Jun 7, 2011
Extending Daylight Savings Time
Interior Minister Eli Yishai announced yesterday that he has approved extending Daylight Savings Time, to now end at the beginning of October instead of before Yom Kippur. DST will now be 193 days long instead of fluctuating between 170 and 191.
The decision is an implementation of the recommendation of a professional committee that investigated the mater. They point to a professional poll that shows that 50% of the people want it extended and 46% want it to stay as is (or shorten it). (source: Ynet)
It does not sound to me like an overwhelming number in favor, but they say the people want it.
It still seems to be a religious debate, as the polls seem to be divided, more or less, along religious lines. Yishai said that much of the non-religious public asked for it to stay the same or be shortened, while much of the religious public preferred it be extended.
Personally, I do not have an opinion on whether it should be longer or shorter. I think it is all a crock anyway. The day is 24 hours long either way. Opposing parties point to opposing studies to support their positions whether there is any actual benefit. It is probably all psychological in nature, and if people think they are gaining something from it, good for them.
It does not sound to me like an overwhelming number in favor, but they say the people want it.
It still seems to be a religious debate, as the polls seem to be divided, more or less, along religious lines. Yishai said that much of the non-religious public asked for it to stay the same or be shortened, while much of the religious public preferred it be extended.
Personally, I do not have an opinion on whether it should be longer or shorter. I think it is all a crock anyway. The day is 24 hours long either way. Opposing parties point to opposing studies to support their positions whether there is any actual benefit. It is probably all psychological in nature, and if people think they are gaining something from it, good for them.
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The day might be 24 hours, but for the many yeshiva bochrim who have bein hazmanim in October, there is a big difference in terms of getting up on time for zman krias shma or not
ReplyDeleteso instead of teaching our young yeshiva bochurim to deal with the challenges of life, such as wakign up a half hour earlier than planned, we maneuver the clocks so they can get that extra half an hour of sleep. and then a good percentage of them will still sleep late and miss it regardless of the fact that DST made it reasonably late enough for them.
ReplyDeleteseems like a real important reason to me.
What everyone fails to realize is that their is no free lunch, if you extend DST then sunrise gets later as well. If DST was extended until the end of October sunrise would be around 7AM meaning that people who go to work early would be going in the dark and religious people would not be able to daven early.
ReplyDeletewait. this is to avoid that very problem! you mean the problem is saved at one end, but on the other end it is worsened?
ReplyDelete