[Avodah] Davening direction

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, Oct 30, 2022 at 01:16:21PM -0400, Eli Turkel via Avodah wrote:
> Instinctively it seems silly to me davening north east towards Jerusalem
> even though that is the direction a plane would fly

> Didn't understand the logic of the rhumb line for davening

> Gut feeling is that south east is reasonable even that is based on a flat
> earth

I am thinking from context you mean you don't understand the logic of
facing Yerushalyim for davening along the *great circle*. ince, you
continue by waying that the plumb-line result seems reasonable.


First thing I would highlight is that the question is one only faced
by acharonim. In Tokyo, the rumb-line direction and the great circle
one are 33 deg apart. In Canterbury, NZ, 34 deg. NY - 42deg, and LA -
a whopping 66 deg!

But until Jews reached such far-flung locations, the directions were
within the usual fuzziness. The AhS talks about being more exact,
but continues that minhag Yisrael has been to just face the correct
compass point (OC 96:6), concluding best to get the right 8th of a circle
(e.g. NE; s' 7), and that halakhah is only saying "qetzas netiyah lesham"
(s' 8).


Given that it's all about kavvanah, I would think it depends on the person.
Most shuls should do what's intuitive, even if it's technically wrong.

(Queue up my bit about halakhahh being about reality as percieved, not
objective reality. Play it in your head -- I'm sure the majority of you
know it by heart by now, now continue reading...)

But the minyan at MIT, or anyone working on MyZmanim (for examples),
perhaps should be facing along the great circle. To STEM nerds, the
great circle direction may feel more real and intuitive.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Brains to the lazy
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   are like a torch to the blind --
Author: Widen Your Tent      a useless burden.
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF               - Bechinas haOlam