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From: R. Kovacs
Subject: Baseline representation
Date: 22 Kislev 5780
Nu, Nachmani speaks of an international convention with a single reference point. This reminds me of a story about the Chatam Sofer and the clockmaker of Pressburg.
The clockmaker, a gentile, maintained the city's public clock. One year he fell ill during the winter months, and the clock ran slow. By Pesach it was nearly twenty minutes behind. The Jewish community, who relied on this clock, faced a question: should they correct their practice to astronomical time, or continue following the clock that the community had always used?
The Chatam Sofer reportedly said: "The clock is wrong, but the community is right. They have been lighting candles when the clock shows the hour. Their practice is their practice."
I have not been able to verify this story in any written source. My grandfather told it to me. He may have invented it.
—Shlomo Dov Kovacs
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