What the Talmud Says about Solar Eclipses, and How Rationalist Rabbis Explained It

Surprisingly, given its near-boundless breadth and the ancient rabbis’ interest in astral phenomena, the Talmud contains only a single discussion of solar eclipses, found in Tractate Sukkah. Gil Student summarizes the passage and explains how medieval and modern rabbis addressed the problems it raises:

The first [opinion cited in the Talmud] is that solar eclipses are a bad omen for the whole world. Another opinion is that they are a bad omen for Gentiles while lunar eclipses are a bad omen for Jews—[apparently] because the Jewish calendar is lunar while the Gentile calendar is solar. Additionally, the Talmud states says that four things cause solar eclipses: 1) a deceased chief judge who is eulogized insufficiently, 2) a betrothed woman who is assaulted and not rescued, 3) homosexual relations, and 4) twin brothers killed at the same time.

Rabbi Moses Isserles (1520-1572) asks how the sages can attribute reasons to a solar eclipse, which is a natural occurrence. Whether or not people sin, the solar eclipse will happen. . . . He quotes [earlier sources that] interpret this passage allegorically. Rabbi Isaac ben Moses Arama (1420-1494) explains that the Talmud really refers to the death of the righteous, [when those who are a source of light suddenly go dark]. . . .

[Taking a different approach], Rabbi Judah Loew of Prague (d. 1609) explains that the Talmud is offering reasons why God established nature in such a way that there would be solar eclipses. If people did not sin, we would merit eternal light. However, because God knew people would sin, He created the world so that solar eclipses would happen. Thus the Talmud is not offering the reason for a solar eclipse (which is a natural phenomenon), but the reason behind the reason (why nature is the way it is). . . .

Rabbi Jonathan Eybeschütz (1690-1764), [who was quite aware of and impressed by the scientific discoveries of his day], suggests that the Talmud is referring not to eclipses but to sunspots. While solar eclipses can be predicted, sunspots cannot—because they are caused by sin.

Read more at Torah Musings

More about: Astrology, Maharal, Religion & Holidays, Science and Religion, Talmud

It’s Time for Haredi Jews to Become Part of Israel’s Story

Unless the Supreme Court grants an extension from a recent ruling, on Monday the Israeli government will be required to withhold state funds from all yeshivas whose students don’t enlist in the IDF. The issue of draft exemptions for Haredim was already becoming more contentious than ever last year; it grew even more urgent after the beginning of the war, as the army for the first time in decades found itself suffering from a manpower crunch. Yehoshua Pfeffer, a haredi rabbi and writer, argues that haredi opposition to army service has become entirely disconnected from its original rationale:

The old imperative of “those outside of full-time Torah study must go to the army” was all but forgotten. . . . The fact that we do not enlist, all of us, regardless of how deeply we might be immersed in the sea of Torah, brings the wrath of Israeli society upon us, gives a bad name to all of haredi society, and desecrates the Name of Heaven. It might still bring harsh decrees upon the yeshiva world. It is time for us to engage in damage limitation.

In Pfeffer’s analysis, today’s haredi leaders, by declaring that they will fight the draft tooth and nail, are violating the explicit teachings of the very rabbis who created and supported the exemptions. He finds the current attempts by haredi publications to justify the status quo not only unconvincing but insincere. At the heart of the matter, according to Pfeffer, is a lack of haredi identification with Israel as a whole, a lack of feeling that the Israeli story is also the haredi story:

Today, it is high time we changed our tune. The new response to the demand for enlistment needs to state, first and foremost to ourselves, that this is our story. On the one hand, it is crucial to maintain and even strengthen our isolation from secular values and culture. . . . On the other hand, this cultural isolationism must not create alienation from our shared story with our fellow brethren living in the Holy Land. Participation in the army is one crucial element of this belonging.

Read more at Tzarich Iyun

More about: Haredim, IDF, Israeli society