's AM:PM convenience-store chain closed on Shabbat. That's the claim of the Rabbinical Committee for the Sanctity of the Sabbath, which had threatened to call a boycott of Dor Alon's Blue Square and Shefa Shuk supermarket chains as well as its network of gas stations, because of AP:PM stores being open on Saturdays. Committee secretary Rabbi Yitzhak Goldknop said his group has already asked attorney Yaakov Weinroth to draw up the papers. "Blue Square sent us several proposals but for now they're at the talking stage," Goldknop said. "For now we have nothing in writing. Dor Alon has been selling us stories about its being a publicly held company so they don't make the decisions. That's why we brought in Weinroth, who is a major jurist, to present us with a written document."

Goldknop added that once Weinroth hammers out a contract, it will be presented to the rabbis for their approval. Weinroth confirmed that the rabbis had asked him to mediate in their dispute with Wiessman. He said he is still considering whether to take on the task, in part because Wiessman has not confirmed whether he wants to proceed with the mediation. The unofficial boycott against Wiessman's businesses began about two weeks ago, when the committee called on the religious public to avoid his stores.



Haaretz 21:24 09/04/2008
Ultra-Orthodox target supermarket chain open on Sabbath
By Haaretz Staff and Channel 10

The battle that pits Israel's ultra-Orthodox population against secular businesses has resumed. This time, the battleground is AM:PM, a supermarket chain that is open 24 hours a day - including the Sabbath.
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Because of AM:PM's business hours, the Rabbinical Committee for the Sanctity of the Sabbath has called on Israel's ultra-Orthodox to avoid businesses owned by David Weissman, who owns both AM:PM and Shefa Shuk, the Haredi supermarket chain.