Claiming store is synagogue, Ramat Gan shop owner reopens, is fined

2 November 2020, 2:18 pm

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Numerous shop owners open their stores in defiance of national lockdown measures requiring they remain closed.

In Ramat Gan, the owner of a secondhand clothing shop hangs a sign reading “synagogue” on his store, protesting the government’s decision to allow houses of worship to reopen but not shops. The store owner, Avi Avikar, is hit with a NIS 5,000 fine for opening in violation of the lockdown.

“What I did is invited people to come and pray in my store, so I can observe the guidelines and [people can] buy and support our operations,” he tells the Walla news site.

Avikar says a cop and municipal inspector who came to the store weren’t buying that it was a synagogue and ordered him to take down the sign.