The Rabbis and the Magnetism of the Moon
Holiday Best Wishes
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i.
601 E. 8 Mile Rd.
Hazel Park, Michigan
Happy Passover
By DR. H. RABINOWICZ
(A Seven Arts Feature)
Recent months have seen such
phenomenal advances in the con-
quest of outer space that inter-
planetary travel is no longer the
exclusive province of science fic-
tion. American and Russian photo-
graphs of the moon and moon
rockets launched at Cape Kennedy
have made men conscious of cos-
mography in a new and personal
way. Yet men have always felt
the magnetism of the moon, Shel-
ley's "orbed maiden with white
fire laden."
Jewish writings have much to
say of Yerah, Levanah, or Hodesh,
as the moon is termed in Hebrew,
and the sages devoted much time
to the study of astrology. The tribe
of Issachar is said to have pro-
duced many notable astronomers,
and the moon was one of the
symbols on the Issacharian flag.
Rabban Gamaliel (circa 80-110
C.E.) had a diagram of the phases
of the moon on a tablet on the
walls of his upper chamber. The
Babylonian teacher Samuel (165-
205 C.E.), who knew the courses
of heaven as well as the streets
of Nehardea, was called "Yarhinai"
(the expert of the moon). Hillel
the second, patriarch in Palestine
in the middle of the 4th Century,
based the Hebrew calendar on the
motions and phases of the moon,
because it was divinely appointed
to be "for a sign and a season."
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Mc N ICHOLS
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12717 W. 7 Mile Rd.
Detroit
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Happy Passover
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24200 Telegraph Rd.
Between 9 and 10 Mile Roads
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Passover Greetings
IN-SINK-ERATOR
r
Food Waste Disposer
Manufacturing Co.
20013 James Couzens
342-3252
Best Wishes for a Happy Passover
To Our Customers and Friends
DRAKE
PRINTING CO.
2000 W. 8 MILE RD., FERNDALE, MICH.
JO 4-5750
LI 5-6600
In the Jewish calendar the months
are therefore based on the luna-
tions (the time-lapse between one
moon and the next), and the years
are calculated according to the
position of the sun.
Though the moon was created on
the first day of creation, it was
projected in its orbit on the fourth
day. In the beginning, the moon
was the size of the sun but this
equality was of short duration.
"Sovereign of the universe!" ex-
claimed the moon. "Is it possible
for two kings to wear one crown?"
"I know well," replied the Al-
mighty, "that thou wouldst have
Me make thee greater than the
sun. As a punishment I decree
that thou mayest keep but one
sixtieth of thy light."
The ancient Israelites felt the
fascination of the moon and al-
lowed their imagination to run
riot as they gazed upon it. They
thought they could determine the
features of a man in the moon;
_ some identified these features
with the face of the patriarch
Jacob. The rabbis tell us that the
"countenance of Moses was like
that of the sun while the count-
enance of Joshua was like that
of the moon." The moon was
often endowed with human attri-
butes. Joseph saw in his dream
the sun and the moon and 11
stars making obeisance to him.
Regularly the sun and the moon
sing praises to God. The moon
was a symbol of beauty; Solo-
mon uses the expression "fair as
the moon" (Song of Songs).
The inhabitants of Sodom and
Gomorrah paid the moon divine
honors. Even Abraham worship-
ped the moon at one stage in his
spiritual development. Only when
clouds obscured it did the patr-
iarch perceive his error. "This,
too, is no god!" he declared. It is
moon - worshippers and pageans
like them that Moses refers to
when he thunders: "And hath gone
and served other gods and wor-
shipped them, or the sun or the
moon, or any of the host of heaven
which I have commanded not."
People attributed to "the lesser
light" the power of influencing the
life of man, a power malign or
benign that could be used for eith-
er good or evil. The belief was
based on the biblical phrases
"precious things put forth by the
moon," and the "sun shall not
smite thee by day nor the moon
by night." The appearance of the
moon wsa greeted with great re-
joicing, especially by agricultural
communities, but the eclipse of
the moon was greatly feared.
The lunar months are 29 or 30
days long, depending on the day
when the moon is first seen. Fix-
ing this day is by no means as
simple as it sounds. Even Moses
was "in perplexity," our sages
tell us, as to what constituted
the beginning of the new moon
and the degree of the moon that
must be visable before the moon
could probably be considered as
a new moon.
The rabbis relate that God Him-
r
self pointed it out to Moses with
His finger and said: "Behold when
the moon is like this, consecrate
it." Upon the president of the
Sanhedrin developed the duty of
solemnly declaring the new moon
consecrated. The news was then
carried far and wide, throughout
the land, and throughout the Jew-
ish world. "A man would wave the
fire signal on the Mount of Olives,
until he could see the next one
doing the same thing on e-e next
mountain, and so on to the top
of the third mountain . . . until
he saw the whole of the Diaspora
before him like one bonfire." In
effect, by the time the news filter-
ed through the Jewish communities
scattered throughout the world,
there was some doubt as to the
actual time when the new moon
was consecrated: It was due to
the lack of precise information on
this point that the second day of
the festivals' of Passover, Pente-
cost and Sukkot was instituted in
the Diaspora.
Rosh Hodesh, the day of the con-
secration of the new moon, was
an important day in the life of the
Israelite. A special sacrifice was
offered in the Temple in Jeru-
salem and the ram's horn (shofar)
was sounded.
Jewish mystics regarded Rosh
Hodesh as a minor New Year's
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Across from the Fisher Theater
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HELEN ZINBERG,
R.E.
Day. The picturesque ceremony
of blessing the new moon took
place between the first and 16th
day of the month, preferably on
Saturday night, under the sky it-
self_ Worshipers recited appro-
priate psalms. Three times they
declared: "Though I attempt to
leap toward thee I cannot touch
thee.
Even today, Rosh Hodesh is a
monthly festival. On the Sabbath
before the new moon, we utter a
prayer imploring the Almighty "to
renew unto us the coming month
for good and for blessing. 0 grant
us long life, a life of peace, of
good, of blessing, of sustenance,
of bodily vigor, a life marked by
the fear of heaven."
The moon is still 230,000 miles
away from the earth but it is
close to the hearts of the people
of Israel who see in the divinely
appointed workings of the "wand-
ering moon" an everlasting sign
of divine compassion.
Closers
CaII TR 2-3000
24 HOUR SERVICE
6511 Lincoln
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS .
.
Friday, April 1, 1966 41
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