El Al desecrates the Jewish Sabbath and the Orthodox fight back with a boycott.
Potential ultra-Orthodox boycott threatens to cripple El Al airlines
By Yair Ettinger, Haaretz Correspondent
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/796900.html
December 5, 2006, Kislev, 5767

Monday morning the storm around El Al's desecration of the Sabbath on Friday was transformed from a consumer uproar and struggle to preserve "the sanctity of the Sabbath," into a saga in which the "finger of God" was visible to many.

El Al flight LY007 had taken off from Tel Aviv for New York a little after 11:30 A.M., when a problem was discovered in the rudder system. As the captain jettisoned fuel over the sea in preparation for an emergency landing back at Ben-Gurion International Airport, panic broke out among the passengers. "People thought it was the end; everyone was shaking," a passenger, Eliezer Karlibach, said. "Even a secular person seated next to me totally panicked and said it was all happening because of the desecration of the Sabbath."

The plane landed safely and repairs were made. Before the plane took off again, Karlibach told Haaretz, "It was a miracle, no doubt about it, it was from Heaven."

Even before Friday's drama, a number of ultra-Orthodox passengers canceled their El Al tickets at the last moment and decided to fly another company. Many are said to believe that the plane's mechanical fault was a sign of divine confirmation of a statement Sunday by Rabbi Haim Kanievsky, an influential figure of the Lithuanian stream, broadcast on the community's Kol Hai radio station, that flying El Al endangered life. The trickle of a cancellation has turned into a stream, with ultra-Orthodox travel agents reporting hundreds of cancellations.

These statements followed Lithuanian sector leader Rabbi Yosef Sholom Elyashiv's consternation regarding El Al's failure to "fear desecration of Shabbat," despite the fact that it is the most terror-threatened airline in the world.

The storm began over the fact that despite the efforts of ultra-Orthodox MKs, on Thursday and Friday, El Al decided to permit flights to leave Israel shortly before the onset of Shabbat to make up for flights delayed during a nationwide strike last week. The flights took off on Friday afternoon and continued operating into the Sabbath, in defiance of the national carrier's traditional Shabbat observance.

Another traveler, Nahum Karlinsky, who was on the plane to New York, told Haaretz that about 150 ultra-Orthodox passengers were on the flight to New York. Like him, many had received permission from their rabbis to fly El Al, in spite of the Sabbath desecration. "Many rabbis, including the Gerer Rebbe, said it was alright to fly this time because canceling the tickets would cause financial loss," Karlinsky, a well-known public figure in Bratslav Hasidic circles, said. "My rabbi knows I fly El Al all the time -I'm even a member of the frequent flier club. But he told me 'this is your last fight on El Al.'"

Also in the wake of the strike, on Thursday El Al served non-kosher food to its passengers, adding another infraction of Jewish law to the grievance against them. On the airline's flight from Moscow, non-kosher sandwiches purchased locally were served in lieu of the meals that had spoiled after a 24-hour delay had kept the plane from taking off.

In an El Al official response they said the passengers had been notified ahead of time that the food served would not be kosher, and also fruit was offered as a substitute.

However, it is doubtful that these events will give rise to an organized ultra-Orthodox boycott of El Al. The rabbinic committee on matters pertaining to Shabbat, a forum that includes all central streams of ultra-Orthodox Judaism, met again, Monday, to consider its response to El Al's actions.

Some time this week, they are expected to formulate an announcement to be signed by rabbis of all ultra-Orthodox sectors.

Ultra-Orthodox powerbrokers, who met Monday with Israir representatives, said that the domestic carrier is prepared to cease flying on the Sabbath if the community makes increased use of its services.

In regard to negotiations with Israir, Shabbat committee chairman Rabbi Yitzhak Goldknopf, told Haaretz, "We were in contact with them in the past, but we didn't take it seriously because we were committed to El Al. After El Al breached our trust, we consider ourselves free of any obligation."

