The provision, which set daylight savings time between March and November instead of April and October, was approved Tuesday (July 19) by a joint House-Senate conference committee. The committee met to finalize the energy legislation package Congress will present to the president by Aug. 1.
The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ) had written a letter to the members of the committee, explaining that an extension of daylight savings time would place a hardship on observant Jews.
According to Jewish law, certain prayers, including the prayer recited each day by people in mourning, cannot be recited without a minyan, or a quorum of 10 members, present. Further, those prayers, which last between 30 and 40 minutes, cannot be recited before sunrise.
Under the daylight savings extension, sunrise in the month of November would come between 8:30 and 8:45 in most locations, said Mark Waldman, director of public policy for the USCJ.
Waldman said that he did not believe the legislation intentionally levied this hardship, but that nonetheless it was something he wished they had considered.
"These unintended consequences in terms of the religious hardship on religious Jews saying their morning prayers do not make this provision worth it," he said.
Supporters of the provision say that extending daylight savings time would save 100,000 barrels of oil each day by extending daylight hours into the afternoon and requiring businesses to use less energy to stay open.
