Berachos (07a) I once entered into the innermost part [of the Sanctuary] to offer incense and saw Akathriel Jah, the Lord of Hosts, seated upon a high and exalted throne. He said to me: Ishmael, My son, bless Me! l replied: May it be Thy will that Thy mercy may suppress Thy anger and Thy mercy may prevail over Thy other attributes, so that Thou mayest deal with Thy children according to the attribute of mercy and mayest, on their behalf, stop short of the limit of strict justice! And He nodded to me with His head. Here we learn incidentally that the blessing of an ordinary man must not be considered lightly in your eyes.
Is it apikorus to question the 28 year solar cycle of birkat hachama?
ReplyDeleteThere are various astronomic cycles.
There's a 22 year magnetic cycle of the sun.
There are long cycles up to 100, 000 years
Known as Milankovitch (Orbital) Cycles of the earth.
Can't change anything but it's going against the science of the Talmud.
https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/earth-science/milankovitch-orbital-cycles-and-their-role-in-earths-climate/
The 22 year cycle is an average. It's not impossible that it once extended to 28 years - if indeed that's the measure that chazal used. It means the north pole of the sun switches to the south pole over approx 11 years, then switches back again over the next 11. But it has possibly been at a 14 year maximum
DeleteWhich would them correspond with the 28 year cycle of the bircat hachama 馃尀
I love the Gemara's anti-climax. After describing the incredible vision, the Gemara laconically states, well, what do we learn from this - that a simple person's blessing should not be light in your eyes. Why isn't this Gemara (and the Shavuos Haftorah) a challenge to the Rambam who says Hashem has no form?
ReplyDeleteRambam gives interpretations of such visions in the tanakh.
DeletePresumably he would say that agadah and midrash isn't to be taken literally
One doesn't need Chazal. ONe can read Yishiyahu and Yechezkel who both saw some kind of form in Heaven.
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