* Adam HaRishon initially stood from the ground until the heavens. Upon sinning, HaShem placed His hand on Adam and diminished his stature.

The Chasam Sofer (Chulin) asks: One Gemora says that the circumference of the world is equivalent to a person’s journey around the world for five hundred years; yet the Rambam in his introduction to Mishnayos Seder Zeraim states that the world is precisely twenty-four thousand milin. How can these two different measurements be reconciled?

The Chasam Sofer goes to great lengths, with extraordinary calculations, illustrating how every word of Chazal is precise and accurate.


* Ten items were created on the first day of creation; tohu and vohu were two of them. The Gemora states that tohu is a green line, which surrounds the entire world and darkness emerges from it.

Reb Yaakov Emden comments that it is evident from this Gemora that ‘darkness’ is something physical, not merely an absence of light.

There can be a distinction between the darkness in the night, which may be only an absence of sunlight and the darkness which was created during the Six Days of Creation. The darkness of the ninth plague was also not the regular darkness, but rather, one of a miracle.

Rabbi Sinclair regarding the plague of darkness: The Torah describes the plague of darkness thus: "And there was darkness on the land of Egypt and the darkness removed the light." When the Torah tells us the "the darkness removed the light" it means that darkness is not the absence of light, it means that darkness is a creation just as much as light is a creation. In the normal course of events, G-d allows light to push away the darkness. In the ninth plague, He chose to reverse nature's polarity and it was the darkness that removed the light.

Rabbi Winston cites the Vilna Gaon: G-d said to Moshe, "Stretch out your hand towards Heaven, so that darkness will come over Egypt, a darkness which can be felt (vayamaish)." (Shemos 10:21)

What is a "darkness which can be felt"?

Why do we ask such a question? Because to us, darkness is merely that absence of light, the result, for example, of when the sun leaves our part of the world for another. However, the truth is that it is not so simple, as the Vilna Gaon (Gra) indicates: "There are some who say that light is an independent creation, and that darkness is an independent creation, not like those who say that darkness is just an absence of light. In truth, it is not like this, but rather, darkness is in fact an independent creation that is pushed away by light, and that's the way The Holy One, Blessed is He, made nature. Therefore, here (in this plague), G-d changed nature, because it says, 'a darkness which can be felt,' which means that the darkness 'pushed' away the light, and not the light, the darkness (the root of the word 'vayamaish' is from 'and he [Yehoshua] didn't move (yamish) from his tent (Shemos 33:11)'." (Kol Eliyahu, Bo 53)

In other words, says the Gra, the posuk means "a darkness that can move light." A sefer called HaK'sav v'HaKabbalah on Parashas Bereishis also quotes the Gra saying that darkness is in fact an independent creation. However, the Radak seems to hold that darkness is the result of an absence of light.

The Talmud, which treats darkness as an "object," seems to provide support for the Gra's opinion: This is what it means to say: G-d called to the light and commanded it in the mitzvos of the day, and G-d called to the darkness and commanded it in the mitzvos of the night (Pesachim 2a) As well, the Talmud states that: We must mention the "trait" of night during the day blessings, and the "trait" of day during the evening blessings, to counter the heretics who claim that He who made the day did not also make the night. (Brochos 11b)

If darkness is only the absence of light, then how could the heretics think such a thing? We would only be dealing with one creation, the creation of light, and the lack of its presence. (Nevertheless, the Bach on theTur considers darkness to only be an absence of light, though there are so many proofs to support the Gra.)


* The Gemora stated that there are various heavens and each one of them have different functions. In shechakim there are mills that grind manna to the righteous.

The Bnei Yisoschar quotes the Rama Mipano that in the World to come by the feast of the Livyasan, a jar of manna that was hidden in the times of Yoshiyahu will be taken out and the righteous will recite the blessing, “He who brought out the bread from the heavens” before eating the manna. Sefer Chasidim (1640) and the Zohar in Parshas Beshalach concur.

There are those that disagree and state that there is no blessing recited on eating manna because the purpose of a blessing is to separate the favorable portions of the food away from the parts which have an adverse effect; the manna that fell in the Wilderness was purely spiritual and it did not require any separation. Perhaps the Rama Mipano was only referring to the manna in the future.

Sefer Gan Raveh posits that perhaps the blessing of “mezonos” should be recited on the manna because the Torah records that it had a taste of dough mixed with honey.

Birkas Aharon writes that the Gemora Brochos (35a) rules that it is forbidden to derive pleasure from anything in this world without reciting a blessing beforehand. The manna, he says, was not from this world, and therefore did not require a blessing. (Sedeh Tzofim)

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04/19/2007 11:23 AM Alert
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Reb Dave (esq.) said...

These gemaras are also found in the Midrash for this weeks parsha, so it's doubly timely. Intressante.

I hate to be the skunk at the garden party, but the statements of chazal re the circumference of the world cannot be squared with the actual geometric measurements. I don't believe chazal were intending to give a scientific description, anyway. The 500 years distance occurs frequently in chazal ( "rabbinic literature", for the wissenshafte chevrah) and is an exaggerated number, simply indicating a great expanse or distance.

The Gra's statement re night being more than the absence of day is troubling, to say the least, but has been noted and discussed by others. I believe Rabbi professor Yehuda Levi discusses it in his book on science and Torah.

Thu Apr 19, 11:04:00 AM 2007
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Avromi said...

While I agree that there are many mefarshim that state 'guzma' on many Gemoras, I don't believe that its the automatic first response - an explanation (albeit a good one) should be explored. You give me no choice - I must write over the Chasam Sofer's pshat - bli neder.

Thu Apr 19, 11:08:00 AM 2007
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Avromi said...

The earth is 360 degrees in a complete round circle. It's circumference is obviously the same at every degree. Every location in the world has its own 'rules of nature.' One who wishes to get 'a lay of the land' of the entire earth will not be satisfied by circling once - he must circle 360 times at every degree.

Let us begin to make the calculation. Circumference of the earth is 24,000 mil (mil = 2000 amos approx - 3000 - 4000 feet). On an average, a person walks 10 parsoas each day, totalling 40 mil (4 mil = parsah). A person can walk 100 mil in two and a half days. In order to travel 24,000 mil, he will be walking for 600 days.

Multiply that by 360 (for every degree), you will get 216,000 days.

There are approx 182,500 days in 500 years (365 days in a year).

We are short by 33,500 days (only 89 years 15 days).

Three things can be said:

1. 500 is lav davka, when in fact it will take 589 years (perhaps 600 years would have been a more accurate number).

2. Perhaps Chazal had a more precise calculation in the circumference of the world and it was not 24,000 mil, but closer to 20,000. (It would seem that the Rambam relied on the Philosophers.)

3. Perhaps our calculation is not what chazal intended, but if the Gemora would have stated that it will take 589 years 15 days to traverse the breadth of the earth, people would have said : that's a bluff, exaggeration or Chazal didn't know the facts. Therefore, do not scoff when Chazal said 500 for we might be vital information.

Thu Apr 19, 11:34:00 AM 2007
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Velvel said...

Didn't Moshe institute the first brocha of birchas hamazon, wasn't that on the man?

Thu Apr 19, 11:58:00 AM 2007
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Avromi said...

Someone brings that proof, but perhaps it was from what they purchased from peddlers

Thu Apr 19, 12:12:00 PM 2007


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