Entrepreneur urges Israelis: Buck religious dictates, ignore official time change
Shimon Eckhouse: Switching to standard time will require Israelis to return from work in the dark and puts the local time at variance with time in the rest of world.
By Guy GrimlandOnline petitions are proliferating on Internet, calling on the government to stop prematurely ending daylight savings time a month and a half before Europe does.
Meanwhile, high-profile high-tech executive Shimon Eckhouse is waging a personal campaign to get Israelis to resist and adhere to daylight saving time until Europeans turn the clock back on October 31, even if it means ignoring the official time change in their own country.
 |
Shimon Eckhouse: Ignore the ‘evil decree’ and stick with summer. |
So far, more than 1,200 people have signed Eckhouse's petition not to move the clock to standard time on September 12, as scheduled.
"Because our magnificent government is not capable of rescinding its evil decree, we are calling on citizens of the country to ignore the time change and continue to observe daylight saving time until the end of October," he said. "Schools, businesses, public institutions, families and every other entity should please continue to act as if the clock had not been turned back. Ignore the time change and maybe our elected officials will finally understand they work for us and not us for them."
Eckhouse, the chairman and co-founder of medical device manufacturer Syneron (and Lumenis before it), admits he doesn't think he is likely to prevail, but added: "If we manage to gather hundreds of thousands of signature, we might get a little attention on the subject from our 'efficient' government."
In support of his argument, Eckhouse said moving the clocks to standard time will require millions of Israelis to return from work in the dark.
"Standard time cuts short the quality time that parents have with their children, adds to the risk of traffic accidents because of the additional travel in the dark, puts the local time at variance with the time in Europe and the rest of the world, and costs the Israeli economy hundreds of millions of shekels," he said.
Eckhouse said the only reason for the early return to standard time - which takes place every year on the Saturday night before Yom Kippur - is to make it easier for "the ultra-Orthodox minority" to fast on that day. He said the time change makes him angry because he also fasts on Yom Kippur and doesn't see the necessity of changing the clock in order to do so.
"Even that pathetic excuse is a total distortion because the fast is for 25 hours, so changing the clock just moves it to the hotter part of the day for people fasting and praying," said Eckhouse.
Knesset member Moshe Gafni, chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee, commented on Wednesday that thorough debate had been held and all the parties had agreed that the dates for the "summer" and "winter" clocks would be laid down in law. Both Haredi and secular parties had voted, Gafni said.
Knesset member Ronit Tirosh had suggested that Israel return to standard time for the period of the holidays, and afterwards resume daylight savings for a number of weeks. However, Menachem Moses, head of the United Torah Judaism party, shot down that idea on the grounds that it would be too cumbersome to implement.
Why Facebook Connect?
Comment on Haaretz.com articles with your Facebook login, and share your thoughts on your own wall.
- Latest
- Most Viewed
- Most Rated
- Open all
Since you are discussing the issue, please tell me how it is supposed to be coming Year when Passover and all the Festivals are about 4 weeks later? How about one rule for ever?
Once again we are dictated to by the few and the many have to suffer. Extend summer time please as it should be.
As far a I know, 95% of Israelis observe Yom Kippur. Why should the minority impose their will on the religeous "extremists"? As far as I know, summer ends on Sept 21, not when someone decides to change a clock.
Yom Kippur's start and end time is based entirely, completely and exclusively, on sunrise and sunset. It does not matter what numbers are on your watch. The fast starts based on the sunset. EVERYONE agrees on this fact! Someone please explain to me then, why the "high-profile high-tech executive" is citing Yom Kippur times, in this debate. If the Haaretz article is accurate, it is more than a little scary that this guy is "chairman and co-founder of medical device manufacturer Syneron" !!!
Religious Jews fast till much later hours on Tisha B'Av in August. It makes little difference to a religious Jew is the fast is 7-8 pm or 6-7pm. No matter when it starts or finishes, YK is around 25 hours and religious Jews will fast it. Why not stop the bickering and lobby the Knesset so next year it won't happen early? Shana tova to all Am Yisrael!
where can i sign this petition ?
where can I sign up to stop this insane move to standard time to accommodate more religious blackmail?
here's a link: http://www.atzuma.co.il/nowinterclock/
When our representatives in the Knesset agreed to change the clocks now, it's called democracy. Get used to it.
