OHR SOMAYACH'S ASK THE RABBI 
Issue #247, August 21 - 28, 1999 
Parshat Ki Teitze / Ki Tavo
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In this issue:
1. ECLIPSE
2. YIDDLE RIDDLE
3. PUBLIC DOMAIN 	
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ECLIPSE

Nathan from Mombasa, Kenya, wrote:

Dear Rabbi,
"What is the Jewish significance of the recent solar eclipse?"

Dear Nathan,
	To answer your question, I'm sending you the following essay.  (It's 
from Ohr Somayach's "Torah and Nature" series available from our website 
http://www.ohrnet.org and by email from <info@ohr.org.il>).

THE SOLAR ECLIPSE: RAYS OF HOPE

What is the meaning of a solar eclipse?  To the ancient Chinese, solar 
eclipses meant that dragons were devouring the sun.  To the 
Czechoslovakians, they meant that ice giants, bitter enemies of the sun, 
were conquering it.  To the Romans, they meant that the sun was poisoned 
and dying.

	To the Jews, solar eclipses meant that the moon was passing between 
the sun and the earth, thereby blocking the sun's light.

	Notwithstanding the physical explanation of a solar eclipse, there is 
also spiritual significance to it:  At the time when the sun is eclipsed, 
it is an unfavorable period for the world.  A parable:  This can be 
compared to a human king who made a feast for his subjects, and placed a 
lantern before them.  When he grew angry with them, he told his servant, 
"Take away the lantern from before them, and place them in darkness!" 
(Talmud Bavli, Succah 29a)

	The king is G-d, the King of Kings; the people at the table are 
ourselves; the lantern is the sun.  The moon obscuring the sun is the 
king's servant who takes away the lantern.  Although eclipses can be 
described in entirely natural terms and occur at set intervals, they 
nevertheless indicate that the period is one of Divine retribution for 
various sins.

	So, a solar eclipse signifies a harsh period.  But an eclipse does 
not mean that the sun has been extinguished (contrary to what everyone else 
in the world thought)!  The servant did not extinguish the lantern; he 
merely prevented it from illuminating the king's subjects.  The sun shines 
as merrily as ever during an eclipse, even if we cannot perceive its light.

	Many eras in history have been dark for us.  But during these times, 
we should remember that G-d's light has not been extinguished; it is merely 
in a state of hester panim, hiddenness.  The sun is not extinguished during 
an eclipse, nor does it move away; it is merely concealed.  And just as the 
sunlight always emerges from its eclipse, so too are all situations of 
hester panim only temporary, destined to be followed by the light of G-d's 
redemption.

	Even during the darkness of a solar eclipse, all is not entirely in 
gloom. The sun is four hundred times further away from us than the moon, 
but it is also four hundred times larger than the moon (secular scientists 
call this a "grand coincidence").  This means that from our perspective the 
moon precisely covers the sun.  The result of this is that while the sun is 
essentially obscured, shafts of sunlight may appear around the edge of the 
moon as they shine through the mountains on its surface (these can damage 
the retina, and it is therefore dangerous to look at a solar eclipse with 
anything less than a welder's mask).  We can also perceive the glimmer of 
burning gases in the sun's outer atmosphere.  Admittedly, the light 
presented by these sources is minimal, but it is certainly detectable.

	When Yosef's brothers sold him to a passing caravan, we are taught 
that G-d arranged matters such that the merchants would be carrying sweet-
smelling spices instead of their usual foul cargo.  Now, this would appear 
to be of little comfort to Yosef.  He had just been betrayed by his 
brothers and sold to heathens as a slave.  What was the consolation in his 
prison quarters having a nice smell?

	The answer is that precisely because this was the lowest point of 
Yosef's life, G-d wanted to show that He was still with him.  He did not 
want Yosef to fall into despair, so He sent him a small sign to reassure 
him.  This minor but significant gesture strengthened Yosef's spirits 
during his long ordeal.

	Such is the message of the shafts of light, which we perceive during 
the darkness of a solar eclipse.  They are literally "rays of hope," and 
they remind us that even during the dark periods of life, we are to look 
for those small signs that tell us that G-d is still with us.

