Kosher Electric

In one of those bizzaro moves that can only come from the wacko Haredi fringe - an attempt was made to make the electric company kosher. I'm not talking about the kitchens in the electric company's cafeteria, I'm talking about the actual electric company. This is akin to making bus service kosher by forcing women to sit in the back of the bus.

The problem for the Haredi community seems to be this. Since the Israeli electric company is run by Jews, use of electricity even with a timer, will cause another Jew, one working at the electric company,  to violate the sabbath, thus forcing these so very righteous Haredim to use generators at home. Of course, wide use of gas generators causes all sorts of safety hazards, especially in dense urban areas where Haredim generally live.

Bowing to the pressure of the lunatic fringe who generally don't pay taxes, serve in the armed forces, live on the dole but do vote, the Likud lead coalition proposed a law in the Knesset to make the electric company kosher. In other words, there would be rabbinic supervision over the a government run utility. Thankfully, enough protests forced the government to back down. Now the Haredim will have to continue living exactly the same way they have been for the past 64 years in Israel, without a kosher certified electric company.

I hope it lasts. Apparently, Haredim do not take well when decisions go against them. Just ask the Supreme Court who found segregated buses to be illegal. In defiance of that ruling segregated buses can be found all over Jerusalem. Egged, the bus company will tell you that those lines have voluntary segregation and that if a woman insists on sitting up front they cannot be forced to move. Give it a try ladies, let me know how that works out for you. For that matter, all you tough guys out there try sitting in the back with the ladies, I'm sure you will have a pleasant ride.

Keep up the pressure - it does work