short takes

[cellio]

I have half a large cantaloupe and more than enough fruit salad. So far, it appears my other options are blender drinks and sweet cold soups. I guess that shouldn't surprise me too much, but I wonder if I can do better.

Today's mail brought a membership appeal from "Toys for Tots Christmas Club". Oh, let me count the ways in which they have missed their mark... no, on second thought, let's not. :-)

I've spent the last month being a registered Democrat for tax purposes. (I'll fix it after the mayoral election -- err, "primary".) It should be fascinating to see what that does to the makeup of my junk mail.

A question occurred to me while contemplating a conference in England that ends on a Friday (not that I'm expecting to be allowed to go, but): If I get onto a west-bound plane shortly before Shabbat, and at no point during the trip am I in an area where it is already Shabbat, is that kosher? (It might not be smart, of course, as one delayed connection can ruin one's whole day.)

Note to anonymous coworker: if you only get the error after you've edited the code, and you can't produce it from the checked-in version, it is not my bug. :-)

Comments

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

If I get onto a west-bound plane shortly before Shabbat, and at no point during the trip am I in an area where it is already Shabbat, is that kosher?

Ooooo, good question! Technically, I suppose, the sun has not set *where you currently are* so it could be kosher. But this points up that such regulations were ill-prepared for the advent of high-speed travel.

A related issue is this: hypothesize that you're above the Arctic Circle near mid-June, or at the South Pole in December, anyway at some place+time where you have 24-hour sunshine. When does Shabbat begin/end?

[mishtaneh.livejournal.com]

I actually encountered the "standard" answer to that one: apparently one is to use the z'manim for the nearest location which has (a) reasonably normal sunrise/sunset (usually considered latitude < 60 degrees) and (b) a significant Jewish population. The specific example given was that a Jew in Iceland would use the z'manim for London to determine the start and end of Shabbat.

(That said, all such advice has "ask your rabbi" attached to it.)

[caryabend.livejournal.com]

This question came up at a retreat that I attended. We further generalized the situation to encompass modern extremes beyond arctic settlements: space.

What do you do about Shabbat when you're in an orbit where the sun rises and sets on your craft more or less (sometimes much more or less) than once every 24 hours? How about Shabbat on the moon, where the length of the "day" is reasonably fixed, but still 28 earth days long (14 earth rotations each of day and night?)

One opinion suggests following Jerusalem time, while another suggests adhering to local time regardless of inconvenience. Another just brought up the general question of how to make a yearly calendar function in the absence of 24 hour days and 365.25 day years.

[cellio]

What do you do about Shabbat when you're in an orbit where the sun rises and sets on your craft more or less (sometimes much more or less) than once every 24 hours?

There's already a responsum on that. Col. Ramon requested it before flying the shuttle mission.

You might enjoy this post from mabfan.

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

Cool! Thanks for posting the link.

[cellio]

mishtaneh's answer is the standard one if you live there. If you're just visiting, some say you use your home times (but applied locally). So if, say, Shabbat starts at 8:15 here in Pittsburgh and I travel above the arctic circle, I'd begin my Shabbat at 8:15 local time.

And, all that said, if there's actually a local Jewish community, you instead do what they do.

[goljerp]

If I get onto a west-bound plane shortly before Shabbat, and at no point during the trip am I in an area where it is already Shabbat, is that kosher? (It might not be smart, of course, as one delayed connection can ruin one's whole day.)

As you know, I'm not a halachic authority, but I'd actually argue that it isn't OK. Let's look at something slightly different (but which actually happened to me): I had to fly to California on Tisha B'Av (a fast day). Tisha B'Av, like Yom Kippur, is sunset to sunset... but which one to count? The one in NY, where I started the fast, or the one in CA, which was 3 hours later? Needless to say, I ended my fast on NY time :-)

Likewise, what if you were allowed to light candles on the plane on the ground in England (I don't think they'd have ever allowed this) and so you started Shabbat there. The fact that the plane just happened to take off with you on board is not a problem, actually, from a halachic standpoint. (The problem arises when you land...) Anyhow, let's say the flight goes from London to Halifax, going just fast enough that it's before sundown when you land in Canada. It makes no sense to me that you'd start Shabbat again... On the other hand, maybe I don't agre with myself, since if you flew in, arriving on Thursday night, then of course you'd light at the normal time for your destination, not where you started off. And if you arrived on Friday morning, the same thing goes. Hmm... Which leads back to your question.

