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Showing posts from November, 2017

Calendar App

I made an app , an interactive tool that allows one to calculate the date of Pesach, according to the proposed Hebrew calendar, for any year up till 35333. The app computes the date simultaneously in the existing Hebrew calendar, in the Gregorian calendar, and in a whole bunch of other calendars. For years 1000 until 7333, the date of Pesach, according to the proposed Hebrew calendar, is exactly Nissan 15, or it is one month removed from Nissan 15. When the "Pesach" date is one month before Nissan 15, that date is Hemshech Purim . Next to the year appears the Oeviya (CR5, CA2, et cetera), which is a complete characterization of the year. For details, see the book The Jewish Calendar and the Torah: Introduction - 2nd Edition , of Shneer . It is also possible, thanks to John Walker , to use the app as a date converter from Gregorian to Hebrew, and vice versa. The app is in the public domain. Download its code here .

Aharon Ben Meir

In the year 4681, a dispute erupted between Aharon Ben Meir , Nasi of the Sanhedrin in Eretz Yisrael, who insisted that Molad Nissan of year 1 should be on Wednesday at 9 hours exactly, at 4:9:0, and Rav Saadya Gaon , of Bavel, who insisted that Molad Tishrei after that, was on Friday, at 14 hours exactly, at 6:14:0 (and at 2:5:204 - BaHaRaD - one year earlier). The two differ by 642 Chalakim. That is, according to Rav Saadya, Molad Nissan is at 4:9:642. In the end, Ben Meir seems to have given up and since then the Halacha is according to Rav Saadya. About what was the dispute? Probably, Ben Meir and his tradition felt that Nissan was more important than Tishrei. Is Nissan not the first month? But, let us be fair. To insist that either Molad Nissan or Molad Tishrei of year 1 or 2 must be a round number, is nonsense. When he was excommunicated by the exilarch of Bavel, Ben Meir could have repaid in kind, but he did not, in the end. He must have understood that, as Israel was in the

Rich And Blessed

To a searcher of Truth, the orthodox position is anathema. It may be that a certain teaching finds a place, a priori, in one's heart, or to the contrary, a certain teaching causes disgust in one's heart, but that can be of no influence on the search for the Truth. Going for the Truth means going for the Truth and nothing else. It means laying down all assumptions. It may be that in the end there is a certain agreement between the Truth and a priori positions, but that is after the fact, and not before. Mind you, such an enterprise is not for the faint-hearted. This is the 800th post in the series of my blogs. The series shows an evolution from ideas that were informed by orthodox teaching, to a position were such a priori ideas are avoided. All in all, I think it is fair to say that we started from the "Chiloni truth" and accepted "all the sciences," and we accepted "the Zionist enterprise." And then we researched the Torah, the ancient scripture.

Rap'ach Revisited

We have assumed the GRA-oriented timing of the Rap'ach years, the 288 years from 5501. It is also possible that the 288 years are to be counted from the year 5493, because that was the year that 127 years ended from year 5366. In this case, 288 years will end in the year 5781. This will be the end of Moshiach ben Yosef, in a certain way, that will lead to Moshiach ben Benyamin, Moshiach ben Yamin. This scenario does not have the stimulated emission idea of the counting to 288, yet it is something to take into account. In this scenario, it seems there will be a Moshiach ben David going for the throne, but Moshiach ben Yamin will beat him. Perhaps both types of counting to 288, and both connections to the count from 5366, are valid simultaneously. The wise will understand.

World-Wide Revolution

The students of the GR"A lost the universal aspect of Moshiach ben Yosef to the scientists. To mention just a few names: Newton, Gauss, Darwin, Wellhausen, and the Jewish ones, Einstein, Feynman, Freud, Friedman. The particularistic aspect of Moshiach ben Yosef they lost to the Zionists. To mention just a few names: Jabotinsky, Ben Gurion, Begin, Netanyahu. The students of the GR"A chose for the line of Moshiach ben David, which is the line of Halacha. There is hatred between the line of Yosef and the line of David. But fortunately, there is another line, the line of "religious Zionists," who believe in Torah and Mad'ah. They believe in the combination of Torah, all the sciences, and the Zionist enterprise. Given the hatred between the two lines, it seems like a ridiculous position, filled with contradictions, in the brunt of hatred. It is not sufficiently known, but there is a secret to their success. The secret is that there is another line, the line of Beny

Quoting Gauss

In the previous post I ended with a quote of Carl Friedrich Gauss. Here is a more elaborate set of quotes of him that cause one to think. It is worthwhile to study this person and read the whole list . Because what he did was extraordinary. He took the queen of wisdom, "in the eyes of the nations," and simplified it. That is wisdom. What can be the explanation of the Gauss phenomenon? What can be his role in history? We have to say that he was a holy spark of the Light, created by "breaking of the vessels," that fell among the K'lipot of the nations. The failure of the students of the GR"A was thus for a purpose, the gathering of the holy sparks. That is awesome. is the queen of sciences and number theory is the queen of mathematics. For the soul there is a satisfaction of a higher type; the material is not at all necessary. Whether I apply mathematics to a couple of clods of dirt, which we call planets, or to purely arithmetical problems, it s just th

Primary Example

It says in the Talmud {Shabbat 75a}: Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi said in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, in the name of Bar Kappara: "Anyone who knows how to calculate the cycles and the planetary movements and he does not calculate, it is written about him: And the work of G-d they do not regard and the action of His hands they do not see (Yeshaya 5:12)." Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: "From where do we know that it is incumbent upon a person to calculate the cycles and the planetary movements? For it is stated: You shall safeguard and perform them, for it is your wisdom and discernment in the eyes of the nations (Devarim 4:6). What wisdom and discernment is in the eyes of the nations? You have to say this is the calculation of the cycles and the planetary movements." In other words, the calculation of the cycles based on the movements of the Moon and the Sun is the primary example of Chochma and Bina, "in the eyes of the na