[Avodah] Which way to Jerusalem?

[Danny Schoemann]

From: R' Jonathan Dickson <Jonathan.Dickson at blplaw.com>

> Simon Montagu's query about which way to face when davening is,
> of course, relevant wherever in the world you are - there will always
> be at least some divergence (and it could be quite significant) in
> which way to face depending on whether you use a rhumb line
> or great circle path to calculate where Yerushalayim is.

One advantage of living in Yerusholayim is that you can be 100% sure
your shul is facing the correct direction. Just go onto the roof and
check. :-)

From: R' Liron Kopinsky <liron.kopinsky at gmail.com>:

> "East" from anywhere:

In Yericho and the dead-sea area they daven West. Hard to believe
anyone would argue.

We daven South-East with each shul having a slightly different
direction, and all of them pointing directly in the correct direction.
:-)

Actually, IIRC, it's mentioned in Halocho that one should not daven
directly "East"; since the idol worshippers tended to daven facing the
sunrise.

See also KSA 18:10 that "by us we daven S-E" - and those in the South
should daven North,etc.

- Danny