The World's First Boat?

For 100 years Noach toiled and endured much ridicule from his neighbours as he built the ark. Sure enough, Noach had the last laugh when the flood finally came and wiped out everyone else on the planet. Having completely denigrated Noach and ignored his warnings, the people were completely unprepared. However, the ark was nothing more than a large boat. Didn’t anyone have a boat of their own to escape the destruction of the flood?

This fascinating question was asked of me by R’ Sander Goldberg of Baltimore and he followed it up with a fascinating answer from his sefer נחל חיים (Page 30.) There is some discussion regarding the general climate and environmental conditions before the flood and how they were changed forever by the flood. One of the principal catalysts for these theories is the first reference to seasons after the flood (8:22) which seems to imply that there were no seasons beforehand.

מלבי"ם writes that before the flood planet Earth was not on the 23.5 degree tilt on which it finds itself currently. The tilt was as direct consequence of the environmental havoc wreaked by the flood. When the earth is not tilted the climate conditions throughtout the world are at complete equilibrium. That is to say that weather conditions are completely uniform throughout the world and throughout the year. There is simply no reason for conditions to be any different in one place from another. Cloud cover as we know it did not exist either. After all, a partially cloudy sky means that there are clouds over one part of the land and not over the other. Rather, the skies slowly became saturated with moisture uniformly and once every forty years, writes מלבי"ם, the entire earth would be drenched with rain and the process would begin anew. (This explains why the people were not overly taken aback by the flood when it began.) מלבי"ם also attributes the longer lives lived before the flood to the consistency of the climate.

(Now THAT's climate change!)

Another condition that would result from a world climate in equilibrium is uniform atmospheric pressure. Without varying pressure, there can be no wind. Wind is a result of air moving from a high pressure area to a lower pressure area like the air flowing out of a balloon. Before the age of the motor, all large boats relied on wind to move. If there were no wind, there would have been no boats. This explains why Noach’s project appeared so strange and also explains why no one else had any means to survive the flood.

(He goes on to explain that due to this extreme difference in global climate fermentation was something that did not happen before the flood and that explains how Noach could go so terribly wrong afterwards getting drunk - alcohol hadn't existed either.)

Sailing the Friendly Skies

Perhaps it was the fact that this week’s Parsha discusses a boat, but there was some interesting astronomical news this week that got me thinking about a certain passage from the Gemara in Horiyos (10a). There, the Gemara relays a story in which Rabban Gamliel and Rebbi Yehoshua were traveling on a ship. Rebbi Yehoshua had packed extremely durable food, whereas Rabban Gamliel packed meals befitting a standard seafarer. The ship was delayed and Rabban Gamliel’s supply was exhausted. Rabban Gamliel was only able to be sustained due to Rebbi Yehoshua’s careful planning. Rabban Gamliel inquired of Rebbi Yehoshua how he knew the journey would take so long. Rebbi Yehoshua responded:

".[כוכב אחד לשבעים שנה עולה ומתעה את (הספינות) [הספנים] ואמרתי שמא יעלה ויתעה [אותנו"

“There is a star that appears in seventy years and tricks the sailors. I said to myself that perhaps it will rise and trick us.”

It is common knowledge that ancient sailors were extremely dependent on astronomical knowledge in order to navigate. Without modern equipment such as GPS devices, the most accurate method of determining one’s position is based on the stellar positions. The stars move through the sky in very specific patterns. Some are always in the north and others in the south. With this knowledge, sailors can navigate the seas. Additionally, apparent celestial position changes based on latitude, so one can determine his latitude with extreme precision based on how high specific stars are from the horizon. Thus, if a “tricky” star were to “appear” it could be disastrous to the sailors because it could send them way off course.

Rashi explains that the celestial object mentioned refers to a star that rises once every seventy years. This star sometimes appears in the north and sometimes in the south. If the sailor, unaware of this star’s nature, were to see it in the north at the beginning of the journey and later, unbeknownst to him, it would change position then he would think he was traveling in one direction but would actually be going in the opposite direction. Rebbi Yehoshua was nervous that this would occur to them while they were on their journey so he packed extra durable food.

While much has been written throughout the ages expressing the symbolic meaning behind this passage, it is very unclear as to the identity of this “star” in the plain meaning of the text. “Regular” stars have set positions in the sky and cannot change from north to south, so it seems unlikely that it could be a regular star. The planets’ orbits do not have them rising once every seventy years and switching from north to south during that time so they are also not viable options.

