[Avodah] end of fast

[Zev Sero]

Eli Turkel wrote:
> In Israel the fast seems to end about 10 minutes before motzei shabbat time.
> Whenever I am in the US the fast ends about the same time as motzei shabbat.
> Any reason for the discrepancy?

Are you using the same source in all cases?  Perhaps the source you're
using in EY adds more time to shabbat than does the one you use in the USA.  

AFAIK, the fast ends at tzet hakochavim, shabbat ends at TzhK plus some
tosefet shabbat.  Also, Shabbat is deoraita, so people may use a longer
calculation of TzhK, while taaniyot are derabanan so they may use a
shorter calculation.  But whatever decisions any one source makes, they
should be the same in EY and the USA.

Unless: if the source you're using calculates TzhK for the fast end,
but arrives at a shabbat-end time by simply adding some fixed number
of minutes to sunset, then there will be a gap between them,
representing the difference between actual TzhK and this abitrary
number of minutes.  This gap will be bigger in EY than in the northern
USA, because EY has a lower latitude, and therefore, on any given day,
a shorter bein hashmashot.  In the southern USA, where the latitude
is about that of EY, the difference will disappear.

-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas