Yesterday the Knesset's committee dealing with the issue of Daylight Savings Time met and voted on the current law proposal regarding the extending of DST in Israel.
The committee approved the proposal, thus advancing it to the Knesset for further readings and voting. The bill is expected to pass.
The law being voted on says that DST will begin on the Friday before the last Sunday in March and end on the first Sunday after October 1. This law will extend Daylight Savings Time by 11 days, to a total of 193 days over the course of the year, if it should be passed.
The bill is a compromise position, taking into account many different demands on the debate of DST.
MK Nitzan Horowitz wants DST to extend until the end of November. MK Henin says DST should take into account the millions who fast an entire month for Ramadan, and not just the one day of fasting for Yom Kippur.
MK Ronit Tirosh, who was responsible part of the formation of the compromise position, interestingly spoke about how having a shorter DST is more problematic for her personally, and for many religious families, now because she is becoming more religious and is starting to keep Shabbos. Having sundown come earlier makes it difficult for her to keep up with her hobbies and to finish the cooking for Shabbos before sunset.
I wonder if, in situations in which Yom Kippur will fall out before the first Sunday after October 1st, with an extra hour of daylight than what Yom Kippur has had in Israel until now, will shuls just add one hour to the davening schedule or will they start an hour later or maybe make, or extend, a break in the middle of the day...
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MK Henin says DST should take into account the millions who fast an entire month for Ramadan
ReplyDeleteHow exactly would that work?
I am not really sure, as Ramadan falls out at a different time of year each year. As often as it is, it is also not affected by DST.
ReplyDeleteHis point, I think, is just that the religious Jews should stop belyyaching about Yom Kippur, as Arabs fast for a month during the daylight hours, so the one day isnt really that big a deal...
No doubt that in countries where 80% of the population are Muslim, the public schedule has some accommodations for Ramadan.
ReplyDeleteAnd the one day of fasting is indeed no big deal, the fact that the Charedim forced the state to modify DST because of it is a boosha and cherpa!
His point is based on ignorance two times - that Ramadan does not regularly fall during the end of the summmer and that Bnei Yisrael were given a mitzvah to control the calender. Among other things, we advance the fast of Esther and delay the commemoration of 9av, and for the Zionim, we move around celebrating Yom Haatzmaut half the time too.
ReplyDeleteExtending summer time is very bad for families. The extended day light keeps the kids up and makes it harder to get them into bed. Since religious families have more kids on average, it hurts religious families more.
Josh
Huh? The extension would be for October, when even with DST, things aren't that late....
DeleteBetter earlier than later :-)
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