At first glance one may think that this star is a comet. Comets move across the sky and could theoretically be good candidates for what is being discussed. There is only one comet that has a short orbital period that is easily seen by the naked eye and interestingly it happens to appear once every 75-76 years, Comet Halley (Halley’s Comet). This comet has been recorded by ancient astronomers at least as far back as 240 BCE, so it had been sighted prior to the time of Rebbi Yehoshua. If Rebbi Yehoshua was rounding the 75-76 years and referencing it as 70, then perhaps he was discussing this comet. This would be exceptionally fantastic because history gives credit to Edmund Halley as figuring out that the various comets recorded throughout history at 75-76 year intervals were all the same object and that this is that comet’s periodicity was 75-76 years. This “discovery” would not occur until over 1,500 years after Rebbi Yehoshua in the year 1705 CE!!!

There is one major problem with this assertion, though. The only arrival of Comet Halley during Rebbi Yehoshua’s lifetime would have been in 66 CE. Rabban Gamliel would have been an extremely young child at this time and in the ensuing parts of the story he is displayed as being older. (See Rashash, Pesachim 74a) Additionally, it would seem that he already achieved the title Rabban meaning that he was the Nasi and that did not happen until after the destruction of the second Beis Hamikdash which occurred in 70 CE. (See Gittin 56b; also see Seder Hadoros’ biographical synopsis of Rebbi Zeira for a discussion of the usage of titles in the Gemara indicating that the individual had already achieved that status at the time being referenced by the Gemara.) Thus, this story had to have happened well after Comet Halley’s appearance in 66 CE. To assert that Rebbi Yehoshua did not remember that the last appearance was in 66 CE and, therefore, was nervous that it would appear during the journey; or that he thought it would come sooner than 75 years this particular instance is unlikely. Rebbi Yehoshua mentions the 70 year interval in his statement; thereby displaying that he was aware of the orbital period. If he was aware of this fact, then it is unreasonable that he would not have remembered the last magnificent appearance of this comet which would have happened in his own lifetime and that he felt its periodicity was not subject to change.

I concede that I do not know what the identity of the object that Rashi is describing, however, I would like to suggest another approach to this passage. As I will explain, it would appear that Rashi had a variant text of this passage and I would like to offer a suggestion based on the text present in the standard editions of Gemara that we currently have. Perhaps, Rebbi Yehoshua was not stating that there is a star that appears every seventy years, rather, he was stating that there will be a star to appear in seventy years. He was not discussing a recurring event; he was mentioning that there was going to be a one time event that would happen in seventy years from the time being discussed in the Gemara. If this is, in fact, the case then one may ask why was Rebbi Yehoshua concerned that this star would appear prior to its seventy year date of arrival? The answer is that although based on Rebbi Yehoshua’s calculations the star would be coming in seventy years, nevertheless he may have realized that there was a margin of error in his calculations that would allow for this star to appear prior to that time. Therefore, he stated that there is a star destined to appear in seventy years, but because it was possible that it would appear sooner, he brought along extra provisions. The reason why this suggestion seems more likely based on the text in our Gemara is because the language used is:

"כוכב אחד לשבעים שנה."

and not:

"כוכב אחת לשבעים שנה."

The difference is that the text we have has the word “אחד” “one” in the masculine form and not “אחת” in the feminine. While this may seem like a minor variance, in truth it makes a world of a difference. If in the feminine it would indicate that the “one” is referring to the implicit, “פעם” “occurrence” and it is as if it says, “פעם אחת” “one occurrence.” Note that Rashi has this word in the feminine in his commentary to this passage. This reading of the text would be stating that the star appears once every seventy years and is a recurring event. Since in our text “one” is in the masculine form, it is clearly referring to the star and not referring to the periodicity of the star being seventy years. Thus, the translation of the entire sentence becomes, “One star will appear in seventy years, etc.” and is no longer, “A star appears once every seventy, etc.”

