A rabbi in a West Bank community has ruled that home construction by non-Jewish workers can take place on Shabbat.
Ofra Rabbi Avi Gisser’s ruling will allow foreign and Palestinian laborers to work seven days a week building new homes in the community located near the Palestinian city of Ramallah in order to complete as many homes as possible before Israel’s Supreme Court orders new construction halted.
The fear of an order halting construction comes after Israeli human rights organizations and residents of a Palestinian village next to Ofra brought a complaint to the High Court claiming that nine new homes are being built on privately owned Palestinian land.
According to Jewish law, Jews cannot ask non-Jews to work for them on Shabbat.
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