Daylight Savings Time
By Rabbi Raymond Beyda
Daylight savings Time is a plan in which clocks are set one hour ahead of
standard time so that darkness comes an hour later. The chief purpose of
this fiction is to save energy by reducing evening use of lighting. Many
countries, including the USA and Great Britain, that adopted DST did so
during wartime. Since 1967 the entire nation adopted the plan as a semi-
annual adjustment. Several states don’t change their clocks like Arizona
and Hawaii. Indiana's approach can drive a sane person crazy as different
counties adopt the system on different dates and some do not change at
all!
The universal message broadcast over and over on the Saturday night when
the clocks fall back [in the fall, of course] "Don't forget to set your
clocks back an hour -- and enjoy that extra hour of sleep." Our sages
would cringe at the thought of sleeping an extra hour. Time is too
valuable to waste. Imagine a very rich financier who is caught and
convicted of a horrible crime and sentenced to death. He is offered one
extra hour of life before execution to be free to do whatever he would
like -- if he were willing to pay the price. How much would he pay? Would
he then upon being set free for the last hour of his life GO TO SLEEP?
Life was given to man to accomplish. Time is a valuable asset not to be
wasted. In Pirke Abot it says: "One hour of accomplishment in this world
is better than all of Olam Haba --The Next World."
Today when you are looking to "kill" a little time -- stop. Imagine that
LAST hour and how you would use it. It only takes a minute to save a
precious hour.
DID YOU KNOW THAT
When a congregation is praying the Minha service late in the afternoon --
and they reach the portion called tahanun [Annah or Nefillat Apayim] after
sunset they may recite the Thirteen Attributes even after sunset. They may
do so as long as the time for Ben Heshemashot has not elapsed -- i.e. --
up to 13 1/2 minutes after sunset. After that time it is considered
definitely night and the Yag Midot [Thirteen Attributes] should not be
said. [Source: Yehaveh Daat, volume 6, responsa 7]
CONSIDER THIS FOR A MINUTE
The Gemara says: "One who can prevent his household from transgressions
but does not is held accountable for the actions of his household; one who
is capable of holding back his fellow citizen is responsible for the
misdeeds of his fellow citizen; one who is in a position of authority so
that he can hold back the whole world from sinning is accountable for the
sins of the whole world. Our sages' intent is to alert a Jew as to his
reciprocal responsibility for the observance of the Torah. All of Israel
are guarantors one for the other and so one must assert his influence to
prevent violation of the Torah's laws or be held accountable for the
transgressions of another. [Shabbat 54b]
Raymond J Beyda
www.raymondbeyda.com
Text Copyright © 2004 by Rabbi Raymond Beyda and Torah.org.