The non-organized boycott began to expand even before leading rabbis came out with statements against the airline. The committee announced it was preparing to announce "harsh steps." An official boycott could deal a fatal blow to El Al as it would obligate not only ultra-Orthodox travelers from Israel, but also tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox travelers from abroad. The rabbis of the national religious stream would also be expected to join the decision.

El Al CEO Haim Romano called the committee of rabbis for a meeting but was rebuffed Monday night.

Romano told Haaretz Monday he did not believe a decision to boycott El Al would pass. "El Al is sensitive to the needs of the ultra-Orthodox public and will, therefore, avoid changing its policy by flying on Shabbat, except in extraordinary cases, like those which took place last weekend. We are convinced that the entire public understands the circumstances and respects El Al's loyalty to its clientele."

El Al CEO Haim Romano however said Monday that he does not rule out the option of conducting flights on the Sabbath under specific circumstances. "One must remember that the airport operates seven days a week," he said, "and I expect the religious community to accommodate us as we have accommodated them over the years."

Ultra-Orthodox passengers represent 20-30 percent of the clientele on El Al flights. Ultra-Orthodox passengers typically fly during certain seasons of the year, and to certain destinations. They represent a larger percentage of passengers on flights to New York and London, than they do on flights to the Far East. The great majority of ultra-Orthodox passengers do not fly throughout the year, like business passengers. They tend to fly during Jewish holiday seasons and in summer, following the three-week mourning period that precedes Tisha B'Av.

"Talkback":

Simshalom:

Who are El Al`s customers? The customer is always right!

All the shouting and insults back and forth are missing the point.
El Al is a Jewish owned business and it needs to decide who its cutomer base is. If Haredim and all manner of Orthodox Jews make up a huge percentage of its passengers then it has no choice but to satisfy their needs.

Just as the Jewish owner of a HOTEL or a STORE would try to please his Shommer Shabbat clients, so too El Al is obliged to respect and cater to its Jewish religious patrons as a professional courtesy and reflecting good business sense.

If it can`t figure out such a simple things, out of self-respect and as part of customer satisfaction, then the religious Jews and their rabbis have every right to take their business elsewhere.
This is not rocket science, it`s basic business 101. And in business you need to know on which side the bread is buttered and that "The customer is always right!" - even if the customer is a Orthodox and Haredi Jew.

"SJ" replies:

no to the Ultra Orthadox

Actaully Orthadox passengers at the most are between 20 and 30 %. So they boycot EL Al and ... so what is their alternative, they have none. In order for EL Al to survive as a competitive airline they must be convenient for the majority of passengers thats the other 70-80%. Here in Israel we are constantly threatend by these religious fantics that are trying to force and threaten us in every aspect of life, with their curses and threats.
Freedom and democracy must always come first.

Simshalom says:

No business can afford to lose 20-30% of its customers.

Hi SJ: Again, one needs to cut out the emotionalism and prejudice against any group. If it is because of the personal hate that secular Israelis feel for Haredim and the Orthodox that El Al is willing to fly on Shabbat and therefore shoot itself in the foot by alienating about a third of its customers then so be it. Haredim pay good money for their seats that fill up the planes. Don`t fool yourself, there are plenty of ways to fly, planes are chartered all the time and any savvy business person could fill up charter flights for Haredim or anyone - but that won`t be necessary at this time in any case since there are enough other international carriers that fly to and from Israel.

It`s not as if all this is something new to El Al, they just can`t seem to keep a steady focus on the BOTTOM LINE: of both the importance of Shabbat for ALL Jews (not just the Orthodox) and not losing ANY customers so that they can make a profit from their company, which can be switched to many other airlines.

"SJ" responds:

Ok so they boycott EL Al so who are they going to fly with ? Lets not forget the good old days of Tower Air which because of the cheaper tickets used to have maninly Orthadox passengers.
You also say the importance of Shabbat for all jews well exscuse me i think we still have freedom of choice as this issue is concerned, what gives one group the right to impose that on the rest of us. bottom line is if you want to be religious thats your choice but dont force it on ohter people.

