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cellioIdle question the first: what is the origin of Shabbat (or Yom Tov) beginning 18 minutes before sunset? That is, the idea of starting early is solidly talmudic, but what is the significance of 18 minutes in particular? It is worth noting, as well, that many time differentials are in proportional hours (a day always has 12 hours; sometimes they're longer and sometimes they're shorter), but "18 minutes" is a constant. (Online search in the Soncino talmud isn't doing it for me, though I may be doing something wrong in specifying the search, given the lack of documentation.)
Idle question the second: the issues of Shabbat (etc) times for astronauts (e.g. on the shuttle or space station) are well-understood, but what will we do when we colonize other planets? If you don't go with the local times, things get rapidly wonky, with Shabbat perhaps starting mid-day one week and at dawn the next and so on. If you do go with local times, then you quickly have calendar drift with respect to Earth -- and you may need to change the number or length of months, if you want a physical year to equal a liturgical year. If you don't do that, your holidays move around all over the place like on the Muslim calendar.
Idle question the second: the issues of Shabbat (etc) times for astronauts (e.g. on the shuttle or space station) are well-understood, but what will we do when we colonize other planets? If you don't go with the local times, things get rapidly wonky, with Shabbat perhaps starting mid-day one week and at dawn the next and so on. If you do go with local times, then you quickly have calendar drift with respect to Earth -- and you may need to change the number or length of months, if you want a physical year to equal a liturgical year. If you don't do that, your holidays move around all over the place like on the Muslim calendar.
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Date: 2004-05-01 09:59 pm (UTC)