Israel Matzav

Rolling Stones to do Shavuoth

When I first reported the Rolling Stones concert in Tel Aviv, someone pointed it that it's on Shavuoth. I thought it would start after the holiday, and it is. But barely. If you're keeping the holiday, you probably cannot go to the concert unless you live within walking distance. Here's why.

Gates open at Tel Aviv's Hayarkon Park for the concert at 5:30 p.m., three hours before the holiday ends. The iconic band is expected to take the stage right at the end of the holiday, at 8:30 p.m., reports Yedioth Ahronoth. As a result, religious fans will have to arrive late, or miss the show altogether.

MK Nissan Slomiansky (Jewish Home) is among the Rolling Stones fans who are sorely disappointed by the timing of the concert. He contacted promoter Shuki Weiss who arranged the concert on Wednesday, and asked him to postpone the show a day or move it forward two days.

"On Israeli Memorial Day they wouldn't have let something like this happen. Something is messed up here. Only money is important? What about our values?" lambasted Slomiansky.

"It cannot be that they'll hold a concert that will cause a desecration of the holiday by hundreds of thousands of Jews," noted Slomiansky. "It's not logical to force the Israel police to work from two in the afternoon...and harm the honor of the holiday of the giving of the Torah."
Remarking on the widespread observance of the holiday, Slomiansky added "precisely on a holiday that the non-religious public joins in Torah study, such a massive event comes along, which one can't really attend without desecrating the holiday.

But promoter Shuki Weiss has a history of this sort of thing.

Weiss reportedly pledged the band $6.7 million for the one-night show. Slomiansky noted this isn't the first controversial move by Weiss, saying "last time he tried to bring the band Depeche Mode on (the fast day of) Tisha B'av, and in the end they didn't come."

Slomiansky took a picture of himself wearing a Rolling Stones shirt, to express that "I don't have anything against the band, the opposite. It's an excellent and important band, and I value that they're coming to Israel at a timing like this, when many are boycotting. But why can't religious Jews like us go enjoy the performance?"

Oh well. My kids were sort of daring me to go. Now for sure it won't happen. Not that I was likely to spend that much money on a ticket in the first place.... 

Labels: Rolling Stones, Shavuoth, Tel Aviv

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:42 AM