WOULD JEWISH PEOPLE BE REQUIRED TO PRAY ON THE MOON? Copyright 2014 Jeffrey Warren Hyman. All Rights Reserved. If a Jewish person ever reaches the moon would he or she be obligated to pray in the same manner as when they were on the earth? This is the text of an article in the April, 1989 issue of Chai Today. It was originally published in Contemporary Halakhic Problems, by Rabbi David Bleich. The article highlights two opposing points of view. The first is the position of Rabbi Ben-Zion Firrer, quoted from a 1970 issue of No’am (a scholarly publication on Jewish law). Rabbi Firrer maintains that “mitzvot are incumbent upon men only while they are on the earth”. He feels the differences in the light and darkness and the length of the day on the moon would be too difficult to overcome. In the same issue of No’am Rabbi Menachem Kasher takes the opposite position. Rabbi Kasher says that on the moon “ the day must be reckoned on a twenty-four basis, with 12 hours of alternating day and night regardless of the presence or absence of solar illumination”. This would allow a man to pray if he was ever present on the moon. Theyre really debating the sanctity of the Jewish solar/lunar calendar system and the importance of prayers. This topic is like a moral dilemma where there are no right or wrong answers. Both are important. I would go with the primacy of the calendar, as I agree with Rabbi Firrer that Jewish earth prayers on the moon would not be appropriate. If Jewish people ever reach the moon we know they will codify the earth’s extreme astronomy and effects like they did with the moon and likely devise new prayers. There certainly would be no need to recite Kiddish Levona (The Blessing of the New Moon). We might one day see... PRAYERS FOR A JEWISH PERSON IN SPACE, ON THE MOON OR ON ANOTHER PLANET. It may only be one sentence long... LORD, PLEASE GET ME HOME SAFELY! Copyright 2014. All Rights Reserved. Email : jeff@moonscope (954) 435-5805 Read more at Moonscope
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 21:03:24 +0000