This week, the island of Samoa is switching time zones, causing it to skip from Thursday directly to Saturday. Out of simple curiosity, what implications might this have on any Jews on the island? Since one cannot "jump" into the middle of Shabbat, does that mean all observant Jews would have to leave the island?
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there are non any see here and here and here– simchastorahCommented Dec 29, 2011 at 5:26
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9ESultanik, welcome to Judaism.SE, and thanks for posting what is clearly a fascinating and popular question! I look forward to seeing you around.– Isaac Moses ♦Commented Dec 29, 2011 at 15:45
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12This question is now the highest-voted to date.– Isaac Moses ♦Commented Dec 30, 2011 at 3:44
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3@Daniel Unfortunately, I am neither smart enough to devise another question that hasn't already been asked, nor am I knowledgable enough to answer any of those that remain unanswered. I'm still lurking, though!– ESultanikCommented Apr 24, 2013 at 13:03
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3@ESultanik good questions (like this one) can arise out of a desire to learn; being smart isn't required. I hope you'll bring your future questions here, at whatever rate they come.– Monica CellioCommented Dec 6, 2016 at 23:13
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4 Answers
The civil date line doesn't affect the Halachic day with regards to Shabbos.
Where is the location date line is subject to Halachic argument
According to the Chazon Ish, the Halachic dateline hugs the coast of Australia, China and Russia. Anything to the east (Japan, etc) is considered to be on the same day as the United States. Therefore, it's Shabbos in Japan on their Sunday.
Samoa used to have Shabbos on Saturday (like Hawaii). Now it will be pushed off a day (to be like) Japan and have it on Sunday.
According to R' Tukachinsky, the halachic date line is between Hawaii and California. Therefore, Hawaii is on the Japanese side and Shabbos is on their Friday.
Samoa used to have Shabbos on Friday (like Hawaii). Now it will be pushed off a day to Saturday.
There are other opinions that it runs straight through the middle of the Pacific, though there are arguments of exactly where does it run.
answered Dec 29, 2011 at 5:23
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15Then there's also the opinion of R. M.M. Kasher (described here), that there is no date line - each place just follows the direction from which its earliest Shabbos-observant settlers came. In that case, then, its Shabbos would presumably continue to be at the same time as that of the U.S. (i.e., its new Sunday).– AlexCommented Dec 29, 2011 at 5:31
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7I don't have a citation readily available, but many American poskim allow Jews to visit Hawaii and keep Fri night / Sat night as shabbos. A minority suggest that Jews should not do melacha d'oraisa from Thurs night to Fri night on the islands of Aloha. Ditto Japan, not doing melacha d'oraisa from Sat night to Sun night.– user1095Commented Dec 29, 2011 at 17:43
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2BTW, I heard that when Mir was in Japan during WW2, they kept Shabbos and Yom Kippur for two days (one Halachically and one Lechumra). Lubavitch IIRC, kept Shabbbos on Saturday like the latter two opinions. Commented Dec 29, 2011 at 18:21
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5@Alex Samoa's earliest settlers kept Shabbat like Australia. It was switched to USA in 1892. see staff.science.uu.nl/~gent0113/idl/idl_alaska.htm– Double AA ♦Commented Dec 29, 2011 at 19:09
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3Nice answer and all... but nobody in Japan keeps Shabbat on Sunday, and nobody in HAwaii keeps Shabbat on Friday.– aviCommented Dec 29, 2011 at 19:25
The question of where the Halachic International Dateline is is its own independent question. The decision in Samoa would only matter if we left date-line issues to governmental/secular authorities, which is not the case. The day to keep Shabbos in Samoa would be seven days from the last time it was to be kept, according to which ever opinion we should/do go by.
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But what if Shabbath has never been kept there (or has not been kept there since whatever year the last Jew to ever dwell/visit there left)? Do we go by that person, or do we go by what Samoa decides for itself? What if, perhaps, all this time it was in the wrong time zone and now it's moving into the correct one (from the perspective of Halachah)?– Seth JCommented Dec 29, 2011 at 17:36
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My point was that whatever the halachic process used to determine the date of Shabbos for the "week before", whether in theory or in practice, remains unchanged by an arbitrary change by the the govn. There may be different opinions about which day that is, but seven days later would constitute Shabbos according to which ever opinion. Commented Dec 30, 2011 at 4:31
It seems The Star K picked up on the question: How to Keep This Shabbos in Samoa? STAR-K Tells Us How (Samoa & Tokelau To Cross International Date Line)
answered Dec 29, 2011 at 22:53
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This Shabbath matters, of course, but I think the question was also about long-term implications.– Seth JCommented Dec 30, 2011 at 5:04
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4The short answer (my summary of this article) is that since "According to almost all opinions, the Halachic Dateline is not determined by what the locals call 'Saturday,'" Shabbat the week of the time change (shabbat B) will start exactly 7 days after the start of the previous shabbat (shabbat A), and shabbat the week after the time change (shabbat C) will start exact exactly 7 days after the start of shabbat B. There's longstanding complication caused by the fact that the Chazon Ish and R' Tukachinsky disagree about what day Shabbat is to begin with, but this new change doesn't affect that.– ChanochCommented May 13, 2012 at 14:49
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There should be mention of the questions of Japan and New Zealand, the cases behind the rulings Chanoch mentions. Commented Feb 17, 2016 at 16:56
I think that there is no reason to assume that the change in Samoa would affect the Hebrew date. Since, for example, the fifteenth of Ader is Shabbat all over the world, it should be Shabbat in Samoa also, no matter what day of the week the Samoans call it.
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Yosef, welcome to Mi Yodeya, and thanks for this answer! I hope you'll look around and find other Q&A of interest and stay learning with us. If you haven’t done so already, you should take a look at the tour. Also MiYodeya emphasizes sources - since we don't know you, how else would we know that what you wrote is true? Maybe you could edit your answer to better explain how you got to this answer– mblochCommented Feb 17, 2016 at 8:18
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