[Avodah] R' Nissim Karelitz's Beis Din: Kohanim cannot fly from Ben Gurion

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Mon, Oct 31, 2016 at 03:52:27PM -0400, via Avodah wrote:
: From: Zev Sero via Avodah <avodah at lists.aishdas.org>
:> No  matter where in the universe you are, you are above every point on a 
:> line  that extends between you and the centre, and below every point on 
:> that  line's infinite extension.  

: I don't believe there is any halachic source that defines "above" this  
: way.  Anyway, center of what?  A line between the center of earth and  you...

Well, if the line is at the center of earth, then that's the definition
we all use when we use "lemaalah" in the naive sense of "away from
the earth, toward the sky". Just made more rigorous.

: even if you're standing on a distant planet or star?  Maybe if you  went to 
: Mars, "above" would be the extension of a line between the center of  Mars 
: and you? ...

Interesting question, but it doesn't need to be answered in order to
address the airplane question. The difference between airplanes and a
kohein in a cart riding over a body is one of degree.

And, of course, whether the invisibility of a meis due to distance and
apparent size is more like something that is invisibly small at any
distance, or more like something that is blocked from view.

If the former, the airplane is beyond a quatitative line that the cart
is not.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             There's only one corner of the universe
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