Good afternoon,
Is there a way to figure out what time to daven Mincha and then Shacharis on a flight from NY to Israel, on April 7, when Shekiya in NY is about 7:27 PM and sunrise at Ben Gurion airport is about 5:05 AM on April 8. Thank you for your help.
Answer:
The halachah is that the times for davening depend solely on the place where a person is at the present time.
Therefore, Minchah must be davened before Shekiya wherever a person in (NY), and Shacharis after the time for Shacharis (lechatchilah no earlier than hanetz hachamah) wherever a person is.
Based on this principle you will have to see where it is possible to daven with a minyan for Minchah, Maariv and Shacharis.
I hope this helps – please send again if there is need for further clarification.
Good afternoon,
Thank you for your reply. I don’t know if you received a message I sent later, after I submitted this question. I had forgotten to mention one very important detail, and that was when to daven these Tefilos, when you are on a flight from NY to Israel on April 7, 2013, leaving NY at 7:00 PM and arriving in Israel at 1:00 PM. My question should really have been about Maariv, since Mincha could (should) be said perferable before boarding the plane. I guess you could safely daven Maariv 72 minutes after Shekiah, since you’re travelling east and it’s for sure still night at that time. The big question is if there is a way to figure out when to daven Shacharis, since it probably must be davened within a small time frame, since the plane is flying eastward. Of course one could ask the pilot to let you know when he hits sunrise – just wondering if there was any other way to calculate this time.
Thank you very much.
As you correctly write, the main issue is Shacharis, and this can be davenened when sunrise is perceived outside the windows of the airplane. It is advisable to make a rought calculation before boarding the plane of where the plane will in the morning – the times for davening will be based on the times for the place over which the plane is flying in real time.
Best wishes.
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