Orach Chaim 229:3
הרואה חמה בתקופתה והוא מכ"ח לכ"ח שנה והתקופה בתחלת ליל ד' כשרואה אותה ביום ד' בבקר אומר ברוך עושה בראשית וכן מברך גם כן כשרואה לבנה בטהרתה וככבים במשמרותם ומזלות בעתם דהיינו כשתחזור הלבנה בתחלת מזל טלה בתחלת החדש ולא תהיה נוטה לא לצפון ולא לדרום וכן כשיחזרו כל כוכב מחמשה הנשארים לתחלת מזל טלה ולא יהא נוטה לא לצפון ולא לדרום וכן בכל עת שיראה מזל טלה עולה מקצות המזרח:
Mishna Berura sk 9
וכן מברך וכו' - וכהיום אין נוהגין העולם בזה:
Many people have discussed the fact that there is no record of making a bracha on a solar eclipse. The vast majority of poskim say that one should not make a bracha on a solar eclipse.
It so happens, that today you can make a bracha. That is because today, the new moon is in Mazal T'leh, Aries. At the very same time as the eclipse, the new moon is in Mazal T'leh.
During the eclipse, everyone can see the moon - that's the point of an eclipse. True, it is a black disc, but you are seeing the moon. This is true in totality as well. You will see the sun's corona around the moon, making it visible. The moon is manifest, its presence is obvious, more so than during the night.
I understand that some will say that we really are not seeing the moon, it is merely obscuring the sun, but it remains invisible. I say that this is merely another form of being visible. If you can visually discern the shape and position of an object, you are 'seeing' it.
That moon will be in the the mazal T'leh. When the new moon is seen in the Mazal T'leh, you make the bracha עושה מעשה בראשית .
So it is certainly true that we do not make a bracha on a solar eclipse. It is certainly the case that nobody makes the bracha on the new moon when it is in the Mazal T'leh. But I think everyone would agree that when the solar eclipse and the new moon being in Mazal T'leh are at the same moment, you can confidently make a bracha.
It's lonely, being the only Jew on the planet that is aware of this coincidence. But facts are facts.
UPDATE:
Of course, someone else thought of this, nine years ago, and that is an individual in Eretz Yisrael whose relationship with me I am not at liberty to discuss. I will say, though, that he is a university professor and poseik whose knowledge of physics and astronomy and halacha are of the highest caliber.
https://forum.otzar.org/viewtopic.php?t=21509
Maybe it's the light of the moon that is significant, and seeing a silhouette /shadow shouldn't get a berakhah? After all, it was the light, not the size, of the moon that was diminished. (The moon and sun have the same apparent size from earth, which is a major element of total solar eclipses.)
ReplyDeleteIn any case, the new moon is not at the moment of lunation. Lunation is when there is no moon, the molad is the average of the time between the new moon being large enough to be visible. ("Lunation" being the astronomical time the moon is entirely dark. Not an average, and before eidim could see it.) I think therefore an eclipse is always too early to be considered the new moon.
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All true. I still say that the special bracha on the moon applies when it is visible and is in Aries, and that this is as visible as it can be. This is not related to the mi'ut halevana.
DeleteYou're not seeing the moon, you are detecting it. To see the moon you have to see the light it reflects, but in an eclipse we see the dark side that doesn't reflect any light. Similar but not the same as chok tochos where the paired is black but the outline of the letters are seen- but the letters were actually never formed.
ReplyDeleteAnd Micha is right. Rav Velvel stencils bo says "kazeh r'ei v'kadesh" implies there is a minimum amount of light of the moon you must see to testify for Rosh chodesh, and if you used a telescope to see it earlier, it's not Rosh chodesh
I was actually thinking of chok tochos. Great minds.... but I got past it. It's a משל למה הדבר דומה, a מעין דמעין, not a proof.
