Jewish Geography
opposed making daylight savings time permanent. The Orthodox advocacy said the later sunrise would make it difficult for obser- vant Jews to attend morning synagogue services and still arrive at work or school on time, because Jewish law prohibits reciting key morning prayers before prescribed times tied to sunrise. “The extension of DST will create an extreme hardship on observant Jews,” the organiza- tion said. “It would be extraordi- narily difficult, if not impossible, to arrive on time for a job and will affect the start time of our schools.” The Orthodox Union and the Coalition for Jewish Values have also come out against the measure. In a column for Chabad.org that didn’t take a position on the bill, managing editor Menachem Posner noted an upside to the extension of day- light savings, however: a later start time for Shabbat on short winter Fridays. “Even on the darkest day of winter,” Posner wrote, “Jews will have one more hour to prepare for Shabbat.” In its statement, Agudath Israel also pointed to the brief US experiment with year-round daylight savings time during the 1970s energy crisis, when Con- gress repealed the policy after widespread public dissatisfac- tion over dark winter mornings. The organization said it hoped the Senate would weigh the broader consequences of per- manent daylight savings time, including alternatives such as permanent standard time or retaining the current system of seasonal clock changes. JTA
FAITH ORTHODOX JEWS PUSH BACK AGAINST PERMANENT DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME by ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL
FOR MANY ORTHODOX JEWS, a typical winter weekday begins early: head to synagogue, gather in a minyan for morning prayers, then rush off to work. Orthodox Jewish groups say a US bill that would make daylight savings time permanent in that country could upend that routine by pushing winter sunrises — and the earliest permissible time for some prayers — an hour later. If passed, it would likely have ripple effects in Canada: several provinces have already gotten rid of semi-annual clock changes or are currently debating doing so; in 2020, Ontario passed legislation to move to permanent daylight sav- ings time if the US and Quebec do the same. The US House of Representatives passed the Sunshine Protection Act in June by a wide bipartisan margin. Agudath Israel of America is among the groups urging the Senate to reject the legislation when it comes before them for a vote, arguing that the change would create both public safety risks and significant challenges for Orthodox Jewish life. In a statement issued after the House vote, Agudath Israel said it understood the appeal of ending the twice-yearly clock changes but
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