Knowledge and choice in the eclipse of the luminaries.
Greetings to the Rabbi Shlita.
The Gemara in Tractate Sukkah cites various sins because of which the lights are dimmed. The well-known question is, after all, the movement of the stars is known in advance and will happen with or without the sins. The well-known answer (from the Maharal, I think) is that the Gemara is talking about the spiritual reason for why God, blessed be He, decreed that the lights would shine on a particular day.
However, the question still remains that this again cancels the free choice that God has predetermined which sins people will commit? (It is true that it can be said that God did know that certain sins would occur, but He gave a choice to who would decide to commit them).
I think that in the opinion of the Talmudic sages, these are not events that are predetermined by the laws of nature, but rather the handiwork of God. I explained here in the past that this is how they understood, for example, the determination of the sex of the fetus (and therefore they permitted praying about it before it was created and not after).
How can this question really be decided?
Where do I get the idea that there is a fixed nature? Maybe God really renews the laws of nature at every moment and it is not necessary that they will exist in a minute.
To the questioner,
As for the Maharal's method,
First of all, he does not say exactly what one might understand from your words. He does not say that this is why the Holy One, the Almighty, turned away from the light on that particular day, as if there were special spiritual problems on this special day, but rather about the phenomenon in general – about the fact that the root of the imperfection in nature, which is expressed in the deficiency of the lights, is also the root of the imperfection in human nature, which is expressed in the deficiency of the personal lights in these sins.
Secondly, he explicitly asks your question there: “And perhaps you will say, if so, that man is forced to sin, this is not a question, for there is no doubt that the whole world is not righteous until the time when the word of the Lord your God will purify your heart and the heart of your seed, and then the deficiency of the lights will not be a disadvantage at all, because then it is said, and the white pit and the hot shame …”
Can someone explain to me why, according to the Gemara, the eclipse of the lights is a negative thing and how does this actually manifest itself in the lights?
How is the connection between the eclipse of the lights and a person's knowledge and choice expressed? In other words, what is the connection between the eclipse and a person's future sin?
Shai, it doesn't matter whether God creates every event or whether there are fixed laws. The question is whether the behavior is fixed or not. Even if there is no law but God's behavior is in fixed ways, it's the same for me. Today we understand that eclipses are events that can be predicted in advance, meaning they are natural events. Even if God creates them every time, he does so according to fixed laws.
Can the same be said about earthquakes and the like? And if so, can it also be said about the rains and the land yielding crops as the Torah itself says, which depends on Israel's faithfulness to the Torah?? I am confused about this matter and long for someone to put things in order for us. Thank you and may you be granted the commandments.
Absolutely. At least these days, everything seems to be going the way of nature. It is a fact that rainfall can be predicted in advance, and as knowledge advances, the predictions are more accurate and far-reaching.
See a possible explanation here:
https://mikyab.net/%D7%9B%D7%AA%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%97%D7%99%D7%A4%D7%95%D7%A9-%D7%90%D7%97%D7%A8-%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%94%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%91%D7%A2%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%9D/
27 Tammuz ez
To Shimon – Greetings,
With all the technological advances (satellite photos and supercomputers) it is possible to predict in advance within a range of… five days in advance! And even in this there are unexpected things. Slight changes here and there can cause major changes in the situation, even in the field of predictability of earthquakes the warning range is very short.
In the field of solar and lunar eclipses, the ancients had good calculation skills, certainly the sages who were experts in calculating the course of the sun and moon to the point of being able to calculate the calendar in advance, and they probably knew the cycle of eclipses.
It is possible that the meaning of Chazal's words about the eclipse of the lights as a sign of goodness or favor is not that the eclipse is the result of good deeds or wisdom, but rather that the time of the eclipse is a time of will or a time when the measure of justice is tense (and as they said that the days of Adar are capable of salvation and success, while on the days of Av the measure of justice is tense.
And as the Maharal wrote, the fasts that occur during periods of the year when the weather is balanced and comfortable, while the fasts in which disasters occur occur at the height of summer or at the height of winter when the climate is extreme in heat or cold. According to the Maharal's method, God is revealed in balance.
Although there are also statements by Chazal about the eclipse of the lights as a punishment, and perhaps they are referring to situations in which the light of the sun or moon is hidden due to haze or clouds, it is possible that such hidings of the lights resulting from the weather were also called Chazal ”Maurot Lokim’, in which we can see signs of ’hiding of face’ in the cause of human actions.
With regards, Sh”tz Levinger
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