Kiddish Fri. night between 6-7

BrachaVHatzlocha ↓

Thu, Nov 17 2005, 10:06 pm

I never heard about the color of the wine, either...
My father was sometimes makpid on the no kiddush between 6-7.
My husband is not.
If you're having guests (ESPECIALLY non-frum) I think it's more important to make kiddush and eat than to keep them waiting for an hour!! It's not HALACHA and you don't want them to give them a bad feeling that you kept them hungry

↑ Ambassador-to-KJ

Fri, Nov 18 2005, 12:07 am

Uh Oh... I might be getting myself into trouble here but anyhow.... here goes. From what I understand there is a Gemara in Shabbos or Sanhedrin that says that the planet of Mars rules between those hours. Mars rules blood and war therefore we avoid using red wine at that time.

Since it is better to use red wine for kiddush some people will not make kiddush between 6 and 7

hisorerus

Sun, Nov 20 2005, 3:08 am

According to Chabad (maybe others too) the times are not exactly 6:00--7:00, it's dependent on your longitude- I.e. Israel is 5:40--6:40, NY is 5:54--6:54.

The reason why some don't make Kiddush then is because this time is "Mazal Ma'dim," and Samo'el rules it (no I don't know what that means).

Incidentally, it seems that making Kiddush promptly on returning home from Shul overrides avoiding making Kiddush during this "seventh hour," and it also seems that one could rely on the fact that "one who does a Mitzva is protected."

(source for this and rest of post, Kitzur Halachos MiShulchan Aruch Admu"r HaZaken, p.153-154, and relevant footnotes)

[Don't read the rest if you're not interested, it's pretty technical.]

Although there is a concept of Sha'os Zmanios, proportional (also referred to as "Halachik") hours, it is not relevant for this, as astronomical calculations (Mazalos) go by a fixed 60-minute hour. (Sha'os Zmanios are 1/12 of the day, between sunrise and sunset- right now it's about 48 minutes).

Therefore, the 6:00 that we refer to here is 6 hours after the "true" Chatzos (the exact center of a perfectly average day), or precisely 12:00 pm. However, the way time zones are set up is that a wide range of areas follow the same time. This means that there is a great variation in timing of "true Chatzos," as the average day in that area may be slightly earlier or later- BECAUSE the clock is set based on a different longitude.

It's not practical, obviously, for every degree longitudinally to have their own time zone (it's confusing enough as it is); but therefore, our true Chatzos is not usually exactly 12:00. By calculating the local longitude and its distance from the area the time zone is based on, you would discover that in Israel, "true Chatzos" is 11:40 am, and in New York, it's 11:54. This has nothing to do with distance from each other, rather distance from the arbitrary point (a longitude with an easy number) their time zone is based on.