DeleteWho's talking about kiddush hachodesh or kiddush levana? This bracha Maaseh breishis is a totally different thing and relates to the Birkas HaChama. And I still say that perceiving with any sense is adequate for purposes of this bracha. An eclipse is a very powerful experience of the senses, call it what you want. I assume you also thought about רואים את הקולות. You think we experienced mass synesthesia? Not likely. רואים can be expereinced without the retina. Do you see what I'm saying?
Ok, I wrote too hastily. We all know that on רואים את הקולות Rashi says it was really some kind of synesthesia, the Seforno says that Ro'im just means deep and absolute perception, the Bechor Shor says he is happy with either pshat, and the Baal Haturim says that pshat is empirical certainty, but Chazal darshen.....
DeleteThe point I was making is that if you see the word "ראייה," don't just assume it means rods and cones.
Unbelievable. How could I forget the he'ara that you sent? But for purposes of my vort regarding the eclipse, I still can not accept the argument that the moon was not visible during the eclipse. With all due respect, it pahsses for a nogei'ah b'davar.
DeleteAnyway, the fact remains that many mefarshim there learn רואים to mean that unlike לא תהא שמיעה גדולה מראייה, the שמיעה by סיני was no less than ראייה. And the same is true here.
I understand what you're saying, but I don't SEE what you're saying, I see letters (ha ha).
DeleteThe Gemara says HARO'EH, not hayodeia. I didn't have eclipse glasses, I used indirect viewing, so I don't know what people with eclipse glasses actually saw - do you actually see the moon or is it a dark spot - it is hard to see dark things when such a bright light is out.
Did you mean to make the bracha when seeing the moon through eclipse glasses? I heard that the Chazon Ish took off his glasses when he got an aliya so he would "see" the Torah not through his glasses.
And yes, the comment Menachem posted - I think Netiv also says that idea. I like to say there was closed captioning at Har Sinai.
Re: seeing the moon -- see the Rogatchover quoted bottom of the page here https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=7039&st=&pgnum=241 in Rav Kashers' Mefaaneach Tzefunos who says that we never truly "see" the moon, but rather see a "dimyon." Eidus ha'chodesh is different than other forms of eidus where one has to actually see the actual event. Rav Kasher has trouble making heads or tails of what this means and discusses it further on p 256, where is leaves b'tzarich iyun the question of using a telescope. My point is that the word seeing in the context of seeing the moon may be interpreted more loosely than in other contexts,.
ReplyDeleteYou are a rebbe. That's the only explanation. What a great mareh makom! I don't know what he's talking about, of course, because yes, the molad is invisible, but that's not what the eidim are testifying about. Thank you.
DeleteI "stole" the mareh makom from R' Shaul Alter, who had some theories as to what it might mean. He remembered hearing in his childhood (!) the Pnei Menachem explaining that we never see the actual moon -- what we see is the sun's light reflected off the moon. His brother said that can't be the pshat because the way we experience all color is by virtue of light reflected off an object, By the Pnei Menachem's measure, we never really "see" anything.
DeleteMaybe he was thinking in infrared. Maybe the Rogotchover was somehow thinking of an eclipse. Wouldn't that be a hoot! I don't know. I'm going to see whether Rava had something when he said חמרא וריחני פקחין. I'll report back if anything comes up.
DeleteI believe that the Rogotchover is talking about Beis Din. Hearing eidus is not the same as the ראייה required by כזה ראה. The eidim saw, but Beis Din did not. So their ראיה is only a product of the certainty created by the הגדת עדות.
DeleteWhat say you.
כתבת שבליקוי החמה של השבוע שעבר, לכל הדעות היה אפשר לברך והסתמכת על הרמב"ם הלכות ברכות פ"י הי"ח "וכן כשתחזור הלבנה לתחלת מזל טלה בתחלת החדש ולא תהיה נוטה לא לצפון ולא לדרום".
