The Tel Aviv Municipality will not operate its bicycle rental service on Yom
Kippur, following a request made to Mayor Ron Huldai by a religious member of
the city council.
Shas faction member Beni Babayouf told
The Jerusalem
Post on Wednesday that he petitioned Huldai last week and asked him not to
operate the system on Yom Kippur so as to avoid offending the city’s religious
residents.
“Tel Aviv is a mixed city with both secular and religious
people who both respect and honor one another. The mayor understands this very
well and made the decision to respect this,” Babayouf said.“Yom Kippur is one of
the most important days to all of the Jewish people and it is forbidden to harm
it.”
In a statement issued this week, the municipality made no mention of
Babayouf’s request.
“Yom Kippur is a special day that is unique to the
State of Israel, and also a day in which the people of Israel voluntarily
refrain from driving their cars,” the statement said. “Due to the fact that
operating the bike rental will require employing people and dispatching vehicles
across the city, we have decided not to operate the bike rentals during Yom
Kippur.”
The municipality added that the customer service center for the
bike rentals would cease operations three hours before the beginning of the Yom
Kippur fast, and that rentals would be unavailable starting two hours before the
fast until two hours after its end.
Yom Kippur in Tel Aviv and the
surrounding communities is a cycling experience hard to find anywhere outside
Israel. The streets resemble a post-apocalyptic cityscape bereft of automobiles
with a stillness and silence broken only by the clicking of changing traffic
lights and the laughter of children and adults tearing through the streets on
bicycles.
In Tel Aviv the day is known as a sort of unofficial cycling
holiday, and in the days beforehand the bike shops are crowded with people
making last-minute purchases and repairs to take in the experience.
The
“Tel-o-fun” bike rental service went into operation earlier this year and is
available at dozens of rental stations across the city. The goal is to
eventually reach 150 stations.
Send us your stories and photosThe High Holidays are here, and as well as spending time with family and eating delicious food, the period is a time to reflect on the year that has passed and look forward to the year ahead. It’s a time to think about fresh starts and new experiences that have influenced our lives over the past year.
Please send us a short description of a fresh new start that has been significant to you over the past year. We also want to see your pictures from the event so please send them in too.
Email stories and pictures to lifestyle@jpost.com. The person who sends in the best story and picture will win a two-night stay in a Jerusalem hotel.