Clocks will be moved ahead one hour at midnight Aug. 2 as Israel adopts daylight saving time as an energy-saving measure. Interior Minister Yosef Burg was forced to implement the change in compliance with a Supreme Court ruling despite his own objections and strenuous protests from the Orthodox religious establishment.
The high court issued its ruling Sunday in response to an appeal by Zeev Segal, an energy conservation expert. It accepted his legal argument that a 1940 ordinance by the Mandatory Government required the government to introduce daylight saving time. Its duration is left to the Interior Minister’s discretion.
It will be in effect for about six weeks, until Sept. 15. Energy experts said that IL 1 billion could be saved annually if daylight saving time was in effect from May 1- Oct, 30.
The extra hour of daylight will inconvenience observant Jews who will have to rise earlier for their morning prayers and end the Sabbath later. Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren assailed the court’s ruling for encouraging mass desecration of the Sabbath.
Goren said that movie theaters, forced to remain closed until after the Sabbath, will now open earlier and the same would apply to stores and public transportation. Two Aguda Israel Knesset members have introduced private members bills to negate the Supreme Court’s order.
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