end of shabbat timing

Asked by m-ben · November 22, 2003 · Shabbat

Question

If you go out of your house on Saturday evening and can see three stars, is shabbat over? Why do we wait 45 mins. Surely our ancestors didn't know precisely when sunset was--to which we add the 45 minutes? Thanks--your have a great website that has been very helpful to me as I lack the depth of knowledge that some of your other posters seem to have. Michael

Answer

Answered by Aaron Abadi

The stars can't be large stars. If you see three medium or small stars, you don't have to wait for anyone. When I go out of town, I just follow the stars. Our ancestors had real problems on cloudy days. AA