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Israel's time switch adds to rising anger
Source: Agencies |
September 24, 2012, Monday
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THE forecast for Israel yesterday: balmy late-summer temperatures, uncomfortable humidity along the Mediterranean coast and ... darkness at 6pm?
Israel moved its clocks back by an hour overnight, putting the country on its winter clock more than a month ahead of Europe and the US and adding to the rising anger that many mainstream Israelis feel toward an ultra-Orthodox minority.
Many Israelis believe the time change, meant to make it easier to fast on the upcoming Yom Kippur holy day, unnecessarily disrupts life and costs the economy millions of dollars. They say the early onset of darkness raises electricity costs, causes more car accidents and gives children less time to play after school.
While the custom has long bred resentment, the premature arrival of winter hours comes at an especially sensitive time, given the rising backlash against what is widely seen as religious coercion by ultra-Orthodox leaders.
"It's ridiculous. It's just a power play by the ultra-Orthodox to show who's in charge. There is no reason for it being this early," said Raanan Lidji, 34, from Tel Aviv.
The move to winter time ahead of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and holiest date on the Jewish calendar, has been standard practice for decades and enshrined in law since 2005.
Yom Kippur, which begins tomorrow evening, is marked by a sundown-to-sundown fast. Orthodox religious parties, which have always held key swing votes in Israel's political system, are behind the time change, wanting to cut the number of waking hours for those fasting. Although the length of the fast doesn't change, the sun sets an hour earlier with the winter clock, shortening the more difficult end of the fast.
It also comes against the backdrop of rising tensions between the secular masses and the politically powerful ultra-Orthodox minority. Much of the anger is being directed at Interior Minister Eli Yishai, whose ultra-Orthodox Shas Party has played a key role in shaping the law.
Israel moved its clocks back by an hour overnight, putting the country on its winter clock more than a month ahead of Europe and the US and adding to the rising anger that many mainstream Israelis feel toward an ultra-Orthodox minority.
Many Israelis believe the time change, meant to make it easier to fast on the upcoming Yom Kippur holy day, unnecessarily disrupts life and costs the economy millions of dollars. They say the early onset of darkness raises electricity costs, causes more car accidents and gives children less time to play after school.
While the custom has long bred resentment, the premature arrival of winter hours comes at an especially sensitive time, given the rising backlash against what is widely seen as religious coercion by ultra-Orthodox leaders.
"It's ridiculous. It's just a power play by the ultra-Orthodox to show who's in charge. There is no reason for it being this early," said Raanan Lidji, 34, from Tel Aviv.
The move to winter time ahead of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and holiest date on the Jewish calendar, has been standard practice for decades and enshrined in law since 2005.
Yom Kippur, which begins tomorrow evening, is marked by a sundown-to-sundown fast. Orthodox religious parties, which have always held key swing votes in Israel's political system, are behind the time change, wanting to cut the number of waking hours for those fasting. Although the length of the fast doesn't change, the sun sets an hour earlier with the winter clock, shortening the more difficult end of the fast.
It also comes against the backdrop of rising tensions between the secular masses and the politically powerful ultra-Orthodox minority. Much of the anger is being directed at Interior Minister Eli Yishai, whose ultra-Orthodox Shas Party has played a key role in shaping the law.
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