THIS is what an ECLIPSE teaches us

so first of all today's class is in honor of the upcoming yard site of the father of one of our regulars of this class one of the pillars of this class um and he was a great student of Tanya and of the subjects that we connect to over here in this class yesu right and uh he should have muchas from uh the learning that his daughter does here and and we're very privileged to be part of it to create this this environment this group where we are able to to learn deep stuff and uh should be a for him okay and there's food out here you can make bras I'm gonna make a my coffee okay so this is the last class before pesak break and we're going to do not we're not going to do Tanya today we're going to do uh Eclipse our Eclipse curriculum now I just want to tell you something I've known about this eclipse for a long time in fact um you know these eclipses they can be calculated hundreds if not thousands of years in advance so it's not a surprise to any the earthquake on Friday there was a surprise that I did not I only was I was only informed about the earthquake about an hour before it happened but I'm jok I'm joking I'm J joking I'm joking okay it was amazing but the the eclipse we've know yeah the eclipse you know that those the those things can be calculated astronomically uh and you I just want to tell you my little meta um behind the scenes rinic internal dialogue or monologue as it were I was like should I do an eclipse thing and I'm like no that's what all those pandering rabbis do in order to be relevant I don't need to talk about an eclipse to be relevant is no no honestly in very end I was like okay the eclipse is in a few hours let's just do it yeah okay can't even copy you this time by the way not the re posted they post okay the re spoke about the eclipse I just posted it okay so don't don't give away my share I'm not I didn't even listen to it yet I didn't have a chance okay good all right but all right fine so before we get into the eclipse everything isus everything is by Divine Providence there's another astronomical event which is a very common one it's not one that really people get excited about but it is one as Jews that we're aware of and that that's coming up uh which ises the new moon and specifically the new moon of the month of Nissan which historically was the first new moon that was observed as a Mitzvah by the Jewish people before they even left Egypt this month meaning the month of redemption of Exodus should be for you the first month I'm saying The Exodus from Egypt but sure Exodus from the current Exile as well 100% okay so M Moses gets the command back in Egypt before they even leave that this month is the beginning of the calendar and that sets up the Jewish calendar um there's however another aspect of astronomical calculations as far as the calendar aside from the new moon and that is the solar cycle and I'm not going to get into really technical astronomy here but just very very very simple um a a true lunar month you know those Gregorian months are completely arbitrary there's nothing the the secular months like January February March April May has nothing to do with any lunar phases or anything okay um a true lunar month which are the months that we use in the Jewish calendar is 29 and a fraction days so you multiply that by 12 um you get 355 days I'm going to just round off uh is that right what what let's just use whole numbers yeah what what's 29 time uh 12 I going have a calculator everyone has a calculator everyone has a calculator and a GPS and a 34 camera 348 it's 348 yeah but you then put in the fractions do 29 and a halftimes 12 29.5 time 354 okay so the solar year is 365 and it's not even 3 365 and a quarter and that's why the Gregorian calendar has leap years every four years right all right so you have you have okay different type of yeah we're going to speak about that okay so there's a discrepancy between the what I'll call the lunar year which is kind of a misnomer because it's not really a year but um a lunar year and a solar year of about I'm G these are very I'm I don't work for NASA so my calculations are very sloppy here let's say about 10 days let's say nine in a in a fraction days okay so what happens is if you'll notice that a date on the Jewish calendar will creep backward it'll get earlier and earlier um until finally it gets so early you mentioned a Jewish Leap Year okay until finally it'll get so early we'll say okay this is enough we got to push things off and we'll put in an extra other right okay so that's how you know okay so one of the ways that we know that the discrepancy between the lunar and the solar Cycles is becoming excessive unmanageable is the vernal equinox by the way our uh Muslim cousins do not pay attention to the solar calculation at all which is why yeah Ramadan will creep backward through the year and it'll sometimes be in the summer it'll sometimes be in the winter they don't attempt any reconciliation between the lunar and the solar calendar so like the Gregorian calendar the lunar months are non-existent it's completely solar like a Gregorian calendar if you know a particular date on that calendar that date will always be the exact same in terms of the solar cycle will always be exactly the same um like Sunrise will always be at the exact same time uh every year on April 8th it doesn't matter what year in the Gregorian calendar in in the Muslim calendar um it's the opposite the the the the months the the the lunar cycles are precise but there's no correspondence between those dates and where we are as far as the solar cycle following okay so the Jewish calendar reconciles both the lunar and the solar and the mechanism that we use is by adding an extra month as we mentioned KES why why is that the month why don't we add any other month that's the last month of the year because we mentioned before Nissan is the first month of the year so the first month of the year Nissan if it starts