[Avodah] Rakia, Maaseh Bereishis, Halachah

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 10:29:53AM -0400, Hankman wrote:
: Given that certainly a star whose distance is many (maaaaany)
: light years away and even a satellite is certainly not in a chatzer
: hamishtameres nor the owner betzidoh.

How do you know if my yard is mishtemeres of if I am betzidahh? Are you
arguing these are requirements for the cheftzah, not (as the idiom seems
to indicate) the chatzeir?

On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 09:51:30AM -0400, Lampel wrote:
> You're right; I missed the "stationary" requirement. There's also the
> Gemora Pesachim 94a that says the entire yishuv is located under one
> star, which would, if we include that as "ad harakia"  make it owned by
> all, and thus nobody. But this is all over my head, so to speak.

an oddity... The star is a sphere, so "under one star" could refer to as
much as half the universe. I think the gemara is just acknowledging that
stars are bigger than planets, or at least the settled part of this one.

But because of that sphere thing, "above my chatzer" refers to a wedge
(I don't know the word for the 3D equivalent of a wedge) that gets larger
and larger with altitude.

Below a point on the moon or a particular star is similarly a wedge that
gets larger and larger as you get further away from the moon.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

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