A much-anticipated Michael Jackson concert has been rescheduled from a Saturday night to a Monday at the insistence of the fervently Orthodox, who feared a massive violation of the Sabbath by people traveling before sundown to the Saturday concert.
The superstar’s tour producer, Marcel Avram, explained at a news conference that the change was spurred by “our wish to respect the sentiments of the religious community and not to desecrate the Sabbath.”
The concert is planned for Sept. 20 in Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park.
The fervently Orthodox community had vehemently protested another recent Saturday night concert in Tel Aviv by the rock group Guns ‘N’ Roses.
The incident was a key factor in the decision by a fervently Orthodox rabbinical authority to withdraw a certificate of kashrut from Pepsi Cola, which sponsored the Guns ‘N’ Roses concert and is sponsoring the Jackson tour. Pepsi still holds two other valid kosher certificates here.
The change in the Jackson concert schedule will not affect the kashrut decision, sources said.
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