I'm not sure if this violates Ha'aretz rules on posting. I hope the moderator lets it through since so many people requested to know where they sign the petition. http://www.atzuma.co.il/nowinterclock
Well, the Israeli society will be screwed over by this religious fanatics again and again. They are not better than Taliban or Ayatollahs! All the society needs to understand that we have to set up for them clear lines and affront them where ever you can. Personally, I wouldn't employ them, neither rent apartments. They are absolute not able to tolerate others people way of living. And what we are doing, we are just talking here, but nobody takes real action.
Oy!
While the rest of the civilized world enjoys another month of summer, we are being condemned to move to autumn, because it is slightly inconvenient for a small minority.
And, anyway, why do the companies not ignore the time change, by starting the work an hour later?
The answer is because of your misundstanding of the math here. To ignore the change, the companies would have to start work an hour "earlier", not later.
Yom Kippur has zero effect. The effect is on the religious Jews who have jobs requiring them to be at work 7:30 or 8:00. As sunrise gets later, it is very difficult for them to go to prayers and learn in the morning before work.
The normal definition of a good law is that it produces the greatest good for the largest number. I fail to see how their desire to pray and study in the morning trumps what benefits MOST Israelis.
When the terrorists have their movements curtailed, the Left demands that the "better good" is not a good enough reason. Why is it a good reason all of a sudden?
It is always a good reason, and always will be. Your problem is that you (I think deliberately) confuse whatever happens to be the hobby horse you are riding at the moment with what is in the people's interest. If a person feels it important to pray but isn't willing to rearrange his/her schedule a few moments, I question the depth of his/her dedication to God.
I was always suprised that people wish each other Zom Kal (Easy Fasting) - isn't the whole point of fasting that it's hard? To make you suffer? Let's use that as an argument against the time change.
There are technical requirements that define "Eenuy". They need not be painful.
Its probably better to wish people a meaningfull fast
Every Israeli with an ounce of sanity should support Shimon Eckhouse and not succumb to religious coercion to end summer six weeks before it is supposed to end. Stand up for yourselves people and act as if the clock is on summer time until the end of October. And if you're religious then think about real "pikuach nefesh". Studies around the world show that more people die in car accidents during the winter clock then the summer clock. Stand up for your rights, save lives. End this tyranny of idiocy!!
where can one sign this petition ?
How do I get to the petition? I want to sign it and so do my friends.
I'd like to sign this petition. Where is it posted online?
ABSOLUTELY AGREE
Time of day per halachah is based _solely_ on the position of the sun in the sky. Yom Kippur, and the weekly Sabbath, begin a fixed amount of time before astronomical sunset. Here in the US, the handy reference is the US Naval Observatory. Whether civil society keeps standard or savings time is irrelevant. This does matter, tho, for those who work and who want to make the morning minyan every day. Can't really recite Shacharith if it's still dark. Changing the clocks has nothing to do with Yom Kippur. And only matters to that group who both attends Shacharith in the AM, and then goes to work.
I am a religious Jew and I think turning the clocks back before the end of October is INSANE! What a waste! I would love to sign this petition, but Haaretz didn't see fit to publish the site. Too bad...
Yes, please let us fight the time change. It is ridiculous to change the clock to winter time when it is 32 degrees outside. Let's make our time change more in line with the world's time change.
5 September 1999, Jerusalem In most parts of the world, the switch away from Daylight Saving Time proceeds smoothly. But the time change raised havoc with Palestinian terrorists this year. Israel insisted on a premature switch from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time to accommodate a week of pre-sunrise prayers. Palestinians refused to live on "Zionist Time." Two weeks of scheduling havoc ensued. Nobody knew the "correct" time. At precisely 5:30pm on Sunday, two coordinated car bombs exploded in different cities, killing three terrorists who were transporting the bombs. It was initially believed that the devices had been detonated prematurely by klutzy amateurs. A closer look revealed the truth behind the explosions. The bombs had been prepared in a Palestine-controlled area, and set to detonate on Daylight Saving Time. But the confused drivers had already switched to Standard Time. When they picked up the bombs, they neglected to ask whose watch was used to set the timing mechanism. As a result, the cars were still en-route when the explosives detonated, delivering the terrorists to their untimely demises.
We need to do it every year? That sounds like a good way to live your life.