The government introduced daylight saving time as a fuel conservation measure last night and drew bitter protests from the religious community and a complaint from the electric company that it will lose more in revenues than it will save on fuel. The summer time will be in effect until Oct. The government estimates a fuel saving of IL 30 million.
Religious spokesmen protested that moving the clocks forward one hour will make Sabbath observance more difficult. Sunset Friday will be after 7 p.m. and nightfall Saturday at 8:30 p.m. Small children will not be able to attend synagogue services Friday night and their parents will have little time to visit or go out Saturday night. Rabbi Yedidya Frankel, Tel Aviv’s Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi, warned that the new hours will lead to religious-secular strife over running buses before the Sabbath ends.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.