Global Shabbos – Everywhere Simultaneously?
Departing After Shabbos, Arriving On Shabbos
(Sanhedrin 58b)
The earth is, of course, round and the sun does not shine all over at the same time. When the sun shines in Eretz Yisrael, it is dark elsewhere and vice versa. This actuality gives rise to the question discussed by many, as attested by the Radbaz: Shabbos is observed in commemoration of the Creation and Hashem’s rest from creating the world, so would it not be fitting for Jews everywhere to keep Shabbos simultaneously? As we were first commanded to observe Shabbos at Marah, would it not be appropriate for Jews everywhere to keep Shabbos according to the time of sunset in Marah?
Shabbos Is Individual For Each Jew
The Radbaz (Responsa 1:76) explains that this question is based on the assumption that Shabbos is a day of rest for the whole world. The truth is, however, that Shabbos is an individual commandment for each Jew at his particular location, as Shabbos is a “sign between Me and you.” Each Jew, therefore, must observe that sign at his individual location – in other words, Shabbos must be the seventh day after his six days of work. People all over the world count six days of being allowed to work, commemorating the six days of Creation, and refrain from work on the seventh day.
Sabbath On Monday
The Radbaz finds support for his clarification in our sugya, which explains that a non-Jew who observed Shabbos (which means complete cessation from all forbidden labors) is punishable by death, even if he observed it on Monday. Shabbos is the seventh day after six days of work, and if a non-Jew worked six days and observed Shabbos on the following day, that day is regarded as his Shabbos and he is punishable by death. The Radbaz also finds support in the Gemara (Shabbos 69b) concerning a person in a desert who has lost his reckoning of the days of the week: “He counts six days and sanctifies the seventh.” Here again we see that Shabbos was given to each Jew according to his location and was not intended for its observance to be simultaneous globally.
Some may, however, interpret according to Rashi and the Ran, ibid., that the halacha involving a person in a desert is a rabbinic injunction in remembrance of Shabbos and, consequently, lacks pertinence to our topic, which concerns the observance of Shabbos as it is commanded Biblically.
Was It The Seventh Day Everywhere?
In his Tzafnas Pa’neach, the Maharit addresses this subject differently. He contends that the Creation did not occur everywhere simultaneously, but when Hashem said, “The earth should sprout vegetation,” the earth began to sprout vegetation from a certain point, spreading throughout the world over a span of 24 hours. In other words, Creation did not occur in one instant but happened in each location according to its timing.
The Chasam Sofer expressed a similar view that Hashem did not rest at the same time everywhere but rested from creating the world at each location whenever the sixth day ended. Then, it is obvious that just as Hashem rested at each location according to its time, the commandment of Shabbos was given for each location according to its time (cited in Responsa Mishpatei Uziel, Orach Chayyim 29).
Crystallizing the difference between the explanation of the Radbaz and that of the Maharit and the Chasam Sofer: All agree that every Jew must observe Shabbos on the seventh day at his location. The question is, though, what is the source of that obligation? According to the Radbaz, the obligation stems from the fact that every individual Jew is commanded to observe Shabbos, and the time for this mitzvah is determined according to his location. On the other hand, according to the Maharit and Chasam Sofer, a Jew’s obligation to observe Shabbos stems from his location at the time the sixth day ends.
Echoes of The Concorde:
Flight After Shabbos From Tel Aviv to New York
An interesting question developed in modern times. This question was relevant a number of years back when the short-lived Concorde flights were introduced in January of 1976. Though these planes no longer operate (they were retired in 2003), there is still talk about reviving them if the right set of circumstances is met. In what is now the hypothetical, a person would be able to board a Concorde jet and depart Tel Aviv right after Shabbos and land in New York on Shabbos afternoon (New York time). On the one hand, he has already observed the Shabbos pertaining to that week, but on the other hand, Shabbos is still in effect where he has landed. Recent halachic authorities have discussed the question, mentioning the difference between the explanations of the Radbaz and the Maharit and Chasam Sofer.
According to the Maharit and Chasam Sofer, a Jew’s obligation to observe Shabbos stems from the fact that the seventh day falls at his location. He must, then, observe Shabbos everywhere where it is the seventh day, even if he has already observed it elsewhere. According to the Radbaz, however, Shabbos was given to each Jew individually and the commandment is to observe one day of rest.
If he has observed that day this week, he then has no further mitzvah to observe it again. We emphasize that this discussion concerns the observance of Shabbos as it stems from the Torah. As a rabbinical injunction, however, all agree that such a person must observe the local Shabbos. The Imrei Emes, cited in Piskei Teshuvah 3:252, maintains that since such a person has observed the mitzvah in its entirety, he cannot be obligated again (see ibid. concerning Yom Kippur and Pesach).
On the other hand, the author of Responsa Be’tzel HaChochmah (4:83) tends to hold that as the person is now at a location where it is Shabbos, he is obligated in the mitzvah from the Torah (d’oraisa). (See also Responsa Torah Sheleimah, Bereishis 430, and Responsa Or LeTziyon 14.)
