World IN BRIEF : ISRAEL : Apartments Burn in Sabbath Delay

Tenants let three apartments in the predominantly ultra-Orthodox Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak burn while they asked a rabbi whether a call to the fire department on the Sabbath would violate Jewish tenets. Observant Jews are forbidden to use telephones on the Sabbath because to do so would involve breaking an electric current, which is considered a form of work. They are, however, permitted to break the Sabbath in case of an emergency. In the half an hour it took the rabbi to say yes, the fire spread to two neighboring apartments. No one was hurt in the blaze.