Electricity!

June 17th, 2023| Topic: RaMbLeS | 0

The Washington Post reported on an interesting story last month. About “Kosher Electricity.”

What on earth?

Here’s the problem Kosher Electricity is trying to solve. The ultra-Orthodox, the Haredim, constitute about 14 percent of Israel’s 9.5 million people. According to their rabbinical rules, it is not kosher to plug into the national grid to draw electricity from the national grid during Shabbat hours, from sundown on Fridays to sundown on Saturdays.

The strictest kosher keepers shun commercial power during those hours because it is seen as violating strictures on working during the Sabbath or taking advantage of work by other Jews.”

So what can the ultra-O do to power all their stuff?

Many families simply go dark. A few rely on solar panels. But for others, a common workaround is a household generator operated by a non-Jew, or “Shabbos goy,” i.e., a Sabbath Gentile, typically an Arab Israeli paid for the service. Even then, observant families do not operate electrical switches (also considered work) but have lights, air conditioners and other appliances set to timers.

Strange, but there you have it!

But now there’s Kosher Electricity. Recently this program received approval from the Israeli cabinet: it would direct the national power utility to build, on a pilot basis, massive battery banks in and around ultra-Orthodox communities. These batteries would top up through the week with electricity from the public utility and dispense it during Shabbat hours. Thus not directly involving others who are working on the Shabbat.

Ultra-Orthodox parties have pushed for years to wire some kind of Shabbat alternative into the grid. Previous proposals, which went nowhere, included building a separate generation network operated by non-Jews or one that could be fully automated during Shabbat hours.

The ultra-Orthodox leaders demanded action on the battery technology as part of their deal to join the coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Israel media reports. They hailed it as a way to wean their communities from costly, polluting and occasionally exploding generators.

Yet critics have condemned the battery farms as a giveaway to the U.O.—another perk that will benefit this growing religious minority at the expense of other ratepayers. (Other perks include exemption from Israel’s military draft and substantial economic subsidies for U.O. men who opt for religious study over employment).

In a tweet, Avigdor Liberman, an opposition politician, decrying the increasing influence of the ultra-Orthodox political parties, said:

This is more lunacy on the road to a Jewish theocracy. For 75 years, ‘the righteous’ managed without ‘kosher electricity.’”

Yeah, but no one can manage without the ultimate source of all power: God.

The one who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
in the shadow of the Almighty he will remain.
Psalm 91:1

Says the child of God:

I will say to Yahweh, “My refuge and my steadfastness,
My God, I trust in Him.”
Psalm 91:2

Says the psalmist:

With His pinion He gives cover to you,
and under His wings you can seek refuge ….
Evil will not happen to you,
and affliction will not come near in your tent,
for His angels He will command for you,
to keep you in all your ways.
Psalm 91:4, 10–11

Says God:

“For unto Me he has been devoted, and I will save him ….
He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
with him I [will be] in distress;
I will liberate him and I will honor him.
With length of days I will satisfy him,
and I will let him see My deliverance.”
Psalm 91:14–16

Yup, powered (and protected) by the Almighty!

SOURCE: Washington Post