Halakhah su Giosuè 10:78

Fortuitously, a thesis of this nature²⁴R. Meir Posen, Or ha-Me’ir, pp. 319-324, espouses a somewhat similar but yet different position. Rabbi Posen maintains that the day of the week remains constant until the sun sets. However, when the sun does set, the next day of the week and the date is the same in such areas as on the rest of the globe. He reasons that the date as well as determination of the particular day of the week is determined by the sun’s position vis-a-vis planet Earth and hence is constant throughout the globe. However, for inhabitants of Earth, the day does not draw to a close until sunset. Accordingly, if the first day of the polar spring occurs on Shabbat the entire spring and summer must be observed as Shabbat; similarly, if the first day of the polar spring occurs on a weekday there in no Shabbat at all during the polar spring. It would, however, seem to this writer that, according to Rabbi Posen’s thesis, the determining factor would logically be the day on which the polar autumn begins, i.e., if the sun sets in the fall on a Friday, the entire ensuing twelve months would be Shabbat whereas if the sun sets for the polar autumn on a weekday there would be no Shabbat for an entire twelve-month period. A view similar to that of Rabbi Posen is entertained by Teshuvot Minḥat Elazar, IV, no. 42. has not been espoused by any scholar.²⁵Naḥalat Ya‘akov, no. 4, does offer, as one of three alternative possibilities, the suggestion that Shabbat must be observed at the North Pole for a period of twelve months. A bare intimation of such a thesis does appear in the writings of an eminent eighteenth-century Moroccan authority, R. Raphael Mekanes, Teshuvot Mishpatim Yesharim, I, no. 76. In a few cryptic words, Mishpatim Yesharim questions whether one arriving in the polar region on Shabbat should observe the Sabbath for a period of six months. However, he fails to analyze the implications of that position, including the fact that the full Sabbath “day” should be twelve months rather than six months or the question of how to determine which twelve-month “day” is the Sabbath, Indeed, Mishpatim Yesharim may have intended to espouse a view consistent with that of Or ha-Me’ir and Teshuvot Minḥat Elazar cited supra, note 24. R. David Luria, Bi’ur Radal, Pirkei de-Rabbi Eli‘ezer, chapter 52, note 1, also seems to have entertained the feasibility of the thesis herein described. See also idem, Peirush Radal, Pesikta Rabbati 23:1, note 6. Cf., however, Teshuvot Divrei Yosef, no. 8, who dismisses such a view as preposterous. However, an unnamed interlocutor whose comments are recorded by R. Jehoseph Schwartz, Teshuvot Divrei Yosef (Jerusalem, 5622), no. 8, did formulate such a view. That scholar adduces a statement found in Pirkei de-Rabbi Eli'ezer, chapter 52, in support of this view. Pirkei de-Rabbi Eli'ezer, commenting upon the phenomenon described in Joshua 10:13, maintains that Joshua caused the sun to remain in a fixed position in the sky for a period of twenty-four hours and that the miracle was performed by Joshua on a Friday. That entire period was regarded as a weekday rather than as Shabbat, thereby enabling completion of the military engagement without desecration of the Sabbath. The anonymous scholar is reported to have cited those comments as suggestive of the notion that a day may be of indeterminate length.

Strange as that thesis may appear, it serves, in this writer's opinion, to explain two difficult aggadic statements³²Another source, Midrash Tanḥuma, Parashat Ki Tissa, sec. 36, cites Daniel 2:22 and Psalms 139:12 as establishing that there is no darkness in heaven and proceeds to discuss how Moses, during the forty days in which God transmitted the Torah to him, could tell when it was day and when it was night. Teshuvot Rav Pe‘alim, II, Sod Yesharim, no. 4, cites that discussion in support of his position that the day is determined on the basis of twenty-four hour periods. See, however, the sources cited supra, note 16, who maintain that the references of such nature are to Jerusalem time. Moreover, that discussion may be understood metaphorically whereas the two aggadic statements discussed herein have halakhic ramifications. that have long been a source of puzzlement. Scripture records that in the war against Gibeon undertaken by Joshua the sun stood still in the sky in order to enable the conquest to become complete: "And the sun stood still and the moon stayed until the nation avenged itself of the enemies … and the sun stayed in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for a whole day" (Joshua 10:13). Based upon differing interpretations of that verse, the Gemara, Avodah Zarah 25a, records a dispute with regard to whether that "day," i.e., the hours of daylight, was twenty-four, thirty-six or forty-eight hours in duration. In Avodah Zarah 25a there is no hint that the entire time period described together with the normal period of darkness counted for other than a single calendar day. However, Pirkei de-Rabbi Eli'ezer, chapter 52, adopts the view that the sun shone for thirty-six hours and reports that the battle occurred on Friday "and Joshua saw the anguish of Israel lest they desecrate the Sabbath … and each [of the luminaries] remained stationary for thirty-six hours until the conclusion of the Sabbath."

And this prohibition is practiced in every place and at all times by males and females. And one who transgresses it and makes himself a clairvoyant in one of the ways from all the matters we have mentioned or in another matter, and tells people things that he sees through his clairvoyance, is liable for lashes - and that is when he does some act in the thing, as we do not administer lashes without an act. But one who asks [something] from a clairvoyant is not under the liability of lashes. Nonetheless, very disgusting is anyone who fixes his thoughts or expends his time on these vanities. As it is not appropriate for one whom God has graced with knowledge and given the true religion as an inheritance to think about these vanities. Rather, he should fix his thoughts on the service of the Creator, may He be elevated, and not fear the words of the clairvoyant; since God, in His kindnesses will change the system of the stars, and nullify the power of the constellations, [so] as to do good to His pious ones. And it is known that we are the holy people, such that we are not under [the power of] a star or constellation - 'the Lord is our inheritance, as He spoke to us.' And [it is] like the matter that we found with the forefathers, that God placed their stature above the ministers above: Like that which is written about Yaakov, "but rather Yisrael will be your name" (Genesis 35:10), "for you have dominated (sarita) with powers, etc." (Genesis 32:29); meaning that God made him a minister (sar) over the [celestial] ministers. And so [too,] is Yitschak called Yisrael, as it is stated (Genesis 46:8), "these are the Children of Israel that were coming to Egypt, Yaakov and his children." And so [too,] Avraham is called Yisrael, as we wrote in the Introduction of the book. And this is [the meaning of] what is written about the matter of the disagreement of the prophet, Eliyahu, with the prophets of Baal, as it stated (I Kings 18:31), "like the number of tribes of the children of Yaakov," whose name was called Yisrael: As he was rebuking them [about] why they were leaving the service of the Master, the Lord of Hosts, who has in His hand to nullify all the actions of the powers and the constellations; and like the matter that He did with the forefathers, such that He put the constellations under their hand. And that is [the meaning] of its stating in that place (I Kings 18:31), "like the number of tribes of the children of Yaakov, to whom was the word of the Lord, saying, 'Yisrael will be your name,'" - meaning to say, that He made him a minister over the [celestial] ministers, to change their system and their power with his merit. [This is] meaning to say, Israel, who are the children of Yaakov, are also ministers over the celestial ministers; and hence it would be fitting for them to not worship anything besides God alone. And so did we find with Yehoshua, who decreed to the sun and the moon to stand - as it is written in Joshua 10:12, "Sun, be still in Giveon, moon in the Ayalon Valley" - and they stood. And so [too,] several pious ones of Israel who changed the system of the constellations [and their power] with their merit. The matter would [take too] long, to bring [the] several stories that happened in Israel about this matter.