By COLlive reporter
Store owners in the Rmar Aviv Mall, Israel’s most expensive shopping center, are in an uproar after the managment forbade a Lubavitch chossid from entering.
Schneur Schneerson of Kfar Chabad was denied entry last week to the mall on Einstein Street in Tel Aviv where he regularly offers customers to put on Tefillin.
“I’m sorry, we are following instructions,” a security guard at the main entrance told him, noting that it came directly from the Vice President of Operations, according to Hebrew website Behadrei Haredim.
Store owners at the mall hurried over and vouched for the well-meaning Lubavitcher, but were told the decision was final.
Veteran Israeli entertainer and media personality Yehoram Gaon happened to witness the incident and expressed his dismay during his radio show on Kol Israel station.
“The instruction was not to allow such people to come in because they are posing inconvenience to people eating,” he said about Schneerson approaching customers at the food stands, and added that it reminded him of Nazi laws.
In a statement to Israeli media, the managment of the mall said that “The mall is open and welcomes the wider public without differences… In the mall there is a synagogue that is open during all business hours and we are not open on Shabbos.”
Ramat Aviv Mall, the 35th most expensive mall in the world, was once owned by businessman and philanthropist Lev Leviev, and includes a kosher branch of McDonald’s. Leviev’s Africa Israel sold its stake in 2009 to a company owned by the Ofer Brothers Group.
According to Israel law, a person who was refused entry into a public space can claim compensation of up to $12,000. But Schneerson himself didn’t sound bitter when asked about the incident.
“The Rebbe said that when there are obstacles and delays it’s a sign that it’s a great mitzvah and good things are being done,” he said. “Many people have put on Tefillin there and with Hashem’s help I will continue coming.”
VIDEO: The incident caught on camera
The guy in the black shirt is “Joe millionaire”
Love how the secular Jews are standing up for the religious Jew. True achdus
his intentions are to carry out a directive of the Rebbe zy”a.
I sense that he may need some advice in how to do it in a less intrusive manner.
People to have the right to eat in peace and say no to his requests.
ON SHNEER CAN DO THIS HE CRACKES ME UP
That security guy is joe amit the loony from770. Every day he started another business lol. Rolf!!!
“There are “religious” people that are not yet Chabad that make things difficult for us to function,because of their motivation of money which evokes angry responses from people”
what are you saying?!!!! what an awful way to think about other frum jews.
Your comments display sheer ignorance. Dont know who you are but the not yet religious Jews who were at the scene were all shocked at how the Chabadnik was treated and they all showed strong support for him. So don’t
offer your opinion.
Shame on management of the mall
Sir, open a dictionary to the word “discrimination”. You, like many others, are just not getting it. They did NOT deny him entry to the mall because he was religious. Period. they denied him entry because they received complaints about the Mivtzoim activities he was doing in there. The mall is fully entitled to deny someone entry in if they consider them a disturbance to their customers, and a threat to business. Now, the Rebbe’s Mivtzoim is very important, but while the Rebbe said to be strong and firm about it, the Rebbe never C”V said to harass, insult and… Read more »
I hate fights Things have to be figured out, I agree partly with Mall security, they don’t know how to handle it,
The dude was in 770 for a while, the black T he was kinda running Manhattan and selling sky scrapers Remember, he still has the large talk!
Hi, can someone call the mall to get their comment on this story? we’d love a follow up on what action they are taking. The number is 011-972-(0)3-6426612
A mall that wants to ‘control’ what is going on inside can do so without using the tactics they employed. They can ask him to leave his “bags” with the security guard. They can rent him a booth just like any other vendor. They can come up with creative ways to deal with it. (they can even say that he cannot do mivtzoim on the public parts of the mall) Discrimination is against the law. Just like it would be against the law to say to the black cop that he cannot come in because he is black. There are… Read more »
a jew is trying to do a mitzva and u are saying ” its regulations” “he cant!” etc!>?!?! what happened to u?!?!
I believe in the Jewish Folk and the Jewish Folk believe in G-d, Torah and Mitsvot…Golda Meir.
Hatslach, vechazakta ve ‘yiyu’ leish-keish echad belev echad.
