Bayit Yehudi faction chairman MK Yinon Magal is authoring a bill that would make Sunday a rest day as is the case in the United States, thereby creating a ‘weekend’. According the bill that was submitted on Wednesday 25 Elul, the hours of work lost on Sunday would be made up by working an additional half hour Monday through Thursday and a half day on erev Shabbos.
The bill is the result of the ongoing controversy surrounding the chilul Shabbos and soccer matches and creating a Sunday day of rest would permit moving the games from Shabbos to Sunday. Magal explains the hours of work would not be lost and this avoid compromising the productivity of the workforce while adapting to the international modern labor norms.
Magal explains that for a nation that declares Shabbos a holy day and limits public transportation and sporting events, there is a need to advance a day of rest on which no one feels his freedom is being limited.
He adds that in the United States and Europe the work week is 40 hours but in Israel it is 43, questioning how it is that with an additional work day Israelis only work three additional hours.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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5 Responses
1. Most Orthodox Jews prefer the day before Shabbos to be free for “making Shabbos”, suggesting a Friday-Saturday weekend is preferable.
2. Given that a significant minority of Israeli Jews are Shomrei Shabbos, it will mean a 4 1/2 day work week.
3. While Europeans and Americans observe a Sunday Sabbath, most Middle Easterners prefer a Friday-Saturday weekend since Friday is their preferred day off – and Israel is in the Middle East.
Awesome idea!
#1
Wrong
#2
Right
Why in the world should FRIDAY be a day of rest??? So all the stores should be closed erev shabos?
It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out why they only have a 43 hour work week with a 6 day work schedule- because they take a break every day from 1-3:00. Why is that? Because back when they instituted this they didn’t have air conditioning and that was the peak heat of the day. Why they need a 2 hour lunch break during the winter is anyone’s guess?