What is the Halachic Date Line? - Keeping it Kosher Clips

I had this, somebody called me. They booked  tickets for themselves and their whole   family. They found, based on some dance deal  thing, $17 tickets to Hawaii. They're like,   "We're going to Hawaii." And then it's the day  before and they called me up and they said,   "I just found out that there's some date  line question about Hawaii. Does that   mean I can't go with my whole family?"  What would you say to such a question? When are you leaving and when are you coming?  You know, if it's a Monday through Thursday trip,   it's okay. Let's try to minimize the question.  If you had to be there over Shabbat itself,   I really wouldn't want to be in that situation.  There is a question as to where the halachic date   line is. There was an international convention  about where to put the international date line.   We know where that is, but that doesn't have any  real bearing on halacha. And there's machloket   between the Chazon Ish and Rav Tukachinsky from  Jerusalem. This machloket happened in the early   1940s when the European refugees ended up  in Japan on their way to China. But what   day was Yom Kippur, what day was Shabbat? So the  Chazon Ish opined, based on his understanding of   Rishonim in the Gemara, that the date line was  actually just west of Japan and Shabbat should   be observed in Japan on Sunday. It was a novelty  to a lot of people. I mean it was kind of a new   she'eilah because it wasn't really nogeia people  until then. And Rav Tukachinsky put the date   line much further east. And according to him, the  date line runs like right through Alaska and just   right outside Hawaii, which would  make Hawaii Shabbat on a Friday. Wow! So since it's a doubt as to when Shabbat would  be, if you can avoid it, I recommend avoiding   it. I actually was asked this question maybe  25 years ago. There were a bunch of people who   wanted to book a kosher cruise, and they asked me  what should they do? You know, it's going to go   on Shabbat. So I didn't want to tell them not  to. So I went to Rabbi Hershel Schachter, and   he told me straight out that he would  not recommend doing it for this reason. I was speaking to Rabbi Stareshefsky, who's one  of the RC's here, and I think it was the only time   I ever saw him not smiling. And I said, "What's  going on?" So, he said, "I am going to a place in   northern Denmark," I think it was, and because  of the time of the year, there was no sunset,   I believe. Do poskim recommend not going to  those places also because of z'manim issues? Yes, actually Rav Yaakov Emden talks about this.  This she'eilah was brought to him about going to   Scandinavia in the summer months. You know, what  do you do about Shabbat? And there's no sunrise,   no sunset. So there are a lot of different  aitzahs given by the poskim. But to be frank,   none of them really make you too  comfortable. And Rav Yaakov Emden   actually suggests to avoid going to  these places because of this reason. Wow.