When do people who live in places where it is dark for days Daven Shachris and put on Tefillin?
Please provide a source (Mareh Makom).
Answer
See this excellent article by the Star-K's Rabbi Heber.
In summary, if you're close to the North (or South) Pole and it's dark for days, the opinions are:
- Minchas Elazar: halachically, night can last for several weeks or months. So don't put on tefilin if it's dark.
- Tiferes Yisroel: bring along an almanac from your hometown, and follow that. Absent normal observable astronomy, you pretend you're back in New York or wherever.
- Ben Ish Chai: absent normal observable astronomy, revert to a day that is 6AM-6PM; with dawn and twilight periods each of 72 minutes. (If you come from Ecuador and follow the Tiferes Yisroel, this is basically what you'd be doing anyhow.)
- Moadim Uzmanim: use midnight and noon as your dividing lines.
If you're ever stuck in a situation like this for real, ask your rabbi which of these opinions (or combination thereof) to follow! See the article for Rabbi Heinemann's psak combining some of these.
With regards to space travel, I recall hearing another opinion that you revert to Jerusalem time, but I don't recall the source.
No comments:
Post a Comment