Solar Eclipse: Should You Look?

okay good morning everyone we have a very special Shear today an epic Shear by the way the word epic became a yeshivish word it used to be like a sophisticated English word now it's a yeshivish word okay now this year is going to be about the solar eclipse so it's going to get out there so we're going to start with a very important Service uh Public Service Announcement um now I was invited to speak at a and the person said you know my husband knows about uh this Shool and this Sho nobody could bring a phone in so for all you out there who might be listening I want to give you when you go into a b the first thing you need to make sure more important than bringing your Fillin in is leaving your phone out so this way you're able to get signals you know you want to send your signals all the way up today we're going to talk about solar eclipse and I'm going to talk about if you're allowed to look at the solar eclipse it's that you're allowed to look at it why now the first thing is do you make a if you see a solar eclipse what do you think you would make you were in JTA right you made on where the did you make the where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic so right you get the you get the did you make any no cuz there you know for sure it's the Y but usually if you see a great physical phenomenon you make the gives a few examples if you see zik what are if you have a star that shoots like an arrow a shooting star on a shooting star you make if the light drags like a rod anybody ever see a shooting star RAB saw a shooting star where in have I seen a shooting star yeah yes yes okay also on an earthquake you make yeah it has to be the thing is you don't know yeah I didn't know what it was on Friday I I I was pretty sure after it happened there was an earthquake but if you're in middle of an earthquake next time be equipped okay you heard it here what's today's date earthquake you make I don't know I heard that only in laka they felt the Aftershock yeah I I didn't feel the Aftershock because by during the earthquake I was standing upstairs in the middle of the house it was very vulnerable at 600 p.m. I was giving a Shear about the meaning of the earthquake I was in my office it's the office is part of the house it's built on concrete i i m didn't feel anything anyway Valar BR him and on lightning and Thunder a hurricane wind a hurricane wind one time my next door neighbor had a had a trampoline and the hurricane wind took the trampoline and blew it into my backyard I'm not saying who which neighbor was yeah but under that trampoline was a hornets nest a beautiful hornets nest really and I came out I was look I was in my back part I saw hornet nest and I I took it and I have it preserved it maybe I'll show it to you okay it was under the trampoline if you see a hurricane wind you make if you want you could say but the is and if you want you could say our is on lightning we say and on Thunder you say but they're interchangeable okay the question is what do you make on an eclipse the conspicuously absent from the list of uh unusual phenomenon are a solar eclipse why didn't the M say that you a solar eclipse the question is are these examples davka or are they just representative of unusual phenomenon but really would apply to any unusual phenomenon that's the sh if you look in points out he observes the fact that regular ordinary things people don't get excited about for example we don't get excited about sunrise and sunset or when you see a star or when you see the moon or when the rain falls or when the wind blows but people get very excited about what a solar lunar eclipse lightning thunder and shooting stars storm so interestingly groups eclipses with all the other phenomenon that you do make a on so maybe you would say that you a solar eclipse so there's a safer called either one yeah we had um lunar eclipse if I'm not mistaken in 2018 and 2019 both on tubish you ready for for this according to the on August 18th 2017 by the way the last solar eclipse was l l yeah um he brings over here state in the that the next solar eclipse he wrote this six years ago will April 8th 2024 that's still correct the next two lunar eclipses will be Tu bishvat 57 2018 and Tu bishvat 2019 what's the connection between tubish and lunar eclipses I missed that one I have no idea can't go back in time I don't think I have any any material on that okay there's a ofel he was asked number three is it those things or maybe it's just an example or you should make any other unusual physical phenomenon that really inspires wonderment meaning do you make um volcanic eruption anyone ever see a volcanic eruption you didn't see it no okay what's a dripping caves you know what dripping cave is you ever go to how caverns when I was a kid that was in Upstate New York near Cooperstown is uh dripping caves are stalic ties stall mites you know when you have um rocks that water drips down it looks like the stone is dripping down so maybe you should make a br on that Pras Geer do you make o on Old Faithful on waterfalls eclipses alap or a rainbow by a waterfall what do you do in all of these situations do you make a or do you not they're not mentioned in the do you only make a what's mentioned or are those just examples so the first thing was um the question was asked forar the sh in the sh number four and there are many things not mentioned like a volcanic erup eruption or a solar eclipse says RAR the reason why the M did not talk about a volcanic eruptions is because there were no volcanic eruptions inas in Israel there no volcanic eruptions never had lava pouring out of it the never had lava pouring out of it so the doesn't have to talk about so then okay so he had the guts to ask and if somebody would go to uh you know the Gap what Iceland the Galapagos if you see a volcanic erruption do you make a yeah what about an eclipse says the truth is gamar talks about eclipses many times but to make a it's not clear we have doesn't L yes I'm give you an example soon yeah good I would say you ready for this it's a but it's according to rner you're not allowed to look at a solar eclipse it's user you're not allow to you're all to put yourself in a situ situation where you don't know whether you make a br on it or not are you allowed to eat a food if you don't know what is not P it you have don't eat it no okay so you have a shahak to cover it but if you know the eclipse is occurring but you're just not looking okay you don't have to you don't have to that's not then for sure then you're not going to make a but you're not to you're not to look and now you're