JERUSALEM — On the morning of Aug. 1, about 30 ultra-Orthodox Jews gathered outside Café Basimta, a coffee shop in central Jerusalem, to protest its decision to remain open on the Jewish Sabbath. By midmorning, what began as a small demonstration had grown to roughly 250 protesters, most in the characteristic Haredi dress of dark suit and fedora, streaming in from four different alleys and pressing toward the café entrance.
Yoel Ben David, who manages the café for Jews for Jesus, said the crowd was the largest he had seen since weekly protests began in June. Five police officers were on duty when the crowd surged. Counter-protesters, who numbered between 300 and 400 throughout the day, linked arms and tried to hold the line alongside officers. Ben David called his police contact to request reinforcements after protesters pushed past metal barricades and came within four feet of the café door.
"I was freaking out in my head," Ben David told Christianity Today, recalling the moment he feared the crowd would push through the entrance. A small police unit arrived first, but officers continued to clash with protesters for two hours before a larger unit arrived to contain the crowd. In prior weeks, demonstrators had overturned outdoor tables and banged on the café windows.
The protests are not a new phenomenon in Jerusalem. Ultra-Orthodox communities have long used demonstrations, pressure tactics and occasional vandalism to push businesses—including parking lots—to close on Saturdays, in line with the Fourth Commandment's prohibition on work during the Sabbath. Café Basimta, which Ben David said operates on Saturdays unlike most coffee shops in the area, has become the most visible current target.
Many of the demonstrators are young. Ben David said the crowds in recent weeks have included men and youth between the ages of 11 and 17, chanting in Yiddish: "Sabbath, sabbath!" and "Whoever breaks the Sabbath has no part in the world to come!"
Café Basimta is run by Jews for Jesus, an organization whose CEO, Aaron Abramson, said he anticipated some friction when the group opened a Jerusalem café with Saturday hours. He did not expect it to become a public flashpoint. Ben David has worked for Jews for Jesus for 22 years. The café is also one of the few businesses of its kind in the neighborhood that remains open on Saturdays; other hotels and restaurants in the area also operate through the Sabbath without attracting the same level of protest.
The weekly confrontations outside Café Basimta reflect a broader social division running through Israeli society. In Jerusalem, Haredi Jews make up roughly 46 percent of the Jewish population, while only 13 percent of Jerusalem's Jewish residents identify as secular. That demographic weight gives the ultra-Orthodox community political leverage over public life in the city—and over the question of which commercial activities are acceptable on Saturdays.
The conflict at the café sits alongside a much larger dispute over military service. Israel has conscription, but ultra-Orthodox men have historically received exemptions to study at religious seminaries, known as yeshivas. Secular Israelis, many of whom serve in the army and bear the costs of a war that has stretched on since the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, have grown increasingly vocal in their opposition to those exemptions. The combination of Sabbath-enforcement campaigns and military service exemptions has made the Haredi community a focal point of resentment for many secular Israelis, some of whom joined the counter-protests at the café specifically to express that anger.
Israel is heading toward elections, and the tension between religious and secular constituencies has become one of the defining fault lines of the campaign. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition depends on ultra-Orthodox political parties, giving those parties disproportionate influence over legislation affecting religious practice, public life and military service requirements. Secular and centrist opposition parties have made the military exemption issue central to their platforms.
The scene outside Café Basimta has drawn national and international attention precisely because it compresses those larger arguments into a single, legible image: coffee drinkers protected by a police cordon, young men in fedoras pressing against barricades, and no resolution in sight. The protests have continued for six consecutive weeks with no sign of stopping.
Ben David said he has no intention of changing the café's hours. The counter-protesters who showed up on Aug. 1 made the same point by staying through the day, holding the crowd back while customers inside continued to drink lattes and eat croissants.
