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From: de@moscom.UUCP (Dave Esan)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: When is the Sabbath?
Message-ID: <307@moscom.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 29-Jan-85 22:27:36 EST
Article-I.D.: moscom.307
Posted: Tue Jan 29 22:27:36 1985
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Xref: seismo net.religion.jewish:1344


There was a question raised about Shabbes at the North Pole and in space.
There once was a Jewish community in Spitzbergen in Norway, that is far
above the arctic circle.  Obviously there were times when there was no
daylight during a "day", and thus Shabbes could not start or stop.
Since the essence of the mitzvah was to rest one day out of seven, they
began Shabbes at an arbitrary time and ended it twenty-five hours later.

I am sure that someone with better access to responsa and to source books
can find out more.

As for space, the question does not yet apply.  An Israeli, on a visit to
the US, will celebrate only seven days of Passover, not eight.  Astronauts
are on a visit to space, and should follow their custom and time, since
time is a variable in space.  They should follow the example cited above
and declare a certain time sunrise, and another sunset and daven 
accordingly.

A better question comes when we colonize Mars, and people actually live
there.  How long is a year, month, day?  Does one have two new moons??
--))).

				David Esan (!moscom!de)