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Friday June 18, 2004

Ruling on pork prohibition drives some Israelis hog wild

by hilary leila krieger
jerusalem post service

jerusalem | Leonid stocks two types of plastic bags in his small Beit Shemesh grocery store: clear light blue and solid black.

The latter are for the customers who are “afraid of their neighbors.” In other words, they don’t want it known that their packages contain one of the many pork products filling the display case running the length of the narrow shop.

With the Israeli Supreme Court ruling Monday, June 14, forbidding districts with a large public demand for the sale of pork from prohibiting its sale, Beit Shemesh residents who yearn for ham and bacon might feel more comfortable coming out of the closet.

Even before the court decision, Beit Shemesh hadn’t managed to enforce its own bylaws, which ordered all businesses selling pig products to relocate to the town’s peripheral industrial zone. But since the decision specifically calls for the retraction of the city law, owners of centrally located stores such as Leonid can breathe a sigh of relief.

“It’s important because there’s no limit,” he said, explaining that now no one can come into his store and say he must close.

Alex Itskovitch, a Beit Shemesh resident who was relaxing with friends at a table outside another local pork vendor the day after the decision, agreed that it is a positive one but not enough.

He said the issue will resurface soon as religious groups try to find new ways to forbid the sale of pork.

“It will always come back,” he said, despite the fact that Israel’s supposed to be “a democratic country where every man and woman can eat what he wants.”

Not so, according to Yossi, a kippah-wearing Beit Shemesh resident who is less happy than Itskovitch with the ruling. “This is a Jewish state,” he said. Eating pork is “forbidden.”

The government, he added, needs to close down the pork shops lining Rehov Yitzhak Rabin, where he was walking.

Nearby a religious woman, Rachel, defended the right of individuals to eat what they please, even if that includes traif. But stores that cater to non-kosher tastes should operate outside the center of town, she added.

Just recently, she said, “I walked into a store and thought I was going to buy bread, and I see that they’re selling pork.”

Leonid and his customers, however, said moving to the periphery wouldn’t be feasible.

Besides, Leonid said he doesn’t believe he’s disturbing anyone, religious or not: “We don’t sell in the street. We sell in a store.”

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