Discontinue Sabbath Street Closing; Short Sabbath Day, Cold Weather, Reasons

The experimental project to ban vehicular traffic on Saturdays from two Brooklyn neighborhoods densely populated by Orthodox Jews–Williamsburg and Boro Park–has been discontinued. Rabbi Bernard Weinberger, a leader in the drive for the car ban which went into effect on October 18, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that “although the effort was well received by the residents in both areas, the streets were relatively deserted because of the shortness of the Sabbath and the cold weather which has set in.” Rabbi Weinberger stated that the project would probably be resumed in the springtime when the “longer Sabbath day and warmer weather would be more conducive to leisurely Sabbath strolling.”