Halachic Time: Between Sunset and Nightfall
The halachic day begins at night and ends when it get’s dark the next day. However, how can halacha know exactly when one day ends and another begins? Join Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman as he explores this issue which has far reaching influence on many important mitzvot.
Halachic Time: Between Sunset and Nightfall: Lesson
Hello Everyone
I am pleased to welcome you to this series of classes “Between Sunset and Nightfall.” This period of time is called בין השמשות in the Halachic literature.
Twilight is a mysterious time in popular culture. A prominent leader in the American civil rights movement, Howard Thurman, said about twilight: “Twilight is a time of pause when Nature changes her guard.”
Twilight is neither here nor there. It hard to define what it is, perhaps it is more a question of what it is not.
Today we will begin a discussion of how twilight is regarded in the Halacha.
I wish to thank the family of Stephen R. Kaye for endowing this series of classes.
Halachic Time: Between Sunset and Nightfall: Lesson
Hello Everyone
In today’s class we will see how the accepted practice evolved towards the view of the Gaon of Vilna regarding the time for בין השמשות.
Halachic Time: Between Sunset and Nightfall: Lesson
Hello Everyone
Until now we have been discussing how the Halacha determines the beginning and endpoints for night and day and how it defines the intermediate periods of twilight and dawn. What we learned is that in the Halacha, as well as as in everyday life these terms of day, night, twilight and dawn are related to the presence and absence of sunlight as the days go through the usual 24 hour cycle by which we measure our days.
Today we will discuss how the Halacha relates to the extreme conditions at the polar regions of the earth. There, during winter and summer the sun does not rise and set relative to the horizon. Without sunrise and sunset how do we determine such fundamental times such as the time that Shabbat begins and ends?
Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman graduated from Yeshiva University in 1980 and the dental school of Columbia University in 1985. In 1989 he began studying and teaching at Yeshivat Hamivtar and now studies and teaches at Yeshivat Machanaim in Efrat. He has rabbinic ordination from Rav Zalman Nechemia Goldberg.