to get too early we add an extra month a 13th month beyond the 12th month which is called other base but what does too early mean well I told you already who remembers from 4 minutes ago and I said one of the ways that we determined it Nissan got too early what what did I say holidays keep getting earlier but what what Benchmark did I mention you guys aren't listening one of the indicators you remember I'm going to say it you be like oh yeah you you did say that vernal equinox Equinox okay what's the vernal equinox okay what does that mean fine so we have the vernal equinox and the ainal Equinox for that matter why not we'll talk about the summer solstice and the winter solstice the vernal equinox Vernal means spring uh Equinox means equal night mean the night and the day are equal 12 hours 12 hours right down the middle you know in the summer when the Sun goes down like 900 p.m. right you like chabas candles like 8:40 or something crazy like that then the winter it's like what shabas is at 352 that's crazy right okay and then there's the Equinox where it's right in the middle by the way I was never in keto Ecuador but you know what Ecuador is called Ecuador it's near the equator yeah they always have sunset sunrise at like 600 PM 6: a.m. 6 p.m. all year round I was never in keto Ecuador but I was in karacas Venezuela that was the closest I was to like the equator and it's true like the the the fluctuation of sunrise and sunset is minimal it's minimal because it's near the equator when you get up to the extremes like think about like Alaska where in the summer you barely have night the sun barely sets before it comes back up again and then in the winter I mean and and then and then yeah in the winter it'll be like uh you barely have have day okay at any rate so there there's the vernal equinox and the ainal equin ainal is Autumn um those are the two points in the solar cycle when the day and night are equal and then of course you have summer solstice winter solstice summer solstice is the longest day of the year winter solstice is the short shortest day of the year okay so pesak can never be earlier than the vernal equinox right uh I think it's been over a hundred years since pesak was earlier than March 25th um so if you see pesak would be before the vernal equinox you got to push it off by adding an extra month the 13th month so well we don't call it that but yeah it pushes yeah it does push things off yeah okay so you're following so far okay now there's a verse in the Torah it's actually in par in the book of Deuteronomy that says guard the month of the spring and make a I'll just I won't translate it PES for Hashem guard the month of the spring and make a PES for Hashem where is the month of the spring going that it needs guarding it's going into the yeah the spring is really going into the winter but what it means is pay attention guard here means pay attention meaning make sure that PES will always be in the spring how do you know it's spring well there are other IND I've said earlier that there's one way that we that we determine the spring I said the veral Equinox I was very careful I said it's one way because there are other ways as well which I don't want to get into such as the blossoming of the trees which is not astronomical but has to do with with uh guess it's biological but one of the main signs that we need to be aware of is the vernal equinox so guard the month of the spring and make a PES forem means make sure that PES pay attention and make sure that pesak will be after the veral equinox and I'm sure a lot of people are stressing right now and be like oh no on top of pesak cleaning now I have to make sure that pesak is after the vernal equinox and I don't even know these equations how am I going to figure this out I've got amazing news for you you want to know something you don't have to do anything the calendar was already set up 2,000 years ago and it's it works pretty well so just buy a calendar and you'll be good so I don't want to make I don't want to mislead anyone to think that they're the ones that we're all waiting did you calculate when the vernal equinox is the calendar is rigged like the the calendar is rigged yes 2000 years ago hins formula yeah yeah I'm saying the long the I mean the biblical calendar the basic it's amazing the the astronomical calculations yeah I mean theum talks about all the calculations that are used okay so here's the thing as modern people living in a modern world how often do we think about things like vernal equinox or automnal equ Equinox or summer solstice or winter solstice or for that matter really even like when is the new moon when is the new moon tomorrow tomorrow yeah yeah tonight tomorrow yeah we know I didn't say that it's not possible to know I'm saying that because of the way we live our lives generally it's not something that is incredibly important to us to the extent that if you would not be an observant Jew you would have no clue what phase the Moon is in and I will prove that to you go to Manhattan and pick any smart person find a smart person but I'm saying a smart educated person who knows what's going on in the world and stop them and say excuse me you don't have to be overly precise is the moon Waxing or wanting right now I promise you it will take you you'll have to ask 200 people before you will find someone who even has a clue you think there that many smart people in New York no even if you only ask the smart people all you're saying you won't even be able to ask 200 people but we are aware because it's always so so we are aware we are well sha shabas being early and later has to do with the solar cycle I'm talking about the cycle but any of these astronomical things regular people in 2024 don't need to know this stuff look in the olden days when people were agrarian you were farmers okay or Sailors right now where's the Big Dipper I don't know I have a GPS where's the North Star I I have ways I don't need a North