Vacationing in Alaska

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

“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.