Simshalom:

You can`t offend your customer base and stay in business.

El Al had the prestige a the national carrier of Israel, even tho now it`s private. It cannot ignore Shabbat as the official Jewish "day of rest" just as Sunday is to Christians and Friday to Muslims. Shabbat is observed in specific ways, something that the Orthodox did not "invent." Imagine if Saudi Air or Egypt Air did things on Ramadan or served pork that went against Islam, or if Alitalia or Iberia did things to offend Catholics, they`s lose business and would have to reconsider and not offend their religiously devout passengers.

Don`t kid yourself, there is no shortage of spare planes sitting on the salt plains of Utah and Arizona waiting to be chartered and plenty of airlines that fly in and out of Israel everyday would be more than happy to have as many paying customers they can get, Orthodox Jews included.

Your example of Tower Air is missing the point, plenty of major carriers have gone bankrup too, and it could happen to El Al if it ticks off enough paying customers.

John Krew asks "SJ":

How precisely are you being "forced" to be religious. A religious Jew does not fly with a Jewish airline desecrating the Jewish Sabbath because for him there is a palpable danger in doing so. So have decreed the rabbinical sages who are authoritative for him. How is that forcing *you* to be religious?

Simshalom:

Shabbat@Israel =day of rest =Judaism =Good business policy!

SJ: Why do you keep on mentioning Tower Air? Who cares, it`s like talking about PanAm or Eastern Arlines or any defunct carrier. At the present time the reality is that the Haredim and Orthodox passengers make up about 30% of El Al`s passengers (probably higher on many routes when Haredim are the vast majority of passengers on many flights) and if El Al can`t figure out a way to make these customers happy then, like any other unhappy customers, they will take their business to other airlines that are not run by Jews so the factor of if they work on Shabbat or not does not enter the picture and the Haredim and Orthodox will give their business to British Airways or KLM or any other gentile-run carrier. Or to the other Israeli carrier IsrAir. Or they will simply CHARTER planes and fill them up. This is about business and anti-religious hysteria and prejudice should be avoided.
It`s all about "the bottom line" and El Al needs to wake up and smell the coffee!

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El Al says it will not fly on Sabbath, amid threats of ultra-Orthodox boycott
By Reuters
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/799618.html
Tue., December 12, 2006 Kislev 21, 5767

Israel's national carrier El Al Israel Airlines said on Monday it had no intention of flying on the Sabbath and was still trying to defuse a crisis with ultra-Orthodox customers over the issue.

El Al has drawn the ire of Israel's ultra-Orthodox community, an important source of revenue, after recently flying several flights on Saturday - the Jewish holy day of rest - to clear a backlog.
This has resulted in growing calls by ultra-Orthodox Jewish leaders to boycott the airline.

The ultra-Orthodox community accounts for between 20 and 30 percent of El Al's passengers, and Israeli media have estimated potential loss of revenue of $300 million from a full boycott.

The firm's chief executive officer, Haim Romano, said talks were continuing with rabbinical leaders to resolve the issue.

"There is no boycott," he told reporters on the sidelines of Israeli business conference in Tel Aviv. "El Al has no intention to fly on the Sabbath."

"We have decided this issue is not on the agenda," he added.

Romano declined to comment on potential losses. "The ultra-Orthodox are our clients, and we intend to serve them," he said.

While El Al was a state-owned company it abided by demands from observant Jews not to fly on the Sabbath, which runs from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday.

El Al was privatized in 2004, and there had been some speculation that the airline would start flying on Saturday owing to competitive pressures from European and U.S. carriers, as well as smaller Israeli rival Israir.

But the carrier kept a taboo on Sabbath flights owing to a fear of losing religious clients.

The latest religious fall-out for El Al began in late November when, struggling to catch up with lost flights after a strike by Israeli airport staff, the airline flew several times late on Friday.