star I have ways right but in the old days when people navigating with the star for sure they knew where stuff was and if they were agrarian if they were farmers for sure they knew about the seasons they knew no they knew exactly how to calculate when is spring and when is the reaping and the harvesting and the whatever this was very important to them now you can walk into the store and you can get ripe avocados 365 days a year okay so we are very disconnected hold on we are very discon connected from these Cycles which for all of human history were really important this was the Rhythm of Life and we have sort of become oblivious to and not to mention even the cycles of I'm I've been talking about the solar cycles and the lunar cycles but also even just the daily cycle because of electric lights we got those lights blazing it's like Las Vegas at our house 24 hours day all day long if you want it so we are really oblivious if it wouldn't be for shabas candle lighting time I'm not even sure how much we would think about what time sunset is and its flu its fluctuation right okay so my point is we live a life I say we modern society that is really divorced from the natural rhythm of the universe and you're thinking and saying do I agree I want to disagree just for the sake of fun and I'm saying no no no you don't you don't because I mean we're much more inside we're not working in the than that's right just so different and our kids are out there even less that's true kids don't play outside anymore they had their smart remember it used to be come home before dark right come home before everyone's lamenting in the summertime when kids used to be out from morning to night they're staying in side yeah okay getting dirty is not okay these days is there any other quote that says that PES cannot be before the um earlier than veral Equinox because isn't par much after yeah but it doesn't matter it doesn't matter which para that's it's not written at that time because has nothing to do with what time of the year yeah it has nothing to do with what time of year that para is read okay but is that the sole reference for when we know that's the the the main verse that is based okay all right so um yeah so I want to tell you a story I want to tell you a story about a little child there was a little child he grew up in uh a country that doesn't exist anymore but today it would be Iraq and his father was an idol worshipper and everyone around him worshiped idols and he got to thinking and how did he get to thinking he looked up in the sky and he said look at these massive orbits what is moving them yeah AO Abraham so he looked up in the sky he says look at these massive orbits there's a power that's moving everything what is moving it and he went through this process of deduction until finally he understood that there is a prime mover and there is a single one force that is the force of all a force of all forces and he came to believe in the one God he was very little better yeah he was a kid yeah yeah so what's the point the point is that Abraham's Faith began not by pondering philosophical questions like what's the right way to live what's the meaning of life how do we Define good good and evil it began when he was looking at the sky he was in awe and he tried to make sense of what he was seeing and he came to a conclusion that there must be one force one power and that that is God so the source of our faith really has to do with a little kid looking up in the sky unbelievable there's a a chapter of Psalms we actually say in the chabas prayers every shabas but it's uh 19 Capal and it says hasim the heavens relate or convey the honor the glory of God what does it mean the heavens relate or convey the glory of God so izra who was a great medieval Spanish Rabbi and actually interestingly enough there's a crater on the moon named after the Ezra yeah yeah so some nerd at Nasa obviously went to Yeshiva and is that what it's called is it called Ezra I for you could Google it it has a weird name it's not called izra it's like some anglicized version of ibenz but yeah there's a crater on them Google it can I teach the class and you guys be my research Department okay I see these guys on podcast they have one producer doing this stuff I have 20 people in a room just pull it up for me and let me just continue being smooth okay all right just pull it up please all right eventually we'll get sophisticated enough that we'll be able to have a Bluetooth and we'll put your phones onto a monitor that I'll be able to see and you can pull up verses for me and sources and I'll just read it AB Ezra it's called abin Ezra a lunar impact freed it's a lunar impact crater in the rugged Highlands in the rugged Highlands section of the moon in the what section of the Moon sou Central in the South Central the South Central Moon isn't that where Ice Cube is from the south central Moon okay one person left okay fine um all right so the izra said there's really a South Central moon when they named the star after you right right exactly I'll sell you some real estate on the moon I've got a time share on the moon okay so the izra says in his commentary on the Psalms what does it mean kale that the heavens relate the praise of God he says that in order to understand this Psalm this poetry by King David and how it indeed Praises Hashem and relates the glory of God you have to have a knowledge of astronomy which he did and all of the great rabbis of that era we mentioned earlier the ram right we you said how do they know those calculations I say it's in the r you look in the r he has all the calculations in H K so all of the rabbis in that era of course they they knew astronomy even Ezra knew astronomy so basically here's the thing part of basic spiritual literacy as Jews how do how do you like that term spiritual literacy part of basic spiritual literacy as Jews involves some awareness of astronomy and and yet we are so divorced from that we don't really