DEVARIM 5783

“What Does a Jew Do When He Crosses the International Date Line?”

This Wednesday night we will commemorate Tisha B’Av, the 9^th day of the Jewish month of Av—the saddest day in the Jewish calendar. Every major tragedy that ever happened to the Jewish people either happened, or, had its roots with something that happened on that day. I left a partial list on the table in the lobby. Look at it, the list is staggering!

We are now in the midst of the 9-Days of mourning before Tisha B’Av which began on Rosh Chodesh last Wednesday. During these 9 days, Jewish mourning practices include no weddings or parties, no wine or meat—except for Shabbat—and no haircuts or shaving.

As you know, Cheryl and I went to Japan a couple of weeks ago. When a Jew travels so far west—crossing the International Date Line, where one moment it’s Tuesday and the next it’s suddenly Wednesday—raises a few unique issues.

We left on Tuesday, July 4^th in the afternoon. As we travelled west, it never got dark until after we landed in Japan—which was Wednesday afternoon the next day—14 hours and 15 minutes later. This posed a challenging question about a Jew’s prayer obligations. Since it never got dark, how was I to pray the evening Maariv service when evening never came? And since it never got dark and then light, how was I to pray the morning Shacharit service for Wednesday, the day we landed?

At 1^st I thought this might be similar to how Jewish law approaches the question of how to time our prayers if we lived in Alaska or Finland or Norway where there are days when it never gets dark or never gets light. The same question has been posed for Jewish astronauts orbiting the earth.

You’ve heard the old joke. Why are there so few Jewish astronauts on the Space Station? Because the orbit of the Space Station sees the sun set approximately every 90 minutes. That means, every 90 minutes a Jewish astronaut has to put on his tallis and tefillin, daven Shacharit and take off his tallis and tefillin, daven Mincha and Maariv. Then, after the 90 minutes is up, put on his tallis and tefillin, daven Shacharit, take off his tallis and tefillin, daven Mincha and Maariv, and so on. And to top it all off, after 6 cycles of this every 9 hours, it’s Shabbos! Who would have time to be an astronaut?

These questions would never have occurred to the rabbis of the Talmud and the Codes of Jewish law like the Shulchan Aruch and Mishneh Torah. They probably didn’t know there were places where the sun doesn’t set for months at a time, and they never could travel fast enough by boat or wagon to create such an issue. So, this conundrum was never addressed by rabbinic authorities until relatively recently.

Rabbi Yisroel Lipschutz, who lived in Danzig Poland in the early 19^th century where they heard about places like Norway and Finland, ruled that a traveler should adopt the clock of the place from which he departed. So, if one took off from Atlanta, one should go with Atlanta time.

In Norway, however, the custom in the summer months when the sun never sets—based on a teaching from the Baal Shem Tov that says we are all always walking towards Jerusalem—is to bring in Shabbat at the same time Shabbat begins in Jerusalem. So I asked myself, should I follow the times of Atlanta or Jerusalem?

However, when I considered our return trip, I was thoroughly confused. This past Wednesday we left Tokyo at 6:35pm and returned to Atlanta 12 hours and 40 minutes later at 6:15pm—20 minutes earlier, but also on Wednesday??? Should I just ignore the fact that during the flight it would get dark and then light again? Should I not daven Maariv and Shacharit on the plane? Davening on the plane isn’t really a problem because one is allowed to daven in their seat and not stand for the Amidah if there is no place to stand—like on a plane. Mincha was not a problem because it would still be light out when we landed in Atlanta to daven Mincha.

I didn’t know what to do. I then thought about calling a colleague who would be more familiar with these issues. I thought and thought and then I realized my colleague and friend, Rabbi Yossi New, is from Australia and surely faces these same challenges when he goes home to visit. But where was Rabbi New when I called? That’s right, he then in Australia. So, I called his son Rabbi Isser New who also travels periodically to see family in Australia. What he told me made perfect sense, and as I later learned, follows the ruling of most Poskim decisors of Jewish law (Betzalel Stern in Tshuvos Betzel Hachochma 5:103, Y.S. Eliashiv in Sefer Taarich Yisroel 4:2, and Rav Moshe Heinemann).

So it turned out that since the sun did not go down when I left Atlanta till after I landed in Japan, I didn’t have to daven the Maariv evening service followed by the Shacharit morning service that day, even though it was Wednesday when I landed. I completely missed davening Maariv and Shacharit for Wednesday. It felt so weird! “You see,” Rabbi New said, “you’ll make it up on the way back when it does get dark and light again during the flight and you will have to daven Maariv followed by Shacharit again—even though you had already davened Maariv and Shacharit for that day before you took off.”

On the way back, we left Japan on the early evening of Rosh Chodesh Av—the 1^st day of the month of Av—and it would remain Rosh Chodesh Av for our landing. That meant that in addition to the extra prayers for Rosh Chodesh of Hallel and Musaf I said earlier the morning before leaving, I had to daven on the plane Maariv and Shacharit with the Rosh Chodesh additions of Hallel and Musaf in Shacharit as well.

You should know that the Rosh Chodesh celebrations of the new month can sometimes be a 2-day affair—because a lunar month is actually 29.5 days, so a Jewish month is either 29 or 30 days. But Rosh Chodesh for the month of Av is never 2 days—that is, except for me and Cheryl when we travelled home from Japan. This means Cheryl and I may have been the only Jews in the world celebrating 2 days of Rosh Chodesh Av this past week! How special is that!

Crossing the International Date Line has other interesting ramifications. Consider this Chanukah scenario: If one lights 3 Chanukah candles on Sunday night, before leaving Los Angeles, one will light 5 candles on Tuesday night in Sydney, Australia—missing completely the 4^th night!  

Why do I share all this with you today, besides being a fascinating look at Jewish law and this modern conundrum? It’s to show you and me how essential it is to keep our relationship with Gd and His Torah intact, even, and I would add especially when we travel. The Torah should guide every aspect of our lives no matter where we are and what we are doing.

Today’s Torah portion begins with Moses reviewing with the Jewish people about to enter the Promised Land some of the places they traveled after they left Egypt. Rashi explains these were the places they had sinned—with the sin of the Golden Calf, or the sin of the Spies, or their unfounded complaints, etc. Moses used veiled references and names that only alluded to these sins in order not to embarrass his listeners, but the message was clear: Be especially careful not to sin when you travel.  

A few weeks ago I shared with you a commentary on the verse in Bamidbar/Numbers (9:18) about the travelling of the Jewish people in the desert  from Egypt to the Promised Land that more clearly reveals the whole point: Al pi Hashem yisu B’ney Yisrael, v’al pi Hashem yachanu (According to the word of Hashem the Children of Israel journeyed, and according to the word of Hashem they would encamp). The Shelah HaKadosh taught that this verse was not only speaking to the Jews who left Egypt, this verse is also speaking to us! We’re also at home and on the road; we take a break from our normal routines and go on vacation. And the key, says the Shelah, is to always act al pi Hashem (according to the word of Hashem).

My friends, if you’re still planning to travel this summer, enjoy your time away. The key is not to leave your Judaism or relationship with Gd in the shul, but to take it with you on the road—even if you cross the International Date Line. There’s nothing wrong with taking a vacation—just as long whatever you do, it is al pi Hashem (according to the word of Gd). Amen!