Sir, I feel the Chief Rabbi (Credo, Aug 12) is somewhat disingenuous in suggesting that because observant Jews do not switch on electrical devices on the Sabbath they are exhibiting “ecological self-restraint”.
In my experience they either leave lights, electrical heating, and refrigerators/freezers etc, running or else employ automatic switches during that period.
In Israel after the Yom Kippur War and the oil crisis, drivers were required to display a symbol indicating which one day of the week they would not and must not drive in order to save fuel. Unsurprisingly, religious Jews chose the Sabbath, the day they would not drive anyway; thus the scheme collapsed.
JULIAN M. MARKS
Wallingford, Oxon