The story behind the story is that this mall once belonged to Leviev. He was forced to sell during the crisis, and the new owners want to make sure the seculars, who are protesting the Chabad presence in Ramat Aviv, know they are on their side. The mall is no longer shomer Shabbos (many of the leftists protested this when Leviev was involved) and the shul was built by Leviev. Meanwhile, everyone stood up for Schneerson and made it clear that they wanted him in the mall. Only the new owners are inconvenienced by his presence. Hopefully, the wheel of… Read more »
Ramat Aviv has a history of anti-Jewish sentiment. When Rabbi Yossi Ginsburgh moved there and was starting his yeshiva, he faced a tremendous amount of hostility. He persisted and now has a successful yeshiva, much to the dismay of the Jewish anti-semites.
shneur shneurson ( whom i remember from australia) is probably the only tzadik around.
I’m surprised you don’t know the difference between missionising and doing Mivtzoim. Missionising is aimed mainly at people who are not of the same faith, and convincing them to convert. Mivtzoim is aimed at people of the same faith (Judaism), and convincing them to strengthen their commitment. In either case, forcing it down someones throat is repulsive, however as a general rule (there are obviously exceptions), missionising is done in a provocative way (“You”ll all go to hell unless you believ in jc”), where as Mivtzoim is done in a pleasant way (“Would you like to put on Tefillin”), and… Read more »
and put tefillin and sell(for ten cents) soldiers a letter in the Torah.It can be a distraction inside a mall,depending on the location and repoire with the management of the place.Sometimes you have to keep a low profile and accommodate their need to make a living,and go outside on the sidewalk.Sometimes you have to stand up to the yetzer hara,and fight.There are “religious” people that are not yet Chabad that make things difficult for us to function,because of their motivation of money which evokes angry responses from people.Most people want Chabad,and will accommodate us if we are careful.There is always… Read more »
I know the guy in the black shirt – He is a lubo at heart , he went off derech a bit.. was nice to see him stick up for the shliach!
We would support discrimination against Xian missionaries. We are against discrimination against mivtzo’im. What’s the difference? One thing: the Torah is true and the New Testament is false. Tefilin are holy and a cross is tamei. It really is as simple as that, and we should not be ashamed to say so. They’re not ashamed to say the opposite!
i dont know if u realized, but it said that they DID want him in there. thats what the whole argument was about.
I know this family, they cary so much love in anti-religious neighberhood, despite all the humilation, and this love does real miracles.
The guy with the black shirt is obviously defending the Lubavithcher (for #1)
they are all with the lubavitcher. The black shirt is tying to send off the black security guy.
We should never ever support discrimination against anybody for any reason, we must be at the forefront to promote tolerance and acceptance among all people, because if not, as we can all see in this video, we will be the ones who will be discriminated against. To quote Martin Niemoller, a Christian pastor when he was arrested by the Nazis: First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a communist; Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist; Then they… Read more »
Im very impressed how this Lubavitcher handled it. He kept calm and dignified. Kol hakavod to him.
to see them coming to his aid, to the point that he didn’t have to say anything.
to#1: yes he’s sticking up for him. he’s saying to let him in as “he invited schneur to eat with him”. Israelis 🙂 it’s funny how they argue.
The story has two sides to it.
I encourage readers to do a little digging of your own to find out the full story.
I wasn’t there, so I don’t know which side is telling the truth, but the mall did claim that this man was harassing customers. (And no, it was not just “would you like to put on Tefilin?”, because there are Bochrim who go there on Mivtzoim every week without any incident).
Of course, it could just be hate, but anyone with a half a brain should research this before jumping to conclusions.
agree
mi k’amcha israel
Solicitation of any type is forbiden on most malls here in the US. Cant see why it should be diferent in Isreal.
that gets governments to give away land to arabs. Screw this. Keep on truckin’ lubavs.
His purpose for going to the mall was to missionize (Mivztoim) shoppers. The mall doesn’t want missionary activity on its property and it banned Schneerson.
Nebach, he should station outside and get even MORE people! 🙂 Much Naches!
it was beautiful to watch the Non Religious Jews defending this lubavitcher and trying to get him in the mall. MI KEAMCHA YISROEL?!
is the man with the black security shirt sticking up for the shliach or not?