Every once in a while a stormy and passionate public debate flares in Israel on the issue of public transportation on the Sabbath, the Jewish day of worship and rest. In fact, its status as a day of rest in the Jewish community was recognized even before the establishment of the State of Israel, as stipulated in the 1947 status quo letter sent by Prime Minister-designate David Ben-Gurion to the Jewish Orthodox leadership. The status quo arrangement has not changed much since, notwithstanding the position held by the majority of the public in favor of transportation on the Sabbath.

However, it seems that this time, something is indeed going to change. Social media networks have reshaped the public discourse on this issue, and its impact. This was witnessed, for instance, ahead of Passover in April 2015, when a protest against disabling public transportation on the Sabbath and Jewish holidays swept social media in Israel, and Internet surfers posted a weekend carpool board on the Facebook wall of Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz.

Katz was outraged. And the most effective response to his disdainful dismissal of the initiative was provided by a group of enterprising Jerusalem residents — 12 social activists and idealists mobilized by Laura Wharton, a Jerusalem City Council member on behalf of the Meretz Party. On the evening of May 1, as the Sabbath began, they launched the "Shabus" initiative — a cooperative transportation service enabling its members to move around the city during the Sabbath. The service is operated by a cooperative association, so as to circumvent the Israeli law banning public transportation on the Sabbath and holidays. The group set up a crowdsourcing account on the Israeli Headstart website, and anyone contributing at least 50 Israeli shekels (about $13) was granted a yearlong membership in the association along with his family, including children up to the age of 18. So far, about 111,000 shekels (just over $28,800) has been raised through donations from the association's 500 members.

A Palestinian minibus company based in East Jerusalem has been hired to run the service. "We scheduled the routes, taking into account the assessed needs of passengers [and] modifying the itinerary according to the residential neighborhoods of new members," said Daniel de-Shalit, a student living in Jerusalem who is one of the cooperative's leaders. On the debut evening, dozens of passengers were waiting at stations along the predetermined route. They boarded the minibuses and traveled to various entertainment sites in the city.