Vacationing in Alaska

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  • #1339128
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    What’s your favorite part about vacationing in Alaska?

    What’s an excellent fleishing kosher restaurant? How about milchig?

    What’s the best time of year to visit?

    Thank you 🙂

    #1339212
    zahavasdad
    Participant

    There are Halachic issues with visiting Alaska, namely what day Shabbos is , is a debatable. (Due to the International Date line)

    People who travel in general have difficulty getting kosher food unless you go to some major destination like Israel, Florida or many major European cities and even places where food is available there might only be 1 or 2 kosher places (Like Athens) and except for Paris or London none have more than 4 or 5

    #1339246
    Chortkov
    Participant
    #1339252
    lesschumras
    Participant

    ZD, all of Alaska is east of the Datelime. The said regarding Shabbos during the summer tourist season is how late it starts. We went with a kosher cruise so food was not an issue,nor was Shabbos. All electronic doors between the dining room and the salon that served as the shul were converted to manual and one eelevator was converted to Shabbos mode. The tour operator had their own, separate, kitchen

    #1339264
    Avi K
    Participant

    The problem in northern Alaska in the summer is that Shabbat begins and ends extremely late. I have a friend who is from Anchorage and when he went back for a visit he was told to keep it according to Seattle, which is the nearest organized Jewish community.

    #1339296
    zahavasdad
    Participant

    Alaska and Hawaii have the same issue, There is a Halachic Debate where the International Date line is. According to the secular world, the International date line is approximately 180 Degrees from London. Which is considered the start of Time, However Halacha says Jerusalem is 0 degrees not London, so that moves the International date line

    #1339354
    iacisrmma
    Participant

    ZD: Even according to R’ Tukatzinsky, it is not the same issue. Hawaii is totally west of his dateline so he holds that on what we call Friday, is Shabbos in Hawaii. His dateline runs through Alaska (part of the state is to the east and the majority is to the west. We don’t know if he holds that the dateline zig zags to allow for contiguous land area to be in the same time zone (Australia) (shita of the Chazon Ish) therefore it only a safeik. See the Dateline map on the Star-K website.

    #1339404
    zahavasdad
    Participant

    Alaska and Hawaii are approximately on the same Longitudal lines. Anchorage Alaska is 147 Longitude and Honolulu Hawaii is 158 Longitudal

    #1339365
    yehudayona
    Participant

    ZD, if you only travel to places with more than 5 kosher restaurants, you’re missing out on a lot of interesting places.

    #1339523

    ZD: you are correct as to where the dateline is. The Chazon Ish’s dateline runs through several contiguous land masses (Russia, Asia, Australia). According to the Chazon Ish you can’t have one land mass having two separate days (i.e. Australia West of the dateline is shabbos and east of the dateline is Friday). Therefore his dateline is not straight but curves along the east coast of the various land masses (i.e. the entire Australia is considered West of the dateline as is Yerushalim). As Iacisrmma stated above, R’ Tukatzinsky’s dateline divides Alaska. We do not know what his shita is regarding a contiguous land mass. Do we treat the entire Alaska as being West of the dateline or east of it? If it is west then Shabbos would be on what we call Friday; if east of the dateline it would be Shabbos on what we call Saturday; either way it is a safeik within his shita. Hawaii is definitely west of his dateline therefore according to R’ Takutszinsky it is vadai Shabbos on what we call Friday.

    #1339522
    nishtdayngesheft
    Participant

    “Alaska and Hawaii have the same issue, There is a Halachic Debate where the International Date line is. According to the secular world, the International date line is approximately 180 Degrees from London. Which is considered the start of Time, However Halacha says Jerusalem is 0 degrees not London, so that moves the International date line”

    This is a poor explanation, because it does not reflect the views of most poskim. Not even as a certainty the psak of the one shita that says the date line is 180 degrees from Yerushalyaim.

    The article and map referenced by iacisrmma is very informative.

    #1339518
    nishtdayngesheft
    Participant

    ZD,

    There is a safek according to one shitah about Alask and that has to with whether the dateline veers around land or cuts straight through. The same is not for Hawaii because the dateline would not cut through a land mass.

    You can vacation in Alaska without being there over Shabbos (or safek, safek Shabbos), it is easy enough in these days of international travel.

    I think the real issue would be that signs are in Inuit and are understandable b those who speak Yiddish, would be difficult for those who do not line Yiddish.

    #1339364
    lesschumras
    Participant

    ZD, are you channeling Joseph? According to one opinion, Hawaii and Alaska are on the Asian side. The Chazon Ish and other opinions ( as per the Star K ) say they are on the North American side. So, be ccareful when you make categorical statements about Halacha

    #1339546
    zahavasdad
    Participant

    I am not channeling Joseph, I am just stating there is a debate when Shabbos is for certain places. I have a relative who went to Hawaii and wound up observing 2 days of Shabbos and when they went to Alaska, they avoided the issue by not spending Friday-Sunday there. They are Charedim.

    During the Second World War the Group that went to Japan and Shanghai observed 2 days of Shabbos because of a doubt when Shabbos was

    #1339594
    iacisrmma
    Participant

    ZD: The doubt was only in Japan and once the Chazon Ish gave his psak the hanhalah and talmidim of Mir only observed 1 day. Everyone agrees that Shanghai is west of all the halachic datelines and only held Shabbos for 1 day.

    #1339684
    nishtdayngesheft
    Participant

    “They are Charedim.”

    I am not sure what to make of this comment. Are not all Jews commanded to keep Shabbos? It makes no difference if they are “Chareidim” Not Chareidim, Modern Orthodox, conservative, reform, totally not religious or even Open Orthodox, Shabbos applies to all.

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