Q&A from the Bais HaVaad Halacha Hotline

Where Does the Time Go?

May 30, 2024

Q I am flying tomorrow from Australia to the US. I will cross the halachic dateline en route, so I will go back in time, departing on Wednesday but arriving on Tuesday. How should I handle sfiras ha’omer? What about on my return?

A R’ Betzalel Stern (Betzeil Hachochmah 5:96) discusses this question and rules that the sfirah is determined by a person’s current location, regardless of where he began sfirah. So if your first evening in the US is day 35, count it—even though you already counted 35 yesterday back home—but without a bracha. (Continue with a bracha the next night.) If you forgot to count, Rav Stern considers the possibility that you might still be able to make a bracha for the rest of sfirah, because you did count day 35 the first time.

When you return to Australia and skip a day, continue counting without a bracha, because your 49 sfirah days are incomplete (ibid. 97). If your plane crosses the dateline in the late afternoon, make sure to count the new day before it ends.