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

[Akiva Miller]

.
R' Yitzchok Levine 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.

I don't understand it either, and this post is to explain why I'm not
satisfied with the answers I've heard.

RYL quoted an unnamed person who wrote:

> In addition to your question, if they really cared about when Mars was
> ascendent, the time would change by one hour when we move the clock.
> But by Chasidim, it remains 6:00 and 7:00. Therefore, they do not really
> care about where Mars is. QED.

And then he quoted Reb Zalman Alpert

> This has nothing to do with science. It's in the realm of Aggada and
> kabbala which has no relation to logical scientific facts.
> ...
> Those who are followers of the Besht, etc accept this at face value.
> Will we get a scientist to come here and tell us there is no scientific
> proof that tefillin shel rosh cause goyim to be scared of Jews? Sounds
> like a task for a psychologist. If this were a matter of halacha, the
> Rebbe would not waive it!
> ...
> Our MO community is fixated on science, which has very little to do with
> many of our foundational myths. But in Judaism that's of minor concern,
> as Halacha trumps all.
> ...
> By the way Chabad also observes this custom, and their last leader,
> Rabbi MM Schneerson, not only studied science in an academic setting
> but had an interest in astronomy, since his teen years, but he knew
> science lechud and Yahadus lechud.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I think that the above writers don't
grasp my problem with this practice. My questions aren't because this
practice is inconsistent with science. It's because this practice seems
inconsistent with *Torah*!

I am a person who believes that each year, on Shavuos, there is a hashpaah
from Above that enables us to accept the Torah yet again. And this happens
every year, on schedule, whether it happens to be the 5th 6th or 7th of
Sivan. And it happens on schedule every year, whether the last time was 12
months ago or 13. And it really does happen, despite science's inability to
see it, measure it, or verify it in any manner.( And if you don't like how
I phrased that, then please cut me some slack and replace it with whatever
words you'd prefer, cuz you DO know what I'm talking about.)

Each time I wake up, I wash my hands in a very particular way. Chazal tell
me there's a ruach ra on my hands, and even though science can't see it, I
can be cleansed of it if I follow specific rules.

The Torah gave us halachos about Kli Rishon, Kli Sheni, and Kli Shlishi.
And we follow those halachos even though a scientist understands heat very
differently, and a chef defines cooking very differently. Halacha doesn't
have to follow science, but it does have to follow its own internal logic;
it follows its own rules.

Getting back to avoiding Kiddush between 6 PM and 7 PM, I accept that this
is totally independent of any scientific observations of where Mars
actually appears. And I can accept that it *is* something to be careful
about, al pi nistar. But shouldn't the implementation of this carefulness
be based on Torah concepts?

For example: For purposes of Tal Umatar (in chutz laaretz) and for Birkas
Hachama, halacha accepts the idea of a solar year that lasts 365 1/4 days.
Further, for practical purposes, halacha accepts a rotation of 365-, 365-
365- and 366-day years. And those years do not overlap precisely with the
rotation of the Gregorian calendar, which is why we sometimes begin Tal
Umatar on Dec 4 and sometimes on Dec 5. And we certainly aren't so
subservient to their calendar that we would skip a leap year in 1900 or in
2100, which is why there is a slight drift over the centuries, for which
days of December are the switchover.

So why on earth does this practice (about kiddush between 6 and 7) bow down
to each state government's policy on how to set one's clock? Even when
daylight time is in effect?!?!

We started Tal Umatar in the 1800s on Dec 3/4, and this changed to Dec 4/5
because there was no Feb 29 1900. So too, if one avoids kiddush during a
certain hour each week, then that cycle ought to repeat every 168 hours,
even if one's state chooses to observe daylight time. In other words, avoid
kiddush between 7 and 8 in the summer. This has nothing to do with choosing
science over Torah! It is to be consistent within Torah!

Similarly: It seems to me that if the avoidance of Kiddush begins at the
same moment in Boston, New York, and Cleveland, this is a capitulation and
surrender to the secular standards. In each location, the no-kiddush hour
might begin six standard hours after Chatzos Hayom, or perhaps at sunset,
or perhaps at tzeis. But does it really make sense that this hour would be
observed at different times in England and in France, simply because their
governments choose to be in different time zones?

(Note: Throughout this post, I've been working under the presumption that
Mars' spiritual effects on the earth are similar to the sun's physical
effects. That is, each day, their effects begin on the western edge of the
Date Line (whatever and wherever that might be). And then, as the earth
rotates below, different parts of the earth come under its influence -
first Asia, then Europe and Africa, and so on. But maybe that's *not* how
Mars works; maybe Mars affects the entire earth at the same time, beginning
at some point and lasting for 60 minutes. If so, then we need to ask "From
six to seven o'clock *where*?" and adjust accordingly (very similar to the
current thread about where the Molad is calculated from). I have no idea
which way Mars works. All I'm suggesting is that it might be worth looking
into.)

Akiva Miller
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