BOSTON (AP) – When the state had a day of tax-free shopping last year, Lev Friedman was upset. His book and gift shop in Brookline, Kolbo Fine Judaica, closes between Friday and Sunday for the Sabbath, and so he missed out when the Legislature scheduled the statewide bonanza for a sales-slow Saturday in August.

Lawmakers are considering making the tax holiday into a two-day affair, to include observant Jews who don’t shop on Saturday.

“I think it’s the right thing for the Legislature to do,” said Friedman, 55.

“As Jewish merchants, it feels like we’re being discriminated against, because we don’t open on the Sabbath.”

Earlier this month, the House overwhelmingly approved Saturday, Aug. 13, as the state’s tax holiday, and sent it to the Senate for what was expected to be a swift passage. But in a surprise move, the Senate proposed instead make it a tax-free weekend.

The reason was that observant Jews had missed out on the benefits of the holiday last year, and asked lawmakers for a more inclusive holiday, according to Rosemary Powers, spokeswoman for Sen. Jack Hart, D-Boston, who was among the tax holiday’s sponsors.

“The sale tax holiday was meant to benefit consumers, and one of the things the Senate wanted to do is make sure that all consumers can take advantage of it,” Powers said.

Sen. Cynthia Stone Creem, D-Newton, a sponsor of extending the tax holiday, said “In order to have a tax holiday, we had to have a tax holiday for everybody.”

The Senate also felt the change would benefit vacationers because many summer getaways rent from Saturday to Saturday, and people at the end of their vacations can’t get into stores either, Powers said.

One of the chairs of the Joint Committee on Revenue, Rep. John J. Binienda, D-Worcester, said that the state would probably lose about $15 million in revenue by making it a weekend, rather than $10 million for one day, but said it would “only be fair” to extend it.

“We have to respect everyone’s religion,” he said. The House will likely vote on the change this week, he said.

Alan Ronkin, deputy director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, said that it’s only fair that all residents of the state benefit from the holiday.

“If the legislature is going to do something like this it should be equally accessible to all of its citizens,” Ronkin said. “If you’re going to go to Best Buy and buy an expensive piece of electronics, you can’t do that if you have this religious tradition.”

On the holiday, shoppers don’t have to pay the state’s 5 percent sales tax on purchases of $2,500. The goal is to help give the state’s economy a jolt during one of the slowest months of the year.

The first tax-free day last August drew mobs of shoppers to malls and stores, where they spent about $400 million, more than the shopping frenzies on the Saturday before Christmas or the Friday after Thanksgiving. Supporters say the tax losses are made up because the extra business drums up taxes on other products, such as meals and gasoline.

Jill Shack, who runs one of four stores in her family’s chain of Shack’s clothing stores in Worcester, Auburn, and Fitchburg, said their stores are open on Saturdays anyway, but a two-day tax holiday would be better.

“The fact that it’s more inclusive is a very respectful and wonderful decision by the legislature,” she said.

AP-ES-07-19-05 1901EDT