The very first line of Pesachim focuses attention on one of astronomers’ favorite topics: light! Or does it?
Author: astrorav
Shavuot, Philo, Astronomy and Pythagoreans
The first century CE Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria, in glowing terms, describes the holiday of Shavuot and its underlying reasons based on mathematics – and astronomy!
Yotzer Or: The Astronomers’ Blessing 2
The blessing Yotzer Or, “Who creates light”, said daily before reading the Shema in the morning, is full of astronomical ideas to enhance kavana…
The Menorah and Planets
Chanukah is an opportune time to share this interesting midrash about the Menorah and planets…
Bereishit and the Nobel Prize
The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics “for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star” can help understand a midrash on Bereishit…
HaAdam Al HaYareach (Man on the Moon) Part 4
In 1969 Rabbi Menachem Kasher, one of the gedolim [= great Torah scholars] of the twentieth century, published a series of Torah thought essays related to the most amazing event of his time, or any time ever in human history: the Apollo 11 Moon Landing. In honor of the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, this week I am…
HaAdam Al HaYareach (Man on the Moon) Part 3
Rav Kasher answers the question, from a Torah point of view… Is one even allowed to go to the Moon?
HaAdam Al Hayareach (Man on the Moon) Part 2
Rav Kasher explains a verse in Isaiah and gives a geopolitical drasha on why the Apollo 11 Moon Landing is a great sign for the Jewish people…
HaAdam Al HaYareach, Man on the Moon
In 1969 Rabbi Menachem Kasher published a series of Torah essays related to the Apollo 11 Moon Landing: HaAdam Al Hayareach…
Blue Skies, Blue Dyes
A talmudic mnemonic on tzitzit and tekhelet relates to modern science…
Eclipses
In the less well known Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer we find a less ominous, more astronomy focused talmudic take on eclipses…
Zachor and Shamor and the Wave-Particle Duality
There are differences between the texts of the Ten Commandments that seem analogous to a the Wave-Particle Duality, a principle of quantum physics…
