Question Author
My cooker is a run of the mill electric cooker I bought from a main store made by a major company.
In the manual (yes, I do rtfm) it tells it has Sabbath settings. This is specifically for Jews so they can put food in their oven before the Sabbath and programme it to turn on and off during the Sabbath.
I'm not offended, this feature did not cost me extra money, was not promoted in the store and actually has been useful to me!
This crossing will be just the same. Non Jews won't notice the hands free setting and will continue to press the button, people with their hands full of shopping, babies, toddlers will be pleasantly surprised if the lights change automatically.
The people from the synagogue have not demanded this, have not made threats of violence or anything else. They have, when consulted, mentioned the problem they have and a free solution has been found that will not adversely affect anyone.
Why the vitriolic comments?