Jewish Groups Critical of Pennsylvania Senate on Sabbatarian Bill

Sixteen national and local Jewish organizations in Pennsylvania, speaking through the Pennsylvania Jewish Community Relations Conference, expressed keen disappointment today with legislative leaders in the Senate in Harrisburg for the failure of that body to enact the Sabbatarian Exemption Bill.

The measure, which was tabled in the Senate Judiciary General Committee, would have permitted an exemption to the Sunday Closing Law for those persons who observe their Sabbath on a day other than Sunday and keep their businesses closed that day. Persons affected by the legislation would have been Orthodox and traditionally observant Conservative Jews, Seventh Day Adventists, Seventh Day Baptists and other minority Protestant sects.

Introduced with the support of Governor Scranton, the measure was passed by an almost 3 to 1 margin in the House last April. On December 15, it was tabled for a second time in the Senate Judiciary General Committee by a vote of 8 to 6. A motion to discharge the committee and permit the measure to come to the Senate floor for a vote was defeated by a 25 to 11 margin.

In a statement released today, Murray H. Shusterman of Philadelphia, coordinator for the Sabbatarian Exemption Bill of the Pennsylvania Jewish Community Relations Conference, declared: “The failure of the legislature to pass the Sabbatarian Exemption Bill is a blow to religious freedom in the State. The principle that no person should be economically penalized for his religious beliefs as a result of Sunday Closing Laws has been widely accepted, and it is regrettable that some of the legislators lacked the vision to appreciate the need for the legislation.”

The PJCRC noted that failure to pass the Sabbatarian Exemption Bill leaves Pennsylvania behind most other states that have Sunday Closing Laws on their books. Twenty-one of the 34 states with such legislation have an exemption protecting the religious freedom of Sabbatarians.