The only way El Al can avert an ultra-Orthodox boycott is if it signs a legal agreement in which it commits to refrain from flying on the Sabbath, sources close to a committee of rabbis negotiating with the airline said yesterday.

El Al CEO Haim Romano and the chairman of the board, Israel Borowitz, met with the Committee of Rabbis for the Sabbath in Jerusalem yesterday in an effort to prevent the ultra-Orthodox community from announcing a boycott to protest the airline's decision last week to allow planes to fly on the Sabbath.

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Ultra-Orthodox leaders are expected to announce today their position on the "harsh steps" they have threatened.

The legal agreement suggestion has the approval of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, who heads the Lithuanian (non-Hasidic Ashkenazi) stream of ultra-Orthodox Judaism in Israel, and the rebbe of the Gur Hasidim. The sources close to the committee, which represents all ultra-Orthodox streams, will not accept an apology or a verbal commitment.

If the ultra-Orthodox were to carry out their threat, tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews around the world would be expected to adhere to the boycott. Ultra-Orthodox passengers represent 20 percent to 30 percent of the El Al's clientele.

The protests began after El Al decided to permit flights to leave Israel on Friday, shortly before the onset of the Sabbath, to make up for flights delayed during a nationwide strike last week. The planes were in the air during the Sabbath, a break in the usual procedures for the national carrier.

A limited number of ultra-Orthodox passengers canceled their El Al reservations yesterday, but many ultra-Orthodox Jews continued to fly the airline.

Yated Ne'eman, the Degel Hatorah newspaper, called for the resignation of El Al officials.

"Even if they don't have a minimal understanding of that which is sacred to Israel, they should have taken financial and commercial considerations into account and avoided arrogantly trampling upon the Sabbath day," it said in an editorial this week.