Tel Aviv - An Israeli rabbi has proposed a creative solution to observing Jews who wish to get their copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the Jewish Sabbath Saturday. If religious Harry Potter fans pay in advance, before the start of the Sabbath at sundown Friday, they are allowed to pick up their copy early Saturday if they walk to the bookstore and the salesperson is not Jewish, the Orthodox rabbi from Jerusalem told the Jerusalem Post, albeit on condition of anonymity.
Observant Jews are not allowed to work, buy or sell, and drive their cars on the Sabbath, considered a holy resting day in Judaism.
Israeli Trade and Industry Minister Eli Yishai, of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, has threatened to send inspectors to and fine bookstores in Israel who open their doors on Saturday to join in the worldwide first day of sales of the Potter book.
Israel's leading bookstore chain is not opening its stores throughout the country before the end of the Sabbath at sundown Saturday, but it is organizing several book-launching events, the main one in Tel Aviv's port which is due to start at midnight Friday, with sales starting there at 2.01 am Saturday.
The books, in English, will sell for 139 Israeli shekels (32.76 US dollars or 23.71 euros). A Hebrew translation is due in December.
