•

Question of the Week: Who was the first Ashkenazi chief
rabbi in Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel?

•sidda, pa/9aq puo papadsa,
isow in° jo auo supwailoo>i !cicR isTspoinDas Auow pa)p!
uovn) uo!6!IaJ 01paionap uow o puot(sJappal sno!6!Ial 6u!M
iu6p GJOW Hon sppo ID WI Ind uoit_im)Is!uoT uards4no uo
u6notti •(gE6 loo> pops' wouoJciy
:JeAksuy

#1) Thanks to Leo Goldberg (1913-
1987), who worked at the McMath Hul-
bert Observatory in Michigan, we know a
great deal more about the sun. Goldberg
was a pioneer in photographing solar
flares.

who produced one of the leading studies
on Hebrew grammar in his day. A native
of Zurich, he was an instructor in oriental
languages at the universities of Zurich and
Heidelberg. His writings included Gram-
matica Quattor Linguarum Hebraicae,
Chaldaicae, Syriacae et Arabica Harmon-
ica (1659) and Erotematu Linguae Sanc-
toe (1647), which was a book of Hebrew
grammar.

#2) Tradition says that God originally cre-
ated only the sun. Then, fearing it would
become the center of a cult (and, indeed,
groups throughout history have worshipped
the sun), God created another heavenly
body of light — the moon.

#3) Johann Heinrich Hottinger (1620-
1667) was a Swiss Protestant theologian

5i4 „. <04, 444

God's creations: the sun and
the moon

•

It's traditional y the year's

July for Israel's largest cities are (in degrees
Fahrenheit): Eilat, 95; Tiberias, 86; Haifa,
77; Tel Aviv, 75; and Jerusalem, 73.

warmest month, so take

#5) Every 28 years, it's traditional to
recite a special Blessing of the Sun, which
celebrates its existence. The prayer is said
after the morning davening (praying) on
the first Wednesday of the Hebrew month
Nisan, when the sun is 90 degrees above
the eastern horizon. The date and time

the opportuniy to enjoy the

heat with these hot Jewish facts.

Elizabeth Applebaum
AppleTree Editor

#4) Looking for the hottest cities in Israel?
According to Leisure Planet's Travel
Guides, Eilat is the place to be if you can
take the heat. The average temperatures in

Fun in the sun in Eilat, Israel

-WA'W/f,5. -Prg901,Wg, - W4'4. 7PrPF5FrIrf‘vTE). .r",4-7-,r7rFrr,'

You' ca rnearn . a ot y learning a littie.
Fdct-/-\-uay, fr\p06 ree
provices you with fascinating tidbits about any Jevvish sublect,
past or present. This month, you'll find a collection of 31 — one
for each day of August — great facts about everything from a lit-
. tle-known blessing for the sun to talmudic weather predictions.

7mtn.-Twr,s-, Tprwr,rr www,"

Do you have a suggestion fbr Fact A
. so , plea s e drop US
a line at AppleTree Facts, 27676 Franklin Road, Southfield, Ml
48034; fax, (248) 354-6069; call, (248) 354-6060, ext. 308
(voice-mail only); or e-mail, philapple@earthlink.net

-

-

•..

8/11
2000

65