Words From Rabbi White

My dear friends,

YOM HA`ATSMA’UT AND THE SOLAR ECLIPSE

We all remember the eclipse of Monday, April 8. As I wrote on the Shabbat bulletin after the eclipse, I am aware that up in Montreal you merited to see the totality. Yet even here in NJ, where we had just 94%, I found it to be a spectacular sight as the sun went from being a golden banana until it eventually was blotted out.

At the time, I mentioned that the day of the eclipse was also the day of the “molad”, the monthly “birth” of the new moon.  Indeed, every total solar eclipse will always be on the New Moon. Now, the Molad is the time when the moon itself is not visible, yet the invisible moon is able to blot out the powerful sun! (With a temperature of 15 million Kelvin)

I am writing these words on Israel Independence Day. Except for the very first Independence Day, when the Arab states attacked Israel, this is the first time that a war has been raging during the celebrations. Not only that, but it seems that the whole world (except Argentina and Pierre Poilievre!) seems to be against us.  On college campuses, in the International Court of Justice (sic!) and on the bridges connecting NJ with NY, we are accused of genocide, even though it is the other side that is actively engaged in attempting genocide (chas ve-shalom!), and we are just trying to defend ourselves. College students are demanding divestment, if the administration wants them to dismantle their tents, and many administrations go along!!

The Jewish people are compared to the moon. Just as the moon reflects the light of the sun, thus do we reflect the light of the Torah, so that we can be, in words of Isaiah, a light to the nations. (Isaiah chapters 42, 49, and 60)

Psalm 121, known as “shir la-ma`alot,” which is said regularly in many synagogues as we pray for the soldiers and for the Land of Israel, contains the prayer that we shall not be affected by the sun or the moon.  And we pray that the light of Israel will soon overpower the darkness of our enemies.

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This week’s haftarah, from the book of Ezekiel, is very strange, as many verses seem to contradict laws of the Torah. Indeed, it seems that the entire Book of Ezekiel was almost consigned to geniza, not to be read. Fortunately, a certain scholar named Hananiah ben Hizkiah burnt the midnight oil, and succeeded in explaining the Book to the satisfaction of the scholars. The great talmudic rabbi known simply as Rav said that Hananiah is positively remembered for that act. And thus, it is appropriate that I mention his name!

Shabbat shalom, shalom ‘al Yisrael,

Rabbi Menahem White