Israeli media reported that ultra-Orthodox leaders had demanded a written commitment from El Al that it would never fly on the Sabbath again.

Such a commitment would effectively make the airline beholden to Halakha, the strict body of Jewish law, but it remains unclear if the airline would be willing to sign a legally binding religious document.

Asher Sapir, an ultra-Orthodox client of El Al who was attending the business conference, said he would not fly with the airline at the moment.

"The rabbis decided that the national carrier needs to show
that it is a Jewish carrier of the Jewish state," said Sapir, who heads a pension fund. "The rabbis have not signed any boycott of El Al."

"I hope the current situation will be resolved. Some rabbis have requested us not to fly El Al for now."

El Al has said it would post a yearly net loss. In November it reported a sharp decline in third-quarter net profit after a month-long war with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas in the period pushed tourism down by 31 percent.

El Al posted a quarterly net profit of $1.8 million compared with $52.2 million a year earlier. Revenue in the quarter fell to $447 million from $485.2 million.

"Talkback":

Simshalom:

Hysteria? Honoring Shabbat isn`t new. El Al can`t change Judaism.

Hello? Is Shabbat a "new invention" of Haredim? Anybody heard of the Ten Commandments? It`s right up there with instructions about belief in God, not murdering, and honoring your parents. So to those who suddenly break out in a sweat of hysteria and vent blindly against Haredi "extremism" - you are missing the point. Big time.

Shabbat observance has been with us since the start of the Israelites and Judaism, and thank God, there are many hundreds of thousands of Shabbat-observant Jews today and they have ALWAYS been El Al`s most loyal customers. El Al had traditionally respected Shabbat because as Israel`s premier carrier it too honored Israel`s national day of rest which was also a mark of respect to all Jews, particularly all Orthodox Jews and not just Haredim.

El Al is waking up and smelling the coffee, that you cannot brush off a third of your most reliable customers and think that you are getting away with "economic murder" when in reality it`s committing "economic suicide."

----

El Al losing NIS 1 million daily to unofficial ultra-Orthodox boycott

By Zohar Blumenkrantz,
Haaretz Correspondent
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/801392.html
15/12/2006

The crisis that broke out between the ultra-Orthodox and El Al two weeks ago is beginning to affect the company. An El Al source said Thursday that the company estimates it is losing NIS 1 million per day, which may worsen if the ultra-Orthodox community declares an official boycott of the carrier.

Meanwhile, the company is trying to minimize its losses with a more energetic marketing campaign among the secular public, with emphasis on weekend packages for couples. Haaretz has learned that the airline allotted 3,500 tickets for the special offers aimed at secular couples interested in a weekend vacation abroad.

A Wednesday meeting between El Al CEO Haim Romano and the rabbinic committee on safeguarding Shabbat did not bring a solution any closer.

The crisis erupted two weeks ago, following an El Al decision to allow a number of its flights to take off after the beginning of Shabbat. The flight schedule had been disrupted when airport workers participated in a nationwide strike two days earlier.

The rabbinic committee on Shabbat represents all ultra-Orthodox groups, and would like El Al to appoint a rabbi to decide whether the carrier may schedule flights in exceptional circumstances on Shabbat.

Both sides reported that the meeting Wednesday was held in a "very positive atmosphere" following instructions by leading rabbinic leaders to "do everything possible" to reach an agreement.

At the meeting, Romano said El Al considers its Haredi customers important clients, and vowed to "do everything so that they would continue to fly" with the carrier.

The ultra-Orthodox community has imposed a de facto boycott on El Al, even though one has not been officially declared by community leaders.

Nonetheless, when the Haredi public seeks the advice of rabbis on the matter, their view is unequivocal: stay off El Al. The Haredi press is also stating that leading rabbis, both in Israel and abroad, have chosen to use other airlines.