in a mat that you don't know what to do look according to a buzar right you have to look for uh some way to cover in other words you need to you need to right you could look at the eclipse if you go to volcano or you need to manufacture thunder and lightning you need to go to a place with thunder and lightning or shooting stars according to Azar the only way it's permitted I I mean I think this a nobody knows but people have been spending uh years of their life investing and go to the eclipse according to AAR you're not allowed to look at it yeah isn't the whole concept like the E it's a s it's a Sim okay good so why would you make on that okay good but I'm just saying right now rner says he's not sure if you make AA so if you're not sure you're not to put yourself in a situation where you're not sure I mean if you saw it if let's say you were tied down and put they put toothpicks in your eyes and and you saw it so now you don't know what to do now you're mic but you're not how to put yourself in the situation so the purpose of this year is to legitimize that which many people have devoted many months of their life to prepare for this event what should they do in light of the fact that I would say according to rner you cannot look at the eclipse you're not you know you're not to put yourself in a situation let's say there's a food at a Kesh and you don't know what bra is what should you do you should ask a Pake what should you do if even after that you don't know what BR to make it's a good question are you maybe that's only if you're very hungry St I want to eat something I don't know what BR to make but any in any event that's if you have a shahak there's no shahak there's no shahak for Eclipse shahak even if you don't look at it but you experience it it's also not considered part you have to specific you want to know do you need to look at it or is it it's going to be night right right you you know that it's occurring you don't make a right the would War if you see it you're Miss spoil by seeing the phenomenon of the orb of the sun being blacked by the moon so the first she of RAR is it's a suff bra but RAB Daniel is mentioning that the gumar Suka says that an eclipse is caused by for a either anzin that was not eulogized properly or if a woman who was engaged to be married was violated or Mish or if two brothers were killed together so that means a solar eclipse shows the Simon ra so they asked um the stier what do you do on with a solar eclipse the stier says you don't make a this is what the stier said in what's 1980 but these are predetermined dates yeah so if these eclipses were done even though maybe there was I don't understand a were you went to a wedding Wednesday night good question y wants to know how could eclipse mean that we didn't have era if it's uh predetermined it's said in the yed the yed said you could see in the from six years ago it said exactly when the eclipse is going to be so how could it be tied to AR so one answer says is even though it's predetermined Hashem who predetermined it knew to predetermine it at a time that there would be that's one answer okay they asked they said in the brings that the stier said that we're not why so the questioner says my understanding is because we don't find in kazal that they're Ming AA but you have to understand why weren't Kaz Ming to make a on a solar eclipse isn't it say Simon a solar eclipse is a bad Omen it means we are not uh behaving correctly by the way on Wednesday night we learned that the solar eclipse reflects that there's a lack of in the world we don't love the T enough we don't love we don't support T and we're not active enough for T So since it's a Simon ra you do not make a says but still I'm not really uh So Satisfied over here because according toar it's a suff according to you don't make a it's still suff so you shouldn't look at it earthquakes and all these other phenomenas are also bad no earthquake is not bad on on sh the gar in says on test that the cause of an earthquake is that when the Jewish people are suffering in the gas Hashem cries he shakes the world and he tells CLA Isel I feel your pain and I'm going to bring you back to so qu to that an earthquake is a Simon T okay now look at number 13 in the sh I heard fromi that the reason you don't make a on an earthquake is a different reason we only make legislated and they never legislated on a solar eclipse and he says I heard this from other but from the sh I heard that if you see a volcanic eruption of course you make AA and and the the gives an example he says I also heard from that the examples brought in are only examples and an example of this would be you wanted to know do we have other places where sh says certain things and they're only examples yes the says when do you make on a monkey let's say did you see did you see monkeys in JTA you make AA you have to go back now M tell your father you want to five this time business yeah to make uh to make a on a monkey says two things a monkey and an elephant yeah let's say you see a three-headed dragon do you make a do you make a the examples in the are only examples so many po say you would make AA on a volcanic or corruption in fact the reports are that the sh Ali when he went to Switzerland and he saw a waterf he made an and that's not mentioned in and by the way and it was so you say well maybe he made the braa because it was big enough to be a river technically if you see the Mississippi River you makeas no it wasn't a big waterfall so therefore the sh concludes what do you do if you see an eclipse it's a because maybe we maybe we apply the rule and therefore you do not make on a eclipse so now the was written primarily about different kinds of and his conclusion is you don't make a why so I would say according to that you're not to look at the uh you can't look at it this is not the first solo Eclipse to happen obviously didn't go out for the solo Eclipse here you want to know why it's not they learn whatever said there was a sa that has the bottom line is according to this sh according to this sa of his conclusion is it's a sa and therefore you don't make a I'm just adding according to his take on it you shouldn't look at it so the question is so why is everybody running out to see it they should go indoors and close the shades so I got a hold of are Han ra Feinstein and ra Feinstein was asked on the first night of suus there was a partial lunar eclipse and they asked should you make OAS because after all it's only a partial lunar eclipse and Raa says you don't make a on an eclipse why because we do not find that so here we have it the says definitively