Chief rabbis oppose trains running on Shabbat to help returning Israelis stranded abroad leave airport

Chief rabbis Kalman Ber and David Yosef send a letter to Transportation Minister Miri Regev, protesting the decision to run trains from Ben-Gurion Airport to Tel Aviv on Shabbat to help Israelis returning to the country after being stranded abroad amid the conflict with Iran.

“We hereby protest vigorously against the mass desecrations of the Sabbath planned for this coming Shabbat, conducted officially by the Government of Israel, in situations where there is certainly no element of pikuah nefesh whatsoever, and without consultation with the Rabbis,” they write in the document, disseminated by a Rabbinate spokesperson.

Pikuah nefesh, or matters of life and death, is a concept in Jewish law that allows one to break Shabbat to save a life or protect someone’s health, and it is at times interpreted broadly.

Earlier today, Israel Railways announced that between Friday at 1 p.m. and Sunday morning, it would run trains between the airport and the Tel Aviv Savidor Station on a “fill-and-go” basis.

According to the latest data, 120,000 Israelis currently abroad seek to return to Israel. The Transportation Ministry estimates that the current operation to bring home Israelis will take 7-10 days, depending on the security situation and scope of air traffic operations.

Only Arkia and Israir are planning to operate flights on Shabbat, as they regularly do, but not the Israeli main carrier El Al.