EVEN CHANGING CLOCKS IS DISCRIMINATORY IN ISRAEL
(Ben Heine © Cartoons)
In Israel the clocks are moved twice a year like in most parts of the world.... they 'spring ahead' in the spring and 'fall back' in the fall....BUT, there is a difference as to when this is done as compared to the rest of the world.... In most countries it is done on a set date, the same date every year....
In Israel it is regulated by when certain holidays fall. As we are not on the same calendar as the rest of the world, this occurs on different dates.
In the spring they are usually moved ahead just after the Passover Seder. This is so the Seder can end at a reasonable hour as it is quite a long event.
In the fall it is moved back the day before a Jewish Fast Day so the fast can end an hour earlier. That day is today, the Fast of Gedalia, a day immediately following the Jewish New Year.
Ramadan is a month long of fasting.... from sunrise to sunset. It started on Wednesday night. Why couldn't the clocks be moved the day before it started to accommodate the Muslim population, 16% of the total population?
Need I answer that question? It is pretty obvious why... they just don't matter! The majority of the Jews in Israel are secular and are not fasting today, but the religious parties that determine the days of the change are only concerned about the observant minority..... Would it have been the beginning of the end of the State of Israel to have moved those clocks a few days earlier? But we have to remember that this is the HOME OF THE SECOND CLASS CITIZEN.... don't ever forget that.
posted by Desert Peace @ 9:42 AM
7 Comments
7 Comments:
You ask, "Why couldn't the clocks be moved the day before it started to accommodate the Muslim population, 16% of the total population?"
This is a legitimate question. But it has a legitimate answer. Ramadan is a floating holiday. Unlike the Jewish calendar, the Islamic calender is not fixed to a narrow band. What occurs than is that Ramadan moves almost thirty days in relationship to the solar calender.
To move the clock to accommodate the Muslim fast would make a total mockery of the reason for moving the clocks in the first place.
You idea sounds good - until one examines the unintended consequences of doing so.
The Muslim calendar is also a Lunar one, just as is the Hebrew one. The actual date of Ramadan is one day before or one day after the beginning of our new month (usually on the same day). There is NEVER a 30 day difference, so there would be no 'mockery' involved.
I respectfully disagree with you.
Here are some dates for a few years for the beginning of Ramadan (note the dates following 2007 are approximate):
AH 1426 2 October 2005
AH 1427 23 September 2006
AH 1428 13 September 2007
AH 1429 1 September 2008
AH 1430 21 August 2009
AH 1431 10 August 2010
AH 1432 1 August 2011
AH 1433 20 July 2012
AH 1434 9 July 2013
AH 1435 29 June 2014
And so on.
As you can see, the date creeps forward, about 10 days, each year. By around 2025, Ramadan will be in March, not in September.
Anon, I realise that Ramadan falls during different months every year.... I was referring to this year ( and last) when it coincided with the Jewish New Year... during such years the clocks can be moved to accommodate the Muslims as well as the Jews.
So there is nothing for us to disagree about on this issue.
Talking about a particular year, you may be correct. But, I highly doubt, that when the dates for the clock change were fixed, anybody even gave a thought about when Ramadan would begin.
In this, Israel is not much different than, say the US is in considering non-Christian minorities when considering dates. Didn't President Bush give a major speech on Iraq policy on the second night of Rosh Hashanah?
Anyway, I would like to wish you
L'shanah tovah tikatev v'taihatem
Thank you Anon...
the same to you!
Shana shel SHALOM!
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home