you don't now one thing is you don't go looking at the eclipse and use the Brooklyn arav that's one thing I'll tell you the Brooklyn aav cuz if you're can be lying on Raa to to make not to make a on the eclipse you got to follow ra you can't pick and choose can't all of a sudden say you know when it comes to the I'm not be the way the only way you're allowed to look at this Eclipse if you're or the truth is that in I I have uh all kinds of paraphernalia here there was a journal that was published I'm going to tell you what year it was published this journal was published in 1962 and this journal published a narrative about a solar eclipse that happened in 1927 in raden and the told everyone that it's a Mitzvah to go out and to see the solar eclipse said it was a Mitzvah so I saw that I was thinking why is it a Mitzvah maybe because you're going to take mus you're going to think you know am I you're going to learn the G the gar says because we were in and we're going to see the of the mar the mar learns that we don't have cover we don't support now the said very simple in the ancient times people thought the son was a God so the wanted everyone to see the sun has no power look the Sun comes and all of a sudden it just disappears The Little Old Moon could come and completely black out the light of the Sun the says from here we see that everybody has their hour and everybody's hour comes to an end and just like the sun the sun is standing up there in the heavens it's shining it's shining ah like we say comes out like the sun the sun has his moment to shine but and says you think you're 30 years old you're 40 years old you're 50 years old you're a gr and you know you're sitting at the head of the table and you're one day in a few short years you're going to be sitting by your kids's table and you're going to be in his house and he's going to be the balab boss and you're going to be at the end of the table and then you're going to be you're not even going to be vertical you're going to be horizontal the lesson of the eclipse is that even if you have your moment to shine but that moment will pass and it comes very quickly what about no no bra is mentioned buta I'm going to read to you from a translation from the holy y of this article which was written in 19 what do we say7 right 1962 the elderly sits and rests for a bit on the chair they have brought for him near the door of the building he rests for a bit and a quiet silence surrounds him finally he rises and walks slowly step by step and returns to his house rendel Zs his son-in-law follows behind him as does the black bearded Yak who carries back the chair upon which the had sat the Elder who is entirely Purity and Holiness stops at the simple wooden table in the middle of the room and exclaims in a loud enjoyous triumphant T now we have all seen that the sun is indeed nothing but a Crea being formed and shaped by the Creator oh listen to this the says both of these houses provide the same important lesson man is destined to die but the house of mourning drives this lesson home more forcefully just as the mayor of a city knows that his days are numbered when the governor comes and takes him over so too the people of one generation know that the people of the next their new newborn children will grow will marry will up will ultimately supplant them we cannot fool ourselves into thinking there's a KRA starbur there's a dying Club it's an exclusive club that we don't pay membership to on the contrary everyone will leave this world at one point or another and his time in this world is limited in the past people believe the sun was divine but Hashem set the cycle of the celestial spheres into Motion in such a way that the sun is eclipsed by the moon and temporarily fails to shine indicating that it too is not more than a tool in the hands of hasem so the did not make any mention of the that bring the eclipse for the the LI of the solar eclipse was was that our stay in this world is temporary and even said it was a mitvah said it was a Mitzvah to see the eclipse let me see if I could quote the exact L of this article what's Bez like lightning say now what do I take from here the must have held it's not a suff not like because it was a you can't put yourself in a of to learn I don't think unless it's such a powerful that you're allow to put yourself in a suff like that definitively you do not make and therefore it's once it's m to see the eclipse it's a Mitzvah to see the eclipse now one interesting thing is how do they look at it I was wondering did they know you know that they said people who looked at the eclipse without the special glasses they have a a burn on the retina unless you're in totality then you could look for those few minutes I think even even in totality they're still the the rim yeah they're still UV anyway so I thought they didn't know if they didn't know so there's an idea you know back in the day but according to this holy article in the yed there was a shortage of glass that day in raden why because they would take the glass shards and they would put it in the furnace and burn it and it would turn black and that's how they looked at the eclipse so maybe it's a new business whenever you could take broken bottles put it in a burn it and it tooks about like there was a little bit of a fight who would be to give the blackened glass to the to look at the eclipse the did not have those those sunglasses you know so so if you're learning right so this is a Mitzvah that's going to beah you want to know she be from Tyra no if you're middle of learning no but the felt it was to take his the city and to to witness could be m in Li while you're looking yeah look if if person's Mish in the B medish and they have to close the gar and get up but it could be that it could be that most people are not able to learn Mish for two hours straight without any Interruption but you see that I'm just bringing out that you see from the that it was not a and once it's permitted to look at it then said it was a Mitzvah to look at it we we said yesterday by that if a person humbles himself you know yesterday by we said from the the word is the sackcloth of the image of the eclipse is good explained when we humble ourselves so says when we humble ourselves because the gar says it comes for but according to this it elicits humility in a much more profound way not just because we're thinking about the that could have caused it but it reminds us of our own uh our own mortality according to the eclipse reminds us that we are mortal and if we're able to engender then says and ultimately it's have a great day everyone um