Reply To: 7th Hour Kiddush During Permanent DST

AAQ:
I’m assuming you’re big mic drop moment was going to be to reveal that this “modernizer” was also the Rambam? I’m not taking the bait.

“At the same time, we can see that Rambam is pretty clear about this difference.”
No, it isn’t. That’s just what you WANT to see. Whatever the Rambam describes as being scientifically proven is almost definitely wildly inaccurate on today’s standards. He might have tried to make some chiluk between what they then saw as nonsense and what they then saw as science, but that in no way would line up with the modern distinction between astrology and astronomy. The telescope was not used for astronomy until Galileo. There is no reason the people of the Rambam’s time would be any more knowledgable than Chazal, even on scientific grounds. In any case, it doesn’t really matter for what Chazal are saying there. They aren’t making any scientific claims.

If modern scientists (or all the more so medieval scientists) argue on Chazal, we pasken like Chazal. The fact that your proof seems to suggest otherwise would be caused by a number of possibilities:
1) He does not actually mean that
2) He literally never said it (it’s a forgery or taus sofer)
3) He’s a daas yochid that has never been accepted on this issue, but it’s almost definitely not this last option.

As we said earlier, the M”A brings it regarding this minhag. The Aruch HaShulchan also brings the concept from that daf for a reason we say long tachanun on Monday and Thursday (siman 134:1; Mon and Thurs are mentioned with the same issues as Friday night).

I’m not sure what your hava amina even is with the science business. Do you think you’ll find a paper published saying “respected physicists and astronomers use modern technology to definitively prove that Monday and Thursday are not actually yamei din and are in fact just as auspicious for blood letting as other days!” These are spiritual, intangible concepts, not something that scientists can prove or disprove.