glosser@ut-ngp.UUCP (glosser) (02/10/85)
<> The following is according to the Jerusalem Post - International Edition for the week of August 26 - September 1. According to former chief rabbi, Shlomo Goren there is no Sabbath and holidays in space. This is because time is calculated on earth according to the sun and the moon, hence it can not have an effect on persons travelling in space. "The earthly days, nights and holidays simply do not exist for the traveller in space". This comment by Rabbi Goren was brought up because of Judith Resnick, the first woman Jewish astronaut. Also in the same article, the rabbi claimed that a similar question (vis a vis Sabbath and holidays in space) is one concerning Jewish travelers flying from San Francisco to Tokyo. If the passenger leaves San Francisco Friday afternoon and arrives in Tokyo Sunday morning, with Saturday disappearing because the international date line was crossed: "The person simply does not have a Sabbath to celebrate" according to Goren. Stuart Glosser {vortex ihnp4 gatech seismo!sally ctvax}!ngp!glosser glosser@ut-ngp.ARPA ecrt022@uta3081.BITNET
teitz@aecom.UUCP (Eliyahu Teitz) (02/13/85)
> Also in the same article, the rabbi claimed that a similar > question (vis a vis Sabbath and holidays in space) is one > concerning Jewish travelers flying from San Francisco to > Tokyo. If the passenger leaves San Francisco Friday afternoon > and arrives in Tokyo Sunday morning, with Saturday > disappearing because the international date line was crossed: > "The person simply does not have a Sabbath to celebrate" > according to Goren. My father asked me an interesting question regarding the dateline. If a person were to cross from Shabbat to Friday would he have to make havdala ? Eliyahu Teitz. p.s. The question boils down to this. If havdala is recited when going from one state of holiness ( Shabbat ) to a lower level ( weekday ) then this should apply no matter which day of the week the prson is going to. Just as a side point. There was a big question in the Second World War as to where the halachik dateline is. The question arose because of the Mir Yeshiva which was in Japan on their way from Poland to America. The two major opinions were that the dateline is either 6 or 12 hours east of Jerusalem. One end up in Japan and the other in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Because of the minority opinion ( of the Chazon Is"h, Rabbi A. Karelitz ) and the possibility that it might be right, the students of the yeshiva fasted two days of Yom Kippur. Everyone fasted the first day and on the second day a doctor went around checking the students to see how they looked. If the doctor told a student to eat, the student was set out to eat. There were some,though, who fasted two comlete days ( along wit all the accompanying prayers ).