Sunday, December 10, 2006
Company to make kosher electricity
Israel's state-run power company has decided to start producing "kosher" electricity.
In a bid to satisfy ultra-Orthodox Jews, the company plans to spend $US10 million on automating its processes and hiring non-Jewish employees in order to produce power on the Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest, without violating Jewish law.
The decision follows a series of meetings between Israel's infrastructure minister, the minister in charge of religious services and the chief executive of the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC), Haaretz newspaper reported.
According to the newspaper, many ultra-Orthodox Jews, who number about 500,000 of Israel's 7 million people, refuse to use the national provider because of its Sabbath violation, instead using private generators to produce power.
However, the generators and their home-made connections to the national grid are illegal and pose safety problems, officials say. There have been many cases of electrocution.
To resolve that problem, the IEC has said it will now base its power generation on as many automated processes as possible, and 150 non-Jews will be hired to carry out the remaining operations that require human intervention.
The infrastructure ministry said the extra costs would probably be covered by the extra revenue generated by the ultra-Orthodox returning to the IEC rather than relying on their own generators.
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411749/924801
Israel's state-run power company has decided to start producing "kosher" electricity.
In a bid to satisfy ultra-Orthodox Jews, the company plans to spend $US10 million on automating its processes and hiring non-Jewish employees in order to produce power on the Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest, without violating Jewish law.
The decision follows a series of meetings between Israel's infrastructure minister, the minister in charge of religious services and the chief executive of the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC), Haaretz newspaper reported.
According to the newspaper, many ultra-Orthodox Jews, who number about 500,000 of Israel's 7 million people, refuse to use the national provider because of its Sabbath violation, instead using private generators to produce power.
However, the generators and their home-made connections to the national grid are illegal and pose safety problems, officials say. There have been many cases of electrocution.
To resolve that problem, the IEC has said it will now base its power generation on as many automated processes as possible, and 150 non-Jews will be hired to carry out the remaining operations that require human intervention.
The infrastructure ministry said the extra costs would probably be covered by the extra revenue generated by the ultra-Orthodox returning to the IEC rather than relying on their own generators.
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411749/924801
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