Sources

* Aruch LeNer and Iyun Yaakov to Succah 29a
* Beit Elokim to Perek Shirah
* Rabbi Chaim Shmulevitz in Sichot Mussar


ADDENDA 

Eclipses: Physics or Metaphysics?

The Talmud (Succah 29a) refers to eclipses of the sun and the moon as 
unfavorable periods for the world.  It further states that solar eclipses 
occur for four different reasons: 1) If a Torah scholar is buried without 
being adequately eulogized; 2) If a betrothed girl is raped and nobody 
responds to her cries; 3) Homosexuality, and 4) Two brothers being killed 
at the same time.

	The question is clear:  Many ancient peoples believed that eclipses 
were unpredictable events.  But we know that they follow a set pattern and 
can be calculated in advance.  Did the Talmudic Sages not know this?  How 
can eclipses be a punishment for sins if they occur at predictable times?  
Two basic approaches are taken to explain the Talmud.

	The first approach states that the Talmud certainly knew that 
eclipses are physical and predictable events.  Rabbi Yaakov Ettlinger 
(Aruch LeNer ad loc.) notes that the Talmud clearly understood solar 
eclipses to be caused by the moon obscuring the sun, as is clear from the 
parable that it uses. He also points out that the Talmud uses the seemingly 
superfluous wording, "at the time when the sun is eclipsed, it is an 
unfavorable period," when it could have simply said "when the sun is 
eclipsed."  The word z'man, "time," is related to the word "zamen," 
prepared.  (Every time it appears in Tanach, it is written only in 
reference to pre-appointed times.)  Thus, the usage of this word shows that 
eclipses were known to be pre-arranged and predictable events.  However, 
this does not present a contradiction to their being portenders of sin.  
Rabbi Ettlinger and the Iyun Yaakov explain that during eclipses, G-d 
exacts retribution for certain sins.  Certain periods are set aside for 
Divine justice to be meted out, and these are indicated in the physical 
universe by eclipses.

A different approach is taken by Rabbi Yonasan Eybeschitz (Ya'arot Devash 
2:12).  He explains the Talmud's term likuy ha-chamah, literally "the 
striking of the sun," to be referring not to solar eclipses but to 
sunspots.  These are cool dark patches on the face of the sun (often larger 
than the Earth), caused by magnetic storms.  These being events of unknown 
occurrence, he explains them to be a sign of G-d's displeasure.  Indeed, 
sunspots send vast amounts of charged protons into our atmosphere, and 
several studies have tentatively shown corresponding variations in animal 
populations and incidence of disease among people. Rabbi Eybeschitz states 
that people of earlier times were more sensitive to such aberrations of the 
sunlight.  Although sunspots and solar storm disturbances occur in an 
approximately eleven-year cycle, this can vary from seven to sixteen years.

************

Yiddle Riddle

Eliyahu Shiffman <sarash1@netvision.net.il> wrote with this riddle:
	"I am a levi. There is one thing I have never witnessed in my entire 
adult life, and I never will either.  Yisraelim sometimes see it, so do 
kohanim, but me and my fellow levi'im?  Never!  What is it?"

Answer next week...

************

The Public Domain
Comments, quibbles, and reactions 
concerning previous "Ask-the-Rabbi" features

OHRNET EXPRESS:

	Thank you so much for answering my question submitted to "Ask the 
Rabbi."  

	I really appreciated the time you took for the explanation.  I didn't 
expect really to ever see an answer, or I figured I might get an answer in 
months!  Wow, I was amazed at how fast I got an answer!

Donna <Puffins@aol.com>


RE: PREYING PLANTS (www.ohrnet.org/ask/ask245.htm#Q3):

	A serious concern that one may have eating carnivorous plants is the 
likely possibility that there may be insects (half-digested or otherwise) 
within the cavities and folds of the plant or on its surface.  So before 
tossing that pitcher plant salad careful inspection is in order. 

Eliyahu Lee, Bayport, NY <EResearch@worldnet.att.net>
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