Other carriers appear to have taken advantage of the opportunity to tap into the Haredi market. Air Canada advertised Wednesday in a Haredi newspaper, promising benefits to passengers and Glatt Kosher meals.

In its efforts to counter its losses, El Al is offering packages of $399 per couple for flights to Athens and Istanbul, while similar packages to Western Europe are on offer for $599.

According to company sources, the package is tailored to suit the Israeli public, which likes taking short winter vacations.

"Talkback":

Secular fly by nights cannot make up for Orthodox customer base.

Hopefully El Al is learning it`s lesson that it cannot take it`s Orthodox customer base for granted.

American Haredim in particular are reliable in their commitments to flying back and forth from Israel to destinations in North America. Tens of thousands of Haredi young men and women study in yeshivas and seminaries in Israel and they fill hundreds of regular El Al flights.

Haredim fly for family reasons, to visit their children and relatives and they are NOT taking joy rides like secular Israelis who like to travel to Cyprus, "Athens and Istanbul" places which Haredim avoid.

Haredim fly long distances by the tens of thousands from cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, London, and as far afield as Johannesburg and Sydney, putting big bucks into El Al`s coffers. El Al cannot hide the truth, that one cannot trample on Haredi sensiblities and expect them to be silent and accept abuse. The Haredim are getting smart, El Al should get the message.

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El Al, rabbis reach deal after 5 weeks

By Yair Ettinger
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/810093.html
Sun., January 07, 2007 Tevet 17, 5767

Representatives for El Al and the rabbinical committee for shabbat preservation signed an agreement on Friday that regulates the relationship between the national air carrier and the ultra-Orthodox community, bringing to an end a five-week crisis.

"This is a very important achievement for the Haredi community," said the committee's secretary, Yitzhak Goldknopf, yesterday. "A large company accepted in full the demands of the rabbinical leaders," he added.

In the agreement, signed in the offices of attorney Ya'akov Weinrot, who represents the rabbis, El Al promises to keep the sabbath, as it has since 1982. In addition, if the carrier has to operate flights on Shabbat, like it did five weeks ago because of a strike at the airport, it would first have to consult with Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar. If the rabbi is not convinced there is an emergency situation that justifies the violation of Shabbat, and the airline chooses to proceed with the flights, this action will be perceived as a violation of the agreement.

If such a violation should occur, the airline will not reimburse ticket holders who choose to cancel their travel plans with El Al (as the committee first demanded), but the money will be transferred to the state medical basket, a compromise proposal put forth by the representative of the Admor of Gur on the committee.

During the crisis, the leading rabbis did not order their followers to boycott El Al, but in practice an unofficial boycott by Haredi customers took place.

Ultra-Orthodox in Israel and abroad transferred their patronage from El Al to other airlines, and those who had booked flights with the national carrier canceled them.

The unofficial boycott, which caused El Al significant losses, was led primarily by the Haredi press and in questions sent to rabbis by the faithful.

Many rabbis told the community that "under the present circumstances" they should not fly with El Al.

Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger said the agreement was a welcome development and called on other commercial airlines to "follow in El Al's footsteps."

MK Yakov Cohen (United Torah Judaism) said, "The major beneficiary from this agreement is the company, which will once more enjoy the trust of hundreds of thousands of its customers who observe the Shabbat."

Goldknopf refused to reveal the details of the agreement, arguing that he would like to preserve the "dignity of those involved in the negotiations." He also refused to discuss the disagreements that had kept the issue unresolved these past weeks.

However, El Al said some of the rabbinical committee's main demands were not accepted. Among them were the demand for a veto-wielding rabbi who would rule on company decisions, as well as specifying sanctions against the airline in case the agreement was violated.

Criticism was voiced regarding some of the ultra-Orthodox interlocutors, and El Al said the crisis could have been resolved three weeks ago.

MK Avraham Ravitz (UTJ) concurred, saying the negotiations involved persons who were not familiar with the "nature of negotiations."
- posted by Izak @ 11:16 PM