And this one is serious, folks, or so you'd think from reading the first paragraphs of this JPost article:
[ . . . ] For those uninitiated into the literary frenzy, at exactly 12:01 a.m. British time Saturday, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince goes on sale around the world. Everywhere, that is, except bookstores in much of Israel.
It's not that Ben-Gurion Airport's architects forgot to include Terminal 9 3/4 in their new hi-tech designs, but 12:01 that morning poses a serious challenge to Israeli fans hoping to seize an immediate copy of the book. Not only is this the eerie witching hour, but it also happens to be Shabbat. So while fans around the globe will be storming bookshops to grab their long-reserved copies of J.K. Rowling's sixth bestseller, many Israelis are being forced to grin and bear the suspense for a whole extra day.
Except they're really not. As the article then goes on to explain.
Even if Halacha were taught at Hogwarts, wizards might need magical assistance to penetrate the intricacies of the laws and bylaws governing Israel's Shabbat status quo. They mean that no book store in Jerusalem will be open, but that 12 Steimatzky stores elsewhere – including those in Haifa, Herzliya and Rishon Lezion – will be, and they'll be selling Harry Potter hardbacks at a 25% discount all day Saturday. Those in Ga'ash and Ben-Gurion Airport are even set to open at 2 a.m. Vendors said Thursday that they were expecting thousands of buyers and were busy stocking their shelves in anticipation.
Steimatzky branches in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv will reopen Saturday night from 9 to 11 as a special favor to anxious Harry Potter fans, many of whom have already ordered and paid for their long-awaited 672-page knuckle-clutchers. "We work according to the law," the storekeeper on the Rehov Ben-Yehuda branch of Steimatzky's said simply.
So those devoted non-observant fans who simply can't wait do have options. And, to state the obvious, observant readers wouldn't be buying the book on Shabbat anyway.
But how insensitive to release the book on Shabbat, eh? Oh, wait. That's someone else's line.
Anyway, as I recall, the last two books were released on Shabbat as well. People survived. So was this story really worthy of a headline?
How about: Harry Potter and the Spirit of Shabbat?
And in that spirit,
Shabbat Shalom.
