Considering that inner Boro Park is today virtually 100% frum, Baruch Hashem, I believe the time is ripe to follow our brethren in Yerushlayim Ir HaKodesh in closing Boro Park’s streets l’kovod Shabbos Kodesh. It will truly enhance Kedushas Shabbos.
Let’s leave aside, for the moment, the fact that this idea will never actually fly. Instead, I’d like to focus on the request itself.
Av,
Why do feel that it is right to actually close the streets for Shabbos in the United States? Have you actually considered some of the practical applications?
1. As mentioned above, emergency vehicles would be unable to get through in a timely manner. Do you feel that the increase in response time (which could be the difference between life and death) is worth closing off the streets?
2. There are plenty of people who pass through Boro Park (via private or public transportation) who, being not Jewish, have no interest in (or obligation to enhance) kedushas Shabbos. Why should they be inconvenienced? Why should they have to sacrifice their extra time (which can be significant in the case of re-routing buses around Boro Park instead of through it)?
2a. Of course, the same applies to emergency vehicles that need to pass through Boro Park to get wherever they are going.
3. Despite your assertion that it is “virtually 100% frum,” the fact remains that there probably quite a few people who live in the neighborhood who are, in fact, not Jewish. Why should they be “trapped” (as in, unable to leave with their cars) on Shabbos when they have no obligation to kedushas Shabbos?
4. Lastly, consider people who live in other areas. There are parts of Midwood/Kensignton, for example, that have a very strong Pakistani population. Should they increase their numbers to become a strong majority (as Jews are in Boro Park), would you favor their requests to close off the streets for Fridays (or daily during Ramadan) if they claimed that it enhanced their appreciation of their holy days? What about Jews who live in areas that are otherwise nearly 100% Christian? Would you favor their being “trapped” in their towns on Sunday?
5. Lastly, there is the idea of political capital and spending it wisely. There are only so many things that we, as a community, can ask for from the government and the general populace. We therefore, need to assign priorities to the things we want and/or need. Is this a wise thing to be spending our political capital on when there are probably plenty of better issues with a larger benefit to the Orthodox Jewish community at large than this?
Please respond to each of these questions.
Thanks,
The Wolf