Daylight Saving or Standard Time? Here’s What You Should Know

1. Remember to change your clocks!
Tonight (10/27/24), at 2:00 AM, turn your clocks back one hour to 1:00 AM. That’s when standard time officially begins.

2. In Israel, standard time begins when there are more nighttime hours than daylight.
This change fits better with people’s daily schedules, since there’s usually less activity at night.

3. Standard time is the actual time.
During summer, the clocks are moved forward to match waking hours with daylight. This helps save electricity that would otherwise be used for lights.

4. A day with daylight saving time is only 23 hours long.
But when we switch back to standard time, we gain an extra hour, making that day 25 hours long.

5. The switch to daylight saving shortens the day, while returning to standard time adds an hour.

6. According to Israeli law (Time Determination Law, 1992):
Daylight saving time starts at 2:00 AM on the Friday before the last Sunday in March, and ends at 2:00 AM on the last Sunday in October.

7. Many workplaces now follow a shorter workweek.
So, the time change to daylight saving takes place between Thursday and Friday at 2:00 AM, while the return to standard time happens at the same hour after Shabbat.

8. Most digital devices connected to the internet will update the time automatically.
No need to do anything, they’ll adjust on their own.

9. For mobile phones and other communication devices:
Make sure the time is set to update from your network provider. You can usually find this setting in your device’s clock or time menu.

10. Did you know Benjamin Franklin came up with the idea?
Back in 1784, while in France, he suggested that waking up and going to bed earlier could save around 29 million kilograms of candle wax each year!

Daylight saving time was first used in Germany and Britain during World War I, when saving energy was very important.

Since then, the idea has come and gone in different places, but it’s still used in many parts of the world today including Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, parts of South America, and the Middle East.