[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: The lunar or the solar?
>Dear David et al,
I personally like the idea of sins fouling up nature.<
Yes indeed! and of course this theme (that sin offends against the inherent
order of the cosmos) is present in virtually all religions -- so it's an
obviously short step to the notion that sin will result in specific,
observable disruptions of nature and ultimately the disruptions of the Endtime.
>On Sabbath the conclusion varies "who sanctifies the Sabbath,
Israel, and the appointed times". The implication of these two blessings
is that God does not determine when a holiday will actually occur because
the new moon and new month were declared by the court. The Sabbath on
the other hand was determined by the natural order from the time of
creation. <
Isn't it rather, that the order (l) Sabbath (2) Israel (3) Zemannim
reflects what was understood as the chronological order of these three
phenomena. (3) follows (2) not because the Israelites determined when the
holiday would occur but because the miqra'ei qodesh were instituted by God
after he had created the nation of Israel. After all, the basic text is
Lev. 23:2, which states:
*mo'adei Y-H--, asher tiqre'u otam miqra'ei qodesh; elleh hem mo'adai*
Thus the text specifically identifies the miqra'ei qodesh as being ordained
by God, the task of Isra'el (the 2nd plural pronoun in tiqre'u) is merely to
*proclaim* them (not to determine them). Like the Sabbath, God instituted
these too - but in terms of actual chronology, he does so only AFTER Israel
has come into being, whereas he instituted the Sabbath at the outset, BEFORE
Israel came into being. So this is the reason (or at least the primary
reason) for the order in which they are mentioned in that blessing.
Judith Romney Wegner, Connecticut College