[Avodah] Vizhnitz Rebbe Asks Chasidim To Make Kiddush This Shabbos Between 6 And 7

[Zev Sero]

On 20/12/20 11:10 am, Prof. L. Levine via Avodah wrote:

> I have never understood this custom.  The hours between 6 and 7 PM 
> differ depending upon where one is in the world, so if Mars is 
> controlling the world between 6 and 7 pm in EY, it seems to me that it 
> is not controlling the world in Brooklyn between 6 and 7 pm where I live.

No, it does not differ, except by the modern adjustment from actual 
solar time to Railroad Time.  On any given day Noon and Midnight are at 
exactly the same time all over the world, again before adjusting for 
Railroad Time.  And *mean* noon and midnight (which according to all 
opinions are used by halacha for "molad zaken", and according to RMF's 
family kabala are also used for all other purposes) are the same all 
over the world every day, again with the same modern adjustment.

The hourly rotation of the planets at the end of Masechta Shabbos is 
usually calculated using mean hours, so it is the same everywhere and 
throughout the year, before the modern adjustments.   The planetary 
influence affects each place when that time comes to that place, just 
like all time-based influences, such as zmanei hayom, shabbos & yomtov, etc.

What I don't understand is that in most places in the Northern 
Hemisphere, certainly in the USA and Eretz Yisrael, it should be 
possible to make kiddush *before* the hour of Mars starts, which is in 
any case the original minhag as recorded by the Maharil.

The Maharil doesn't say to wait until after Mars's hour, he says davka 
to hurry up and make kiddush under the influence of Jupiter, rather than 
that of Mars.  The emphasis is not on the negative but on the positive. 
  In the case where one did not manage this, it's not even clear to me 
that the Maharil would have approved of waiting an hour; perhaps he 
would have said next time hurry up, but now that you missed it make 
kiddush anyway.  But at any rate this week surely the Vizhnitzer Rebbe 
should have urged people to daven at the earliest zman and hurry home so 
as to make kiddush before "six o'clock" (which in EY is more like 5:40), 
instead of dawdling and getting home during that hour.



-- 
Zev Sero            Wishing everyone a *healthy* and happy 5781
zev at sero.name       "May this year and its curses end
                      May a new year and its blessings begin"