After years of dispute that made its way to the courts, the Israel
Electric Corporation has decided to fully automate its power stations in
the haredi city of Bnei Brak and only use non-Jewish employees on the
Jewish day of rest – even though most haredim do not think it needs to
be done.
In Response To Decades Of Haredi Extremist Behavior, The Israel Electric Corporation Goes “Kosher”
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
After years of dispute that made its way to the courts, the Israel Electric Corporation has decided to fully automate its power stations in the haredi city of Bnei Brak and only use non-Jewish employees on the Jewish day of rest – even though most haredim do not think it needs to be done.
The changes, which will be made under the supervision of the Scientific-Technological Halacha Institute, will cost the IEC $137,000, Ynet reported.
For decades, many haredim following the strictest understanding of halakha (Jewish law) have refrained from using IEC power on Shabbat. Instead, they paid each week to connect to private generators that are loud, disruptive and polluting.
Most haredim in Bnei Brak use IEC power on Shabbat, as do haredim, Modern Orthodox and Zionist Orthodox Jews throughout the country.
Bnei Brak haredim who use IEC’s power on Shabbat sued the generator operators years ago, claiming that the operators were encouraging and then using strict rulings by a few haredi rabbis in order to use those rulings to make a quick buck.
The case is still in court.
And now the IEC is spending taxpayer money to, in effect, make the generators unnecessary.
Even so, it is possible and even likely that some haredim will consider the generators to be more “kosher” than the IEC’s “kosher” power, and will keep using them anyway.
There is also a fear that because the new system will allow the IEC to operate with fewer workers on Shabbat, it will use that system to operate with fewer workers on weekdays, as well – costing some workers their jobs.
The IEC, however, reportedly views its switch to “kosher” power as its mission as a state-owned company seeking to heal disputes in Israeli society.