Stupid question... if an ecplise is a naturally occuring event which can be accurately predicted because we know the paths of movement of the sun and the moon, why is it considered to be any kind of sign?
RAV AVIGDOR MILLER ON THE SIGN OF THE SOLAR ECLIPSE
Q:
I was told that when there is a solar eclipse, that’s a sign of misfortune for the gentiles. But isn’t it just something that happens according to a mathematical cycle, something we can predict?
A:
I was waiting two weeks for somebody to ask this question.
The Gemara in Sukkah (29a) says חמה לוקה – when there’s an eclipse of the sun, סימן רע לאומות העולם – it’s a sign of misfortune that will come upon the gentiles.
And so this gentleman rightly asks, how can it be a sign of misfortune if it happens according to mathematical position? When the sun is eclipsed, we understand it as a result of the moon coming in between the earth and the sun; and the moon covers up either part of the sun and you can’t see the whole sun. Sometimes the entire sun is blotted out by the moon. But whatever it is, it has to be so. It’s a mathematical sequence; we know it’s going to be ahead of time? So how can that serve as a siman of misfortune that will come upon the goyim? It’s a result of natural causes.
And the answer is as follows. The answer is there is a more important purpose in everything. Although Hakadosh Baruch Hu made the laws of nature – He is the one who fashioned these laws, and everything functions according to a seder, according to rules that He established – nevertheless, there is a purpose beyond what we think is the normal behavior of the laws of nature. And the purpose of this phenomenon of the solar eclipse is to let you know that there’s going to be puraniyos on umos haolam.
The gentiles, not only do some of them worship the sun, but they count the months according to the sun. The Jews count according to the moon; they don’t worship the moon, but they count according to the moon. The gentiles however count according to the sun. It’s a sun year instead of a moon year. That’s why there’s a difference between their year and our year.
So the sun represents the gentile nations and whenever you see the sun eclipsed it’s a sign that Hakadosh Baruch Hu intends to bring misfortune on the gentiles. The Am Yisroel, that’s the nation represented by the moon, will eclipse the nations of the world.
We see what happens. The nations go down in the dust one after the other. It’s a fact of history. We cannot ignore all the history of the nations that we have ever heard of. No nation has ever continued to this day. The Am Yisroel is the only one that persists.
Once upon a time there was Shinor and Elasar, all kinds of nations. Mitzrayim was a very powerful nation. All gone. Egypt is not the same Egypt. Different people are there. Arabs are there today. Once upon a time Egypt was not a Semitic country. No Arabs were in Egypt. Egypt is gone.
Amon was our enemy neighbor for a long time. It disappeared. It’s important to know that. In the times of the Shoftim when they were harassed by the nations around them they didn’t think that someday Amon would disappear. If they had been told of that, it would have been very welcome news. It would be hard to believe. It was a nation full of people with their armies. Amon will someday disappear?! It can’t be! But Amon disappeared. There’s nothing left of Amon today at all.
What happened to Edom? Edom was a powerful neighbor. They made wars against the Bnei Yisrael for a long time. It disappeared entirely.
What happened to Midyan? We had trouble from them. They persecuted us. What happened to Moav? They went down into the dust. Nothing remains of them.
It’s important to think about that, to be reminded of what history testifies to, that there’s a siman ra, there’s misfortune, on the nations of the world. And in order to let us know that, to remind us about that siman ra so the chamah is lokeh – sometimes you see an eclipse of the sun; so don’t make the mistake of saying it’s only the result of natural circumstances. It’s a siman ra leumos haolam. Hashem is demonstrating the important principle that they’ll all go down into the earth.
If you’re looking for Bavel today, you have to have an excavator, a bulldozer. It’s under the soil.
The palace of Achashveirosh was unearthed after many years. A French consul was there, and he dug up the palace. He said the palace is exactly the way it’s described in Megillas Esther, exactly. It’s been under the earth for a long time. Paras was a tremendous country. It’s all gone, all gone. Nothing remains.
Ancient Greece. Ancient Greece was a powerful country. Alexander the Great ruled over the entire Near East. He didn’t live long by the way, Alexander the Great; but his nation disappeared. It’s a remarkable thing to study.
Aram, it’s not the Aram of today. Aram is today Mohammedans. A different nation. Aram is gone entirely.
If you would have told that to people in the ancient times, it would have been hard to believe. Like it’s hard to believe now that someday there won’t be any more Germany. If you’ll look for Germany, you’ll have to dig under the ground. They’ll be buried and forgotten. Even though right now Germany is a powerful country, other nations seem to be powerful, don’t be impressed. Their time will come too.
So once more; although the eclipse of the sun is an expected phenomenon and it has to happen at certain times, nevertheless when it does happen it’s to teach us, to remind us of this great principle of סימן רע לאומות העולם. Only the Am Yisroel will be forever.
Tape # E-239 (July 13, 2000)
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