 Parashat Eikev WORD OF THE MONTH A weekly feature of Torah Tidbits to help clarify practical and conceptual aspects of the Jewish Calendar, thereby better fulfilling the mitzva of HaChodesh HaZeh Lachem... Usually, as the Moon makes its way around the Earth and the Molad of a month occurs when the Moon is between the Earth and Sun, the Moon does not block the light of the Sun from our viewpoint; the Sun remains visible over or under the passing Moon. Every so often, the Moon does block the light of the Sun and a Solar Eclipse results. This coming Molad, the Molad of Elul will occur on Wednesday, August 11th, at 2:08pm, Israel Summer Time. The Moon will pass directly in front of the Sun, blocking it from our view. Israwel is not favorably angled to witness a total eclipse; here we will experience about 80% partial eclipse. The path of totality of theeclipse runs from Cornwall, England (London will have 96% partial), a small piece of France, Romania (I'm skipping some countries), Turkey, Iraq, and others. One fact that adds to the beauty of a total eclipse is the fact that taking the diameters of the Sun and Moon into account, and their respective distances from Earth, the body of the Moon will more or less exactly "fit" over the body of the Sun, allowing a rare glipse of the corona of the Sun, generally invisible to us. More on the eclipse next week, IY"H [The Eikev Homepage]
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