A few years ago, I took an 8-day guided tour of Israel. We arrived at a marvelous hotel right by the Dead Sea on Friday afternoon a couple of hours before the Jewish Sabbath would begin. I didn't think much about that until I decided to go down to the basement restaurant for dinner. I was staying on about the 28th floor. I got in the elevator and pushed the basement button, but it didn't work! After a couple of minutes it automatically descended to the 27th floor and stopped. But no one had pushed the button, and so, no one got on! After a couple of minutes, the door closed and I descended to the 26th floor. Once again, no one got on and the elevator waited for no reason for a couple of minutes! This happened on every floor all the way down. Eventually we reached a floor where a couple of other tourists got on. It seemed like an hour before we got to the basement floor. At first I was annoyed by these tedious delays, but then it hit me--this was the Sabbath and the Jews considered pushing an elevator button as doing work on the Sabbath! So the elevator was put on automatic to stop on every floor. Sheesh! When I finally got the basement restaurant, there was a long buffet with all kinds of meats and other foods. So like a fool, I searched for sausage, bacon, ham, or pork chops among the buffet items. Then it dawned on me. Israelis don't compromise on their Sabbath laws for naïve demanding Gentile tourists! I giggled at how slowly this realization dawned on me!
When our tour bus finally left the Dead Sea area the next morning for Jerusalem, it was of course still the Sabbath. As we drove by a Jerusalem suburb, I was amazed to see hundred so people walking, apparently long distances to synagogue service. No cars anywhere in sight in that suburb. Thank goodness our bypass road was available for us tourists. Many conservative Jews consider driving a car ib the Sabbath to be work. I wondered where the various lines were drawn among various religious Jews on what was and was not deemed to be working on the Sabbath.
