{"id":58337,"date":"2017-08-22T14:41:41","date_gmt":"2017-08-22T19:41:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=58337"},"modified":"2017-08-28T02:49:40","modified_gmt":"2017-08-28T07:49:40","slug":"jews-across-hashkafic-spectrum-travel-find-inspiration-eclipse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/jews-across-hashkafic-spectrum-travel-find-inspiration-eclipse\/","title":{"rendered":"Jews Across the Hashkafic Spectrum Travel to Find Inspiration at Eclipse"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a world divided by hashkafic<\/i> differences, an out of the ordinary experience brought Jews across the spectrum together out of a common interest. <\/span><\/p>\n

As one of the last locations in the United States to view the eclipse in its totality, and one of the only cities on the east coast to view this rare sight, people from across the country converged on Charleston, South Carolina, a city famous for being the top tourist destination in the United States. <\/span><\/p>\n

Weeks before the eclipse, hotel bookings for eclipse day were sold out, and rumor had it that the rare one that became available was going for $1,000 a night. Some Charlestonians decided to rent out rooms in their houses for the steep price of $600 a night- many were eagerly scooped up. The city braced itself for a million tourists.<\/span><\/p>\n

Frum<\/i> Jews were among the crowd. They arrived from Flatbush, Rochester, the Baltimore area and as far away as Los Angeles and Israel. There were chassidim<\/i> from Williamsburg, yeshiva students from Lakewood, a large representation from a shul in Rockville, Maryland and world-renowned speaker, Erica Brown. Some came out of a fascination with science, others out of an urge to see \u201cnissim<\/i> and niflaos<\/i> of Hashem<\/i>\u201d but what united them was they felt this was a once in a lifetime event they did not want to miss. <\/span><\/p>\n

Dorit Nelson from Los Angeles watched the eclipse at Brith Sholom Beth Israel Synagogue with her husband and children. Her brother watched it in Portland, another brother in Jackson Hole and a cousin watched it in St. Louis. \u201cYou felt you had to see it,\u201d she said. Michele and Yoni Kirschner of New York agreed. When they couldn\u2019t get a hotel room in Charleston, they flew to Kansas City, Missouri so as not to miss the experience. <\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Jeremy Brown, author of an article about eclipses in Jewish law and thought, spoke about the topic at BSBI Synagogue on Sunday evening to a crowded sanctuary. Contrary to the excitement about the eclipse, he said the Gemara actually teaches that an eclipse is a \u201csiman<\/i> ra<\/i>\u201d- a bad omen, which occurs because of our bad deeds. While some achronim<\/i> take the approach that the Gemara isn\u2019t referring to an eclipse at all, but to sun spots, other rabbis, such as current Chief Rabbi Dovid Lau take it a step further and admit they view eclipses with a sense of wonder, even wishing they could say a bracha<\/i> when seeing one. Dr. Brown also quoted the Lubavitcher Rebbe who said that it is not our behavior that determines whether there will be an eclipse, but that our behavior determines what the weather will be the day of an eclipse and whether it will allow us to see<\/i> the eclipse. According to that theory, a cloud cover would be a sign of good behavior. <\/span><\/p>\n

If that\u2019s the case, some Jews in Charleston have some teshuva<\/i> to do because there were some areas where the clouds moved aside just for a moment so the viewers could watch totality in its magnificence.<\/span><\/p>\n

BSBI, in downtown Charleston was not one of those places. The viewers there watched in fascination as the moon slowly inched to cover the sun but at the exact moment of totality, as the streets turned to dusk, the clouds covered the moon, obscuring view. Perhaps, a good omen.<\/span><\/p>\n

The unpredictability of the weather is one reason that Barbara Gorsch and her family, from Rochester, New York chose Charleston as the location for where to watch the eclipse. With all the expense related to traveling on such an in-demand weekend, they figured they could at least enjoy the beauty and attractions Charleston had to offer if the weather blocked the view of the eclipse. <\/span><\/p>\n

Others chose to watch the eclipse in Charleston for other reasons. Ezra Ogorek and Joel Balavtam, both in their seventies, drove down from Brooklyn and felt they wanted to watch this miracle of nature, together with other Jews from across the country. Eating at BSBI\u2019s barbecue with other Jews from across the hashkafic<\/i> spectrum, reclining and watching the eclipse was more than they could have asked for.<\/span><\/p>\n

Four chassadim<\/i> from Williamsburg also came for the religious inspiration. \u201cTo see maaseh Hashem, nifla\u2019os ha\u2019boreh,<\/i>\u201d said Aron Kohn, \u201cIt was awesome, so worth it.\u201d This, despite the thirteen-hour train ride he and his friends will be embarking on to return back to Brooklyn. <\/span><\/p>\n

Mordechai Ovits also came from Brooklyn to watch the eclipse but for different reasons. A self-proclaimed \u201cscience nerd,\u201d he felt he could not miss the opportunity to see totality. He calculated to the tenth of a second when totality could be expected at the exact latitude and longitude of the shul and kept everyone informed about what they should know at every stage. <\/span><\/p>\n

Chaim Kruger of Baltimore came with his uncle, Mordechai Kruger of Far Rockaway. Chaim\u2019s community rabbi, Rav Dovid Heber is a renowned scholar of astronomy and was leading an eclipse tour in St. Joseph, Missouri. Inspired by his rabbi, they made the trek to Charleston. \u201cMany Rabbanim<\/i> wonder why people chase eclipses, he said. \u201cThe Chovos HaLevavos<\/i> says we should see amazing events as a reminder that each time the sun rises and sets and each time the moon cycles, this too is a miracle. The nissim ha\u2019geluyim<\/i> reveal the nissim ha\u2019nistarim.<\/i>\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

As Dr. Jeremy Brown said as he ended off his shiur, whether you see the eclipse as a siman ra<\/i> or a sign of the amazing hand of Hashem, it is certainly an event to remind us of the power of Hashem<\/i> to kick start our Chodesh Elul<\/i> the right way. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a world divided by hashkafic differences, an out of the ordinary experience brought Jews across the spectrum together out of a common interest. As one of the last locations in the United States to view the eclipse in its totality, and one of the only cities on the east coast to view this rare<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133465,"featured_media":58366,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\nJews Across the Hashkafic Spectrum Travel to Find Inspiration at Eclipse - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In a world divided by hashkafic differences, an out of the ordinary experience brought Jews across the spectrum together out of a common interest.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/jews-across-hashkafic-spectrum-travel-find-inspiration-eclipse\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jews Across the Hashkafic Spectrum Travel to Find Inspiration at Eclipse - 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