A LIGHT CASE: Efrat Vs. The Electric Company

If you live in Efrat or Gush Etzion, then you know that whenever the weather changes, the lights go out. And not just the lights. The computers shut down, the refrigerators stop working, the heaters go off, and everything gets ruined. Appliances just burn out from the sudden and continued blitzes. (And I'm talking continued blitzes - there could be ten a day from a few seconds in duration to a few hours.) As pioneers in the Land of Israel, we have held ourselves strong through many situations, but the constant collapse of the electric system is unheard of. Our family personally has lived like this since we came to Efrat 17 years ago, and we've lost just too many appliances to these blackouts. Drip drop pop black fritz gone!!

Well, in October 2007, Efrat and Gush Etzion residents finally had enough. And one brave man, Efrat's Yechiel Fishman, brought everyone together to fight the poor electric service coming into our community.

Today two years later, residents of Efrat/GE traveled to the Tel Aviv Court House on Rechov Weizman for a hearing on this class action suit against Israel's electric company. Efrat's claim against the electric company is that the disturbances and stoppages of electric service are ABNORMALLY high, both in comparison to any other area in Israel, and in comparison to even the worst service that could be endured by residents.

A bus load of Efrat/Gush residents got up at 5:30 AM to make a 6:30 AM bus to the courthouse, but they wouldn't have missed it. Finally, they felt justice would be served. Led by Yechiel Fishman, who initiated the action, the residents listened to the attorneys for the Electric Company and for the community, and felt that the presiding judge Derora Pilpel understood their plight.

The court gave the Electric Company until May 23 to make constructive changes in the electric infrastructure in Gush Etzion, and then to appear before the court once again to show what they have done to correct the situation.

Yechiel and the attorneys representing Efrat and Gush residents felt that the outcome this morning was a very positive one, and we all look forward to the next hearing, a few days after Shavuot.

Kol hakavod to Yechiel!! and to all our region's residents who took off from work and dedicated their morning to this event, making the trek to Tel Aviv in search of justice. May this Chanukah be one of uninterrupted light.

IY"H, we hope to have two videos up later today (one in Hebrew and one in English) about the case and today's events.

They will be available, IY"H, on http://www.voices-magazine.com/ .