Since ancient times, the lowering sun has served as a reminder to have a great dinner following a long day of refraining from food and drink on festivals like Yom Kippur and Ramadan. But what if, as it does for astronauts traveling aboard the International Space Station, the sun’s internal clockwork were to abruptly change? The orbiting laboratory provides passengers with 16 sunrises and sunsets each day as it zips around the planet at a speed of roughly 17,000 mph (27,600 kph).
Since his arrival at the space station on March 3, astronaut Sultan Alneyadi has been struggling with this issue. At the conclusion of his mission in around five months, he will have been the first astronaut from the United Arab Emirates to complete a lengthy stay on the floating laboratory. He is one of less than a dozen Muslim astronauts who have travelled to space.
Muslims on Earth will observe Ramadan during his visit; this period of fasting, prayer, and introspection lasts from the evening of March 22 to April 21. There will also be two Muslim celebrations: Eid al-Fitr, which marks the conclusion of Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha, which begins on June 28 and commemorates Muslims’ yearly pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
Alneyadi told reporters at a news conference in January that “six months is a long duration for a mission, which is a great responsibility.”
However, as an astronaut, Alneyadi noted, he satisfies the definition of a “traveler,” disqualifying him from seeking to observe Ramadan concurrently with Muslims on Earth. He answered, “We can actually have breakfast. “It’s not required,”
Fasting is not required if you’re feeling unwell, he continued. We are therefore permitted to eat enough food to prevent any escalation of dehydration, malnutrition, or anything else that could endanger the operation or possibly put the crew member at risk, he said.
In addition, Alneyadi informed the media at a press conference in Dubai in February that he may observe a fast in accordance with Coordinated Universal Time, also known as Greenwich Mean Time, which is the time zone used as the official one on the space station.
Alneyadi told reporters at his news conference in January, “If we had the opportunity, Ramadan is undoubtedly a nice occasion to fast, and it’s genuinely healthy. We’ll watch to see how it plays out.
- Religion in space: A history
Since the beginning of space travel, astronauts and religious figures have tried to give alien endeavors a spiritual value.
On their way to orbit the moon during NASA’s Apollo 8 mission in 1968, the astronauts read Genesis, the first book of the Bible. Before the astronauts took the first steps on the moon in 1969, Buzz Aldrin, who was with Neil Armstrong, silently celebrated communion from the Eagle lunar lander. He drank wine and ate bread that had been consecrated by his Houston-based Presbyterian minister.
The Islamic National Fatwa Council of Malaysia gave particular recommendations to direct the conduct of Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, a Malaysian astronaut who became the first practicing Muslim to reside on the International Space Station in 2007.
Despite the fact that he was traveling during Ramadan, the council advised him to postpone his fasting until after his return to Earth or to follow the local time zone. He was also freed from having to try to kneel while praying, which would have been challenging in zero gravity. Moreover, he did his best to face toward Mecca during Salah, the daily prayer required by Muslims, in accordance with the rules established by the Fatwa Council.
Jewish academics have put forth similar suggestions. Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest that falls on Saturday and during which Jews are expected to stop from all work activity, has not been observed by all Jewish astronauts. But Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon did try it in 2003 while traveling in the Space Shuttle Columbia. He kept Shabbat according to Cape Canaveral, Florida time, which is where he took off from, on the recommendation of “leading rabbinical experts.” On February 1, 2003, while returning to Earth, the Columbia orbiter broke apart, killing Ramon and his six fellow crew members.
The Jewish holidays of Passover and Hanukkah, as well as annual Christmas celebrations, have all taken place on board the 20-year-old space station. One particularly memorable event occurred in 1993 when NASA astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman broadcast himself spinning a dreidel in microgravity on public television.
A dreidel is a small game that you spin and then turn over to discover which side is revealed. And in accordance with that, you either succeed or fail. I was merely attempting to determine how you would reinterpret the laws of spaceflight given that there is no such thing as up or down, he said to the camera.
- Observing Yom Kippur in orbit
There haven’t been any official guidelines about how Jewish astronauts should observe Yom Kippur in space, and the idea has actually caused several rabbis and religious academics to dispute.
The question of how to observe appropriate holidays when the sun and moon don’t follow the patterns that most people are accustomed to has plagued rabbis for millennia. Some of the numerous arguments were discussed in a responsum, or rabbi’s written response to a query about Jewish law, from Rabbi David Golinkin in 2002. He was president emeritus of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.
Jacob Emden, a rabbi from the 18th century, was obviously ignorant of space travel. He was nonetheless aware of the idea of traveling so near the North or South Poles of the planet that a traveler might not witness a sunset for months. His decision was to simply mark the passing of a 24-hour period to count “days” like one does at lower latitudes. According to Golinkin’s responsum, another rabbi from the 19th century, Israel Lifshitz, said that if a traveler carries a watch that displays the time at their place of origin, they should observe holidays in accordance with that time.
Golinkin suggested that NASA astronauts should set their timepieces to the US Central Time Zone seen in Houston as that is where the majority of US astronauts are headquartered when dealing with the contemporary challenge of space flight.
When Jared Isaacman, a billionaire who paid for a voyage for himself and three crewmates in 2021, boarded a SpaceX Crew Dragon and became the first space tourist to fly to orbit from US land, the issue of how to observe Jewish holidays in orbit surfaced once more. He previously admitted to CNN that despite being Jewish, he had no intention of observing Yom Kippur, which started at dusk on the day of his launch in 2021.
Although he had donated to a nearby synagogue in New Jersey, he admitted, “To be very honest, I’m actually not a religious person.”
On the other hand, Rabbi Dovid Heber just stated that “ideally, one should not travel to outer space” in a 2007 article for the kosher certification group Star-K. But “if one must go,” there are a variety of solutions that would meet the requirements of the religion. Heber does point out that, depending on the precise location of the spacecraft’s orbit, it is potentially conceivable to extend what should be a one-day holiday into three days.
Eli Kornfeld of Hunterdon, New Jersey, the rabbi of the synagogue Isaacman has backed, told CNN he concurred with Golinkin’s conclusion. He would continue to keep Yom Kippur fasts in line with Earth-based time if he ever lived in space. He said that he would undoubtedly take every precaution to avoid being in space during such a significant Jewish holiday. Jews are not supposed to work on Yom Kippur, and those who observe it strictly abstain from using electricity, using motor vehicles, and flying.
However, Kornfeld agreed that the Jewish faith would change and adapt to the conditions if millions of Jews were to one day live and work in space.
One of the most admirable aspects of Judaism, in his opinion, is its ability to remain relevant and to change along with various industries, technological advancements, and scientific discoveries.
Source – CNN