think about it so that includes the astronomical signs the astrological science astrological science yeah well that's a related science it's related science interesting my brother doid who does the paraa rabbit hole which I'm sure everybody watches on the creative Judaism Channel on YouTube he was saying that in medieval times astronomy was considered a soft science and astr ology was considered more of a hard science and now it's the reverse okay at any rate um so we have this basic idea of astronomy and being aware of astronomy as being foundational to our belief in God that's how Abraham began his awareness and that's how um it's one of the ways in which we become sensitized to God's presence in the world like like the ezzar says that the glory of God is related through knowledge of these things and yet we're so far removed from all this stuff it uh it's a disadvantage it's a disadvantage for us it's like a a void that we have that we're missing that that awareness makes a thinking expansively you're just focused on what's here and now and yourself you're saying not having an awareness of astronomy yeah so I'm I have here I printed it out actually this is a transcript of a s of a talk uh from the so it's right before right before R Al meaning it was still 1990 like late summer 1990 right before Rashana and there was a gathering of women and girls sometimes they would clear out the whole 770 get rid of the men and it would be a talk just for the women so this was a gathering of women and girls and like I said it was the end of the summer I don't remember the and I didn't look up the exact secular date but earlier that summer there had been a total solar eclipse sort of like the one that's supposed to be happening in a few hours right is a total solar eclipse in a few hours not here not here we are we're going to see 9 % 93% yeah that's high that's pretty good I heard 93% people went to Buffalo so in the summer of people drove to the country so are we going to get on a train right now 18 and are you guys making travel plans right now where to go or this is all academic right nobody's going anywhere right okay are you going to tell us what the r said well you're discussing Buffalo and cloudy and I know you're right so then okay okay we're trying to focus okay you're trying to focus right I'm bringing us back thank you okay what did I say that's a great question okay so there was a um a total solar eclipse I don't know what percentage total it was in New York but there was a total solar eclipse on July 11th 1991 and at this Gathering later on in the summer the rebba spoke about it I pretend meaning it was already after the eclipse that's why I was like struggling with whether I should speak about the eclipse a week ago or two weeks ago that de spoke about it like a month after so it's okay which just shows it's like not stealing his speech what one of the RAB yeah everybody stole the debba speeches that's was unavoidable but I'm actually thinking about it and far be it for me to interpret but I think I don't know what I'm just making this up but to say an eclip speech before it happens is like yeah anyone can do that but to talk about it after it happen happens means you actually care about it it means there's some Integrity there is that why there's no class next week no class next week because people are cleaning for PES People are cleaning for PES next week okay so this was a month or two after the eclipse and basically that debus spoke about the eclipse as what we would call today a teachable moment and remember that I was speaking to women and he's speaking to girls and uh I mean I'll just read you a part of it so regarding the heavens meaning the physical Heavens not not sham sometimes we mean spiritual Realms but meaning it's the what do you call it space what we're talking about here is a natural thing it's not a miracle eclipse is not a miracle I mean like I said we know like we know that these things are coming if you know how to calculate it you can know hundreds thousands of years ahead of time but as our sages explain the movements the orbits of the Spheres the celestial SPH spheres represents their bowing so to speak that's what we say which is we say it in ding but it's a verse from that the Heavenly hosts meaning the the celestial bodies bow to Hashem when they when they move in their orbits it's a form of submission to hem and the says and the fact that these things are moving means that there has to be a mover K like it's related in the about the first Jew a ainu Our Father Abraham the goes on to explain that AB ainu did not observe any miraculous event he simply looked at the movement of the orbits and he got to thinking and thinking and thinking until he came to a conclusion that if there's this massive power that is moving these orbits then there must there must be something behind it that the power must be an expression of something the movement has to be an expression of a mover and that's how he came to believe in God so theba says like this the fact that people are looking up in the sky including little kids a Rina was a little kid when this happened the fact that little kids are going to be looking up in the sky and they're observing something that is completely natural and normal what you what do you distrac me about July 11th was the date of the solar the total that's what I said said that didn't you just say that I said the solar eclipse was July 11th 1991 right but didn't you say the Reb spoke about it no I said that Reb spoke about it a month later a month or two later said a month what oh oh so the speech wasn't on July 11th it was the that's exactly what I said sorry misund so what were we talking about kids that a little kid looks up in the sky and he notices something that's completely natural and normal something that you can calculate hundreds and thousands of years in advance it doesn't M see people want it to be something abnormal oh there's an eclipse this