Changing the clock
Changing the clockiStock

Israel will end daylight saving time, known popularly in Israel as "summer time," on "Saturday" night, at 2:00a.m. Sunday morning, October 31.

At that hour, Israelis will move their clocks back one hour, so that the time becomes 1:00a.m. Sunday morning.

Daylight saving time lasted for 219 days this year.

"Winter time," as it is known in Israel, will last 145 days: On Friday, March 25, 2022, Israel will begin daylight saving time again.

Meanwhile, the left-wing Meretz party on Wednesday submitted a bill to permanently cancel the end of daylight saving time, and keep the clocks an hour ahead, as they are during the summer.

The bill notes that many countries in Asia, Africa, and South America, the clocks no longer change in the spring and fall. It also says that a country such as Israel, which enjoys abundant sunshine, does not need to be forcefully darkened. The bill also notes that not moving the clocks back during the winter will allow Israelis to enjoy additional hours of sunlight at the end of each day, which is known to improve both mood and mental health for many people.

The proposed bill would apply from 2022, and would, according to Meretz, save on energy and electricity, as well as reduce traffic accidents and brighten the roads, highways, and the entire country.

According to Kikar Hashabbat, such bills have been proposed before, but were shot down by the Knesset's haredi parties, which pointed out that a later sunrise during the winter would force the majority of religious individuals to lose out on praying the morning prayers with the required quorum of ten.

In 2018, Orthodox Jews in Florida made a similar claim, pushing back at the eleventh hour against a bill which would keep their state permanently on daylight saving time.