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... 

HaChodesh HaZeh Lachem... 

I can't believe I forgot to write about the lunar eclipse in the last issue. I really feel bad about it. It is a beautiful opportunity to take Yeshayahu's words to heart: S'U MAROM EINEICHEM... Lift your eyes heavenward and see (ponder) Who created these. The most common question I've been asked since Tuesday night is WHY NO BRACHA? The question needs more space than this box, but here's the short version. [A] Nothing happens in an eclipse to the Sun, Moon, Earth, of anything else. The just get in each other's way. [B] The perception of an eclipse is a negative sign for the world and/or Bnei Yisrael, because the light of one of the Great Luminaries is diminished. Even though we know and understand the workings of eclipses, the perception is still there. Look at it this way: G-d could have set the heavenly bodies in motion in such a way that eclipses wouldn't happen. So the events are part of G-d's message to us. Just as I (so to speak) built into nature the harmless, short-duration diminishing of the Sun and the Moon, know that I am not bound by nature and I can change things around in a very bad way for the people of Earth and/or the Jewish people, if that is what is called for. (There's more; B'HIZDAMNUT)