is so weird no it's not weird but just the fact that you pay attention how how often do we look up that's right we never look up we look down I look up you look up yeah I like the sky like the birds sky in the birds saying saying General we just take it for granted whatever is happening not anymore so when with the exception of Tippy when a solar eclipse happens all of a sudden everybody looks up and what's the significance this is what the Deb is saying you don't have to read something miraculous into this just the fact that for a moment all around the world or at least within what do they call that the that belt of visibility or whatever that there are people looking up that itself is wonderful Judaism began because a little kid looked up and said hey what's going on what's going on up there and in a few hours there'll be little Jewish kids who are going to be looking up hopefully they'll have the little glasses yes they do or The Shoe Box diarama that I we made when we were kids used to work never worked we I made the little shoe box thing with the mirror thing the Periscope they have special glasses they special glasses nowes and all over the world you're going to have little kids just like Abraham was a little kid and he looked up and started thinking you can have little kids looking up and here's the thing when that eclipse happens I'm trying to remember from the last time I saw one you actually see movement yeah we saw you see move in in other words it's not static it's a process I don't remember how long it takes for to converge I guess it's the the shadow of the Moon covering the Sun but you see it moving and So Co you can't not realize that there's movement right and that's the whole point if there's this massive Force at work this mass of power that's creating this movement there must be a mover so yeah it's very good it's from the rebba that's why I'm telling it to you the whole concept of a solar eclipse is this moment where all of a sudden we modern people who are so divorced from the rhythm of of the universe we don't think about seasons and Equinox and Solstice we don't think about that stuff all of a sudden we look up and we can't help but notice that the universe is moving it's moving and if it's moving there must be a mover and if that's not a powerful spiritual experience for you all I can tell you is it was enough for Abraham that's what got him started he said look at this movement if there's this massive movement there must be a mover that's it so that's the same as the earthquake this week no okay moving the earthquake yeah yeah sure yeah you want to talk about earthquake the big problem with the earthquakes that happened on Friday all the rabbis had to rewrite their sermons but RAB tab is there any significance for the moon which is the feminine energy sure there's significance yes there's significance but the message here is much more powerful than that yeah there's cabalistic significance what does the sun represent what does the Moon represent 100% And there's specific meaning what does an eclipse mean this is covering that 100% yes but the message here is much more powerful than any of that the message here is you know something just the fact that for a minute or a few minutes we're going to suddenly become aware we're going to remember that there's this massive power at work all around us all the time not just when there's an eclipse but all the time that itself is a breakthrough or it should be a breakthrough for us and and the fact that little children who gets most most excited about the eclipse is the little children you okay yeah that little children are going to be looking up in the sky and and the dev is saying this to a group of women this is parenting advice as well so when you go and you look at the eclipse again with the proper eye protection with your children this is the teachable moment this is look because they will never forget that look at the movement that's the there's movement here there's these giant massive things are moving what's moving them sunrise and sunet every day the sun rises and sets every day yeah that's exactly my point and nobody's having a spiritual experience from it so the fact that the eclipse comes by and makes it interesting for us the truth is if we were really spiritually attuned then every morning we would see the sunrise and we'd be blown away and be like wow wow God is at work okay but because uh we we don't get excited about it but at least when there's an eclipse all of a sudden we shake off that complacency our jaded complacency and we we become sensitized again and that's an incredible opportunity what about every 28 years beer cama how does that tie into this it doesn't why because we're still Haring it because there's nothing discernable to see the blessing on the Sun every 28 years you you you would not see anything there's nothing there to see the point is why do people look up then you there's no phenomenon that's out of the ordinary that you would notice that would indicate to you that any anything is happening the point is that when there's an eclipse and you're looking up it is undeniable that this stuff is moving and I'm not going to get and don't you dare get into a geocentrism and a heliocentrism cuz I'm not going there I don't care what's moving around I mean I do but I'm not I don't care to discuss what's moving around what the point is this stuff is moving and when you see an eclipse it's undeniable this stuff is moving it's moving and if it's moving there must be a mover and don't forget that was the beginning of a of a Vino's Journey again it wasn't a philosophical query he wasn't pondering the meaning of life he was simply observing there's this movement if there's movement there must be a mover and that's what started him and that's what we're able to experience and what every little kid who's going to go watch the eclipse can experience with the right coaching if you make it a teachable moment all right