Administrators at a prominent chareidi seminary have canceled a planned trip to Mount Hermon after a forceful halachic ruling by Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein, who ruled that it is forbidden to enter the site due to its public desecration of Shabbos.

The ruling, published this week in the weekly Torah journal Divrei Chemed, prompted the seminary to shelve one of the main attractions planned for a two-day excursion in northern Israel. The expanded issue marked the journal’s 100th edition and included a detailed responsum from Rav Zilberstein addressing the question.

According to the report, the principal of a chareidi seminary approached Rav Zilberstein on behalf of the teaching staff. The educators explained that they were organizing a two-day trip and hoped to surprise and delight the students with a visit to Mount Hermon, particularly appealing during the winter season when the mountain is covered in snow.

The seminary administrators acknowledged that the site operates throughout the week and remains open on Shabbos, involving public chillul Shabbos. They asked whether, despite this, it might still be permissible to visit the area itself—without using the cable cars, sleds, or other attractions—arguing that Mount Hermon is fundamentally a public space, even if the site is managed by an operating authority.

Rav Zilberstein responded at length, ruling unequivocally that entering the site is prohibited. He explained that without the organized site, access to the mountain would not be reasonably possible. The operators paved the roads, leveled the terrain, and invested extensive resources to make the area accessible and enjoyable. As a result, even visiting without using the attractions is forbidden, since the site’s operation is inseparable from ongoing chillul Shabbos.

Beyond the technical prohibition, Rav Zilberstein emphasized the obligation to protest chillul Shabbos. He warned that there is no greater desecration of Hashem’s Name than observant Jews visiting a site that openly violates Shabbos, thereby lending legitimacy to its operation.

He added that if it were clear to the site’s management that chareidi visitors would stay away as long as it remains open on Shabbos, the resulting financial pressure might lead them to close on Shabbos. Anyone who goes there, he argued, indirectly assists the continued chillul Shabbos.

Rav Zilberstein concluded his ruling with an emotional outcry, expressing pain that educators would even feel the need to ask such a question. He drew a stark comparison, saying that had there been a sign at the entrance barring Jews, no one would consider entering such a place. Here too, he said, the large sign advertising that the site is open on Shabbos constitutes a direct affront to Heaven, making it unthinkable to even ask whether a visit could be permitted.

The ruling had an immediate impact. The seminary, heeding the guidance of Rav Zilberstein, canceled the planned visit to Mount Hermon and arranged alternative destinations for the students elsewhere in Israel.

{Matzav.com}