Davening Survival Skills Finding Direction and Zmanim On Your Own
Ever been out and about, on a hike, trip, or just somewhere where you have to daven but don’t know where or when to do it? I know I have, and if you don’t have an internal clock and compass (which some people I know do, but I do not) this could be difficult. I usually carry a compass with me, but I often find myself without it and almost never know what the zmanim are when I am far away on a hike or something. But with some helpful tips and a little understanding of the wonderfully structured world we live in we can better gauge where and when to pray when we have nothing to help us but our wits.
#1 How to figure out what time is is (and more importantly, the zmanim).
Now as we all know our clock is based on the structure of our world, the day has 24 hours, based on the fact that the sun rises (and sets) once in a 24 hours period. We also know that the zmanim are based around this same structure. Armed with this knowledge we can easily figure out the rough time and the zmanim based on looking at the sun’s position in the sky.
There are two methods for doing this, by either using fractions or your fists (see the link below for more on this) to figure out, in a quantifiable way, where the sun is.
First we will talk about zmanim. Figuring out zmanim from the sun is relatively easy, all you have to do is take the sky and divide it into 12 equal parts, figure out which part of the sky the sun is in and you can figure out what zmanim period you are currently in. The first 3 sections of the sky are for saying Shema, the first four are for saying the Shacharit Prayer, after that you have until the high point in the sky to say Shacharit (sixth section), but with out the points for saying it in it’s proper time. The sixth and a half section until sunset is for the Mincha Prayer, Mincha Gedola is the ninth and a half section and plag is the tenth and 3/4 section. (all this is according to the GRA according to the Magen Avraham it is a bit more complicated and requires a lot more math). Ma’ariv time starts when you see three stars but you can technically pray after plag if you prayed mincha before plag.
Figuring out the time entails some additional calculations, basically you need to know when the sun rises and sets and then you can add onto that time to figure out the time to a rough degree.
To see more about this see “Wiki How: How to Tell Time Without a Clock” also see that article to figure out times at night based on the stars.
#2 How to find direction in life (and locate Jerusalem)
This one is really cool, basically all you do is take an analog watch (one with hands) and point the hour hand at the sun (you can also imagine a watch if you don’t have one) and keep the 12 o’clock point at your left, the point between the hour hand and 12 o’clock is south. (NOTE: This is true in the northern hemisphere, in the southern do the reverse, i.e. point the 12 o’clock point at the sun and then bisect the angle between that point and the current time. Also during daylight savings time, use the 1 o’clock point instead of 12). This works because as the sun moves across the sky it moves from east to west and as it moves so does the time.
Now that you know which way is south all you need to do is face east
(somewhere between 90°-100° in the continental US, according to a Rhumb line and somewhere between 25°-60° NE according to the Great Circle, ask your local Orthodox rabbi) and you are good to go. ‘Which was is east?’ you ask, Never Eat Shredded Wheat, when facing North, East is on your rigth, South behind you and West on your left.
There are a whole bunch of other methods to help you find your way at night, and using much more complicated techniques, see Wiki How: How to Find True North Without a Compass for more information.
