We’re Going To Israel

It’s all set. Mandy and I are going to Israel.

We have a two-week trip planned. 8 night tour, 2 extra days on our own in Jerusalem and 3 days in Eilat. Info on our trip can be found at the ISRAM tour site.

We’re both really looking forward to the trip, especially Jerusalem. We’ll be in Jerusalem on one Shabbat and we plan to attend a service at the Wall. Our Hotel in Jerusalem is less than 1KM from the wall, so hopefully I’ll be bale to daven there every day.

Our parents (of course) are a little scared for us. I think my mother is not only worried about our safety, but she’s also worried that we’ll like it so much we’ll want to make Aliya. She may have good reason to worry about that one… but not for a few years at least.

Our flight leaves one night and gets to Israel the next evening. That means that Shacharit would have to be davened on the plane. The question is, with all the time zone changes we go through, when are the proper times to daven?

I haven’t found a good answer, but if I were to have to rule on the issue, here’s what I would say. You start by calculating the number of daylight hours you’ll get on the ride (this could be very short, depending on the speed of the pane and the route). You then daven Shacharit between dawn and 1/3 of daylight hours passing. This could mean that in some cases you would have to daven very quickly. I’ll let you know if I come across any other answers to this problem.