Chofetz Chaim (Shem Olam 1:24): To understand properly the significance of the telescope, it is important to know that in the previous generation faith in providence was very strong. Everybody had perfect faith that even though Gd dwells above, nevertheless He supervises from His lofty abode all the inhabitants of the Earth… In that generation it was not necessary to have such things as telescopes. However now, because of our many sins, we find many people who deny Providence and claim that Gd does not see or pay attention to what occurs in the world since He is so far away in Heaven. To counteract this false claim, Gd shows us clearly - by giving the inspiration to build the telescope - that even lowly man has the ability to see at the great distances from the Earth to the Heaven. So we realize that surely Gd has the ability to see from above to below concerning all matters… It follows from our discussion that all the scientific knowledge and technological advances that have occurred in our time - is not an indication that we are greater and more knowledgeable than previous generations. In fact it is only to validate for us the idea of Providence.
Unless I am mistaken, the telescope was invented in 1608, and Galileo was making use of them to develop his theories by 1609, while the Chafetz Chaim was born in 1838.
ReplyDeleteThe Telescope is more from the time of the Magen Avraham, Shakh and Taz.
Supposedly, didn't Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel have one?
ReplyDeleteWell, Rabban Gamliel (the father) had some kind of tube that was used in a surveying manner, that according to Rashi did involve changing the length to focus (Eruvin 43b). No mention of lenses. It could have used pinhole optics. BTW, focusing optics in western technology (Kepler 16th cent) post-dates Rashi by centuries. Regardless of what Rabban Gamliel made, explaining how Rashi knew the concept will take work. Did someone in Moslem Golden-Age Spain already do the work? And if so, how did Rashi hear of it, living among the Xians of the Dark Ages? In comparison, arguing that this was the traditional explanation of the gemara handed down to him seems very plausible. Without Rashi, I would have said he measured angles in order to use trigonometry to get heights, and looking through the tube would insure the tube being at the same angle as a straight line to the mountain whose height (valley / depth) he was measuring.
ReplyDeleteBut Rabbi Gamliel also has a good sense of astronomy (RH 25a), knowing the exact range of time between lunations (new moons). The molad is an average, the length of an astronomical month varies. I forgot who ties this knowledge to his possession of a telescope, as per Eruvin.
-micha