Q. See question above. It is likely that for my business promotional requirements I will come to my knowledge some very amazing questions. If when I will be traveling in the north of Canada and even reaching Alaska during Chanuka, when and where it is totally dark the whole day, when should I then light the Menorah?
A. Poskim differ as to what to do in the polar regions such as in northern Sweden, where the sky is dark even in the middle of the day for several weeks during the winter, on what is called the polar night.
Sefer Habris (4) addresses the Shailah of what is the Halacha when one travels to either the North Pole or the South Pole where daylight is prolonged for as much as two to three months, and particularly when one must begin observing Shabbos day and Yom Tov or when he must begin his fast on Yom Kippur. He maintains that in those places where the day extends more than 24-hours, he is to divide the day equally into a 12-hour day and a 12-hour night, and thereby act according to this schedule, as if it had been truly night and truly day.
Minchas Elozor (4: 22) questions whether a person’s Shabbos in the Arctic Circle lasts until the next sunset, which could be s everal months later. For example, if a person arrives on Friday, May 15th and the sun sets late that evening, and then rises early the next morning and does not set for two months, it may be a very long Shabbos until after the sun sets again in July! Because of this, as well as other doubts regarding times for davening, he advices that one should not live in or visit these locations during the months when the sun is always up or down.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by, Horav Yaakov Hirschman, Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller, Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu and Horav Kalman Ochs Shlit'a
Important Numbers
