The Solar Eclipse as Evil Omen, Heavenly Eulogy, and a Sign of Divine Displeasure

April 5 2024

On Monday, a total eclipse of the sun will pass over Mexico, the U.S., and Canada. Mira Fox delves into the ways Jewish texts have understood this celestial phenomenon, suggesting that biblical passages such as Amos 8:9, “I will make the sun set at noon, I will darken the earth on a sunny day,” refer to eclipses. She then turns to later sources, which tend to see an eclipse as a bad omen, but not always:

In the talmudic tractate Sukkah, for example, the rabbis say that an eclipse where the sun appears red means war is coming, while a black shadow predicts famine. Thankfully, not all of the meanings are quite so threatening. Later in the same tractate, the sages say that solar eclipses are sometimes the Heavens’ eulogy for someone who was not mourned properly. . . . Other times, they’re a punishment for people chopping down fruit-bearing trees, or forging false documents, or not coming to the aid of a woman being raped.

Regardless, though, solar eclipses seem to always be some sort of marker of bad behavior. The Maharal [Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, ca. 1512–1609], a renowned talmudic scholar from Prague, wrote that if humanity did not sin, we would live in eternal light. That’s why, while most natural phenomena have blessings in Judaism—there are a specific brakhot for rainbows, as well as thunder, lightning, and earthquakes—eclipses don’t merit a prayer.

Read more at Forward

More about: Amos, Judaism, Maharal, Talmud

Israel Alone Refuses to Accept the Bloodstained Status Quo

June 19 2025

While the far left and the extreme right have responded with frenzied outrage to Israel’s attacks on Iran, middle-of-the-road, establishment types have expressed similar sentiments, only in more measured tones. These think-tankers and former officials generally believe that Israeli military action, rather than nuclear-armed murderous fanatics, is the worst possible outcome. Garry Kasparov examines this mode of thinking:

Now that the Islamic Republic is severely weakened, the alarmist foreign-policy commentariat is apprising us of the unacceptable risks, raising their well-worn red flags. (Or should I say white flags?) “Escalation!” “Global war!” And the ultimate enemy of the status quo: “regime change!”

Under President Obama, American officials frequently stared down the nastiest offenders in the international rogues’ gallery and insisted that there was “no military solution.” “No military solution” might sound nice to enlightened ears. Unfortunately, it’s a meaningless slogan. Tellingly, Russian officials repeat it all the time too. . . . But Russia does believe there are military solutions to its problems—ask any Ukrainian, Syrian, or Georgian. Yet too many in Washington remain determined to fight armed marauders with flowery words.

If you are worried about innocent people being killed, . . . spare a thought for the millions of Iranians who face imprisonment, torture, or death if they dare deviate from the strict precepts of the Islamic Revolution. Or the hundreds of thousands of Syrians whose murder Iran was an accomplice to. Or the Ukrainian civilians who have found themselves on the receiving end of over 8,000 Iranian-made suicide drones over the past three years. Or the scores of Argentine Jews blown up in a Buenos Aires Jewish community center in 1994 without even the thinnest of martial pretexts.

The Democratic Connecticut senator Chris Murphy was quick and confident in his pronouncement that Israel’s operation in Iran “risks a regional war that will likely be catastrophic for America.” Maybe. But a regional war was already underway before Israel struck last week. Iran was already supporting the Houthis in Yemen, Hamas in Gaza, Hizballah in Lebanon, and Russia in Ukraine. Israel is simply moving things toward a more decisive conclusion.

Perhaps Murphy and his ilk dread most being proved wrong—which they will be if, in a few weeks’ time, their apocalyptic predictions haven’t come true, and the Middle East, though still troubled, is a safter place.

Read more at Free Press

More about: Barack Obama, Israeli Security, U.S. Foreign policy