Responding to a recent media furor over the early implementation of standard time in Israel this year, Interior Minister Eli Yishai said he was willing to consider re-implementing summer time after the Yom Kippur fast. Israelis are set to push their clocks one hour back on Thursday, September 16, six weeks before most of the U.S. and Europe.

Yishai said that the issue was not one of “religious versus secular,” as many in the media are attempting to portray it. “This is a general matter for all Israelis. I also like summer time, and we can come up with creative ideas that would allow changing the clock just for Yom Kippur,” Yishai said. Although the fast would technically last 25 hours regardless of the time on the clock, many people believe that the fast is easier if it ends earlier, even though it begins earlier.