Secular activists have arranged a protest picnic, outraged over the announced Shabbos closure of Landver Café in Independence Park in Yerushalayim. Yediot Yerushalayim reported the café responded to pressure and agreed to close its doors on Shabbos, a decision which now seems to have resulted in secular protests demanding the reopening of the café on Shabbos.

The tender to operate the café was won by Adi Telmor and his partner attorney Ron Fleisher. The city was pleased amid the realization that Telmor has a record of revitalizing failed cafes while catering to secular party-goers on Shabbos. Telmor is a partner in a number of cafes and eateries, and in this case, he decided to lease it out to a third party, Landver Café. The location is the Landver chain’s third in the capital. The branch in Jerusalem’s Cinema City has kashrus supervision.

Landver first planned to operate on Shabbos and Yomtov, but changed its mind and opted to open a kosher mehadrin branch that will of course be shut on Shabbos and Yomim Tovim.

Secular activists this coming Shabbos plan to hold a protest picnic outside the café to make their point. They will be distributing free coffee to passersby as well and they are using Facebook and other social media to increase the scope of their “open on Shabbos” campaign.

Meretz Jerusalem leader Mario Shectman reports over 200 participants signed up to take part in the protest event on the first day it went public. Councilmen Papa Allalu of Meretz adds “Of course one cannot compel the operator to open on Shabbos but in this case, which has been selected in advance, it has been decided to launch the campaign to revitalize the center of the city on Shabbos. The conditions and venue were selected towards achieving the goal and there is a great deal of motivation among the young and young families who wish to remain in Jerusalem and this includes a realization of what one can do in the city on Shabbos”.

The café is scheduled to open its doors in two weeks. Its Tel Aviv branches operate on Shabbos as does the Jerusalem branch in the ‘Mitcham HaTachana’. As mentioned, other branches are kosher and closed on Shabbos, like the Cinema City branch.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)