Observant Israeli ministers get Sabbath-friendly phones

JERUSALEM, Dec. 29 (JTA) — Some observant ministers in Israel’s Cabinet are installing Sabbath-friendly telephones in their homes, an Israeli newspaper reported Monday. The need for such a phone, which can be used with minimal desecration of the Sabbath, was underscored three months ago during the failed attempt by Mossad agents to assassinate a Hamas political leader in Jordan, according to Yediot Achronot. Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein, who is observant, was telephoned by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the Sabbath and asked to leave immediately for the Jordanian capital of Amman. After the incident, Rubinstein turned to the Institute of Technology and Halachah in Jerusalem, which had developed an emergency telephone. Rubinstein asked for one to be installed in his home, as did Interior Minister Eli Suissa of the Shas Party. Education Minister Zevulun Hammer, of the National Religious Party, is also reportedly considering having one installed. The phone is battery-operated. It is dialed by inserting a peg into a hole on the phone that is pre-programmed with a specific phone number, according to the head of the institute, Rabbi Levy Yitzhak Halperin. The peg sends a beam of light, which triggers the dialing mechanism. In this way, the user of the phone does not directly dial a number. Incoming calls are also received in a non-interventive manner, Halperin said.