I'm thinking now that Shabbat is a toggle: once it's on, it's on, regardless of what your plane does. So one should avoid getting onto a plane right before Shabbat, even if it's going west-bound, because of the problems that would arise if it got delayed... but if you have to, and you luck out... you're lucky.

[cellio]

I'm thinking now that Shabbat is a toggle: once it's on, it's on, regardless of what your plane does.

I would agree with that. In fact, you can accept Shabbat early, but once you do you can't change your mind. I don't see why being on a plane at the time would change that.

There is halacha about being on a ship on Shabbat, but this doesn't involve boarding or de-boarding (is that a word? it's late and I'm tired) so it doesn't help much.

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

I don't know your Shabbat travel answer. What I do know is that I have had friends whose planes have landed during Shabbat (but the flight started before Shabbat). And whether you are at your destination, there you are until the day is over.

I wouldn't risk it.

One of my father's reasons for not becoming more observant was that - as an OB/GYN - he could exempt himself from the regulations for driving to attend a delivery on Shabbat. But he'd have to stay in the hospital... He figured how many days on average he's be stuck at the hospital, and gave up the idea. :-)

[cellio]

I wouldn't risk it.

Oh neither would I -- if I go, I'll stay until Sunday. But it got me wondering about the alternate scenario.

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

Edge conditions are fun. I used to make my Rabbi loopy with them. :-)

Not being religious anymore, I'd go back to first principles - follow the purpose of Shabbat (a day of rest, and separation, and with rituals modified only as needed) and it'd be fine. Although the learned creativity of the Rabbinate in how to do so could be fascinating.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I've seen strips of dried cantaloupe at Trader Joe's, if you want to do something offbeat.

[cellio]

I've eaten dried cantaloupe once and it was very weird. I don't think things with that much water (under normal circumstances) are meant to be dehydrated. :-) But thanks for the suggestion.

[profane-stencil.livejournal.com]

How and why are you a Democrat for tax purposes?

[cellio]

In this city Democrats outnumber Republicans 5 to 1 (and let's not even talk about minor parties like Libertarian), so the Democratic primary is the mayoral election. The current mayor drove the city into bankruptcy with a combination of reckless spending (he's in bed with too many special interests) and raised taxes (driving out the tax base), so the real question on the ballot is "who's going to fix this and how?". So I'm really spending a month as a Democrat for economic purposes, but "tax purposes" sounded better. :-)

You can change party registration at any time, but have to do it a month before an election if you want it to matter for that election. Tomorrow I'll re-register in my real party.

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

Virginia has open primaries (like Wisconsin used to have and maybe still does). When you register to vote, you are not asked to supply a party affiliation (and if you give one it is not recorded).

We have primaries coming up in VA next month. In our district most of the Democratic candidates are running for their nominations unopposed. I expect that, in this case, a ton of Democrats are going to vote for the most extreme right-wing Fundie-publican in each race. Of course, this sort of abuse is not unique to places with open primaries; in PA, all they have to do is switch parties a month beforehand. (Though in that case, there is a record of such an occurrence.) I wonder if the Louisiana system might work better -- one primary, everyone in one single pot, and the top two vote-getters advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation.

[cellio]

I don't normally cross party lines to vote in someone else's primary, as it feels wrong, but in this case the Democrats asked their party faithful to do exactly that last year, to influence which Republican they'd be running against in the senate, so there's that whole "sauce for the goose" thing. Not that there's been an organized campaign or that the few non-Democrats will really make a difference, but...

I like the Louisiana system. Even better, skip the primary and conduct an Australian ballot. It'd never fly, but it would be fascinating if it did -- for once people could vote their consciences without having to worry about the effects on the lesser of the two main evils.

[profane-stencil.livejournal.com]

I shouldn't have been so literal! Thanks.