Deleteבמחילת כבודו, בליקוי החמה של השבוע שעבר, לא השמש ולא הלבנה היו במזל טלה אלא במזל דגים וגם לא היו בדיוק באפס מעלות (קו המשווה) אלא נטו לצפון. עיין באבן עזרא על עמוס פרק ה' פסוק ח' ד"ה עושה כימה שכבר דבר על הזזת השמש שאיננה במזל טלה בתחילת אביב (מה שנקרא בלעז zodiac shift). ובאמת יש לדבר בדעת הרמב"ם שכתב מזל טלה (וכן על דבריו בברכת החמה שם) אבל על כל פנים בשום פנים ואופן לא התקיים התנאי "ולא תהיה נוטה לא לצפון ולא לדרום" ולכן לא היה על מה לברך אז.
Thank you. Precision and Zodiac shift create complications. Perhaps that is why the Bracha fell out of use, despite the continued popularity of Birkas Hachama. But here is what I received from the expert in Israel, who brought up the Otzar forum nine years ago:
Delete"Back then the eclipse was בתחילת מזל טלה, namely the solar equinox, but possibly April 8th may also be considered בתחילת מזל טלה"
Because of the zodiac shift, the solar equinox is not anymore in mazal taleh and hasn't been for a very long time. There are different opinions in the Rishonim about when to say Birkas Hachama, as you seem very aware of, and it is intriguing that the minhag is like the Rambam. This is not the place for going into all the lomdus, but the difference in the Rambam's language (there in Hilchos Berachos 10:18) is quite blatant: for the moon and the 5 naked-eye-visible planets, the Rambam consistently says the bracha must be made when they are exactly at the celestial equator and must be in the constellation Taleh (Aries). This did not happen now and with all due respect to the expert and that forum, it did not happen then and the solar equinox is not in Taleh and the sun on April 8 is in no way Mazal Taleh. And yet, when it comes to Birkas Hachama, the Rambam does NOT say a word about mazal taleh and not a word about the celestial equator, and instead uses the 28 year cycle of Tekufas Nisan (like Shmuel in Eiruvin 56A). This indicates the Rambam was well aware of the zodiac shift (as he clearly should have been, because if Ibn Ezra writes about it, it is clear that Arabic astronomers knew about it before the time of Ibn Ezra and Rambam) and ONLY for Birkas Hachama paskened like the 28 year cycle of Shmuel but not for making the bracha on the moon or the planets - for that he paskened it must be an astronomical event that indeed changes due to the zodiac shift, but despite the zodiac shift, he holds the bracha can only be made when the moon is really in the constellation Aries and really at the celestial equator (same for the planets). For this to occur for the moon - quite rare.
DeleteI cannot go into all the lomdus, but bottom line: according to the Rambam, Birkas Hachama, believe it or not, is not an astronomical event, but rather a bracha for the 28 year cycle that the sun does according to Shmuel in Eiruvin 56A, whereas the bracha for the moon and planets (and mazal taleh rising in the East as the Rambam says) are purely astronomical events and have nothing to do with the din of Shmuel. And the Tur brings the Rambam as halacha.
I was totally not aware of that remarkable Rambam, and I cede to your expertise, and I thank you kindly.
DeleteI still think that one sees the moon during the eclipse, but that is now of no practical import. I would like to argue the case, but I understand that it is unlikely that when we were mekadesh al pi r'iyah that eidim could run to beis din before seeing the crescent and say that they saw the moon at the molad, in this case the moment of the total eclipse.
Can you tell us when the moon will next be in Aries and at the celestial equator? I suspect I will not be blogging at that point.
I had not commented on the other points. I definitely agree with you that one sees the moon during the eclipse. I think a good proof for that is kiddush levana - there is an additional din of נהנה מאורו. If it weren't for this special additional din, one could make the bracha of kiddush levana even if you just discern the outline of the moon without seeing any moon light. That seems to me clearly shows that halachically it is considered seeing the moon even if the moon looks black - seeing the moon does not require seeing the light of the moon.
ReplyDeleteSorry I do not know when the moon will next be at the celestial equator in Aries. I am sure there are places with all these calculations - it is function of the moon's path and the observer's position on earth (i.e., it may be visible for one person on earth because they are in night time, whereas at that point in time another person may not be able to see the moon during the day time).