If this is the case, what then could this “star” be? We have ruled out regular stars, planets, and comets already, so what is left to be considered? Perhaps, Rebbi Yehoshua was referring to a new star appearing out of nowhere. Although uncommon, this has happened in extremely rare instances. When this has occurred it has not been that a brand new star was formed, rather, there was a star that was too faint to be seen by the naked eye which then brightened and became visible. At the end of large stars’ lives they experience an event called a supernova. Supernovae are essentially massive explosions during which time tremendous energy and radiance is emitted from dying stars. Supernovae that have become visible to the naked eye have occurred only a handful of times through recorded history.Over several months, these new stars then faded away and disappeared, only to be seen via telescope. Interestingly, the very first known one recorded in history happened in 185 CE. This is now referred to as SN 185 and made the news this week as observations by NASA’s Spitzer and WISE telescopes uncovered many more of the dynamics of how this supernova unfolded. Although Rebbi Yehoshua did not live until 185 CE, he would certainly have been alive and well 70 years prior to this and could easily have been aboard a ship with Rabban Gamliel in 115 CE. Keep in mind that the Gemara does not state that the actual reason for the delay of journey was because the star actually appeared, just that that was the reason Rebbi Yehoshua was prepared for such a delay. Supernovae are very unpredictable, perhaps leaving Rebbi Yehoshua doubting his accuracy and leaving a margin of error. In fact, if Rebbi Yehoshua was able to predict this one, his seventy year margin of error is far more accurate than even today’s predictions for supernovae!!! If this is the case, it is also astounding because even the ability to predict or understand supernovae is not considered to be known by man until the twentieth century and as previously mentioned, the accuracy with which Rebbi Yehoshua predicted this one is still not attainable by contemporary scientists!!!

The question then arises, why could such a star cause such confusion as to mislead a sailor. The rest of the sky would still have the same appearance and the sailor would just see an extra star, but would not head in the wrong direction. Upon further review, however, one can see that SN 185 may have actually been a little more confusing than just appearing as an additional star. The North Star and nearby Big Dipper are integral to celestial navigation as they are always positioned in the north. SN 185 occurred in the ancient constellation of Centaurus. In ancient times most people were not as familiar with those southern constellations since they can only be seen from more southerly parts of Earth. The area of Centaurus where SN 185 appeared would normally not be able to be confused with the Big Dipper and North Star, however, because they appear to have different configurations. The difference in configuration seems so apparent, but in fact is only so striking because this region of Centaurus is missing one bright star that appears in the Big Dipper. SN 185 flared up and appeared in that region so it is possible that a sailor would have glanced to the south quickly and mistaken this constellation for the Big Dipper!


The Big Dipper and North Star in the north:



Centaurus (prior to SN 185's appearance and post its disappearance) in the south:




Centaurus as it would appear with SN 185 in the year 185CE:

Emunah in Time and Space

The advances in modern science over the years have allowed us to learn much about the history of the world. Scientists have been able to establish a pretty clear picture of all that preceded us. However, the instant of creation is a point beyond which no discoveries may be made. Even the most prominent of scientists, such as Stephen Hawking of the University of Cambridge, have come to the realization that "the creation lies outside the scope of the presently known laws of physics." What existed before the creation of the world is beyond human understanding. The simple explanation for this is that before the world was created, whatever it was that existed lacked the basic components necessary for human conception.

All the matter in the universe exists in three dimensions - length, width and height. We do not live in the two-dimensional world of comics and cartoons, nor can our minds conceive of something physically consisting of more than three dimensions. When a cube of a given volume is removed, it leaves behind a space, filled with air, of identical volume. However, before the creation of the world, there was nothing. The second pasuk of the Torah asserts that before creation, the world was "tohu vavohu." Rashi explains "vohu" as emptiness and void. He writes that "tohu" denotes astonishment and wonderment, as one would have been astounded by the emptiness that existed. Indeed, we are astonished to the point of incomprehension at the very idea of nothingness. It is beyond the grasp of human thought and will never be understood. An integral component of creation was the establishment of the infrastructure necessary for the existence of the world as we know it. On the second day, the waters are divided into the upper and lower waters. This is the first evidence of a dimension in creation. However, there was only one. Left, right, forward and backward did not yet exist - only up and down. The next day the waters were collected to form the oceans and reveal land. The three dimensions were now in place.

Although a physical object may be comprised of no more than three dimensions, there is another dimension commonly included as the fourth - time. Before the creation of the world, time did not exist either. In fact, the word "before" is probably a misnomer. Before implies that which preceded in time. If there is no time, there can be no precedence. This, too, is beyond the comprehension of the human mind. With the first day of creation, the concept of time was implicitly infused into the universe.

Perhaps, these ideas are directly pertinent to one of the central laws of Keriyas Shema. The essence of Shema is the acceptance of HaShem’s kingship upon us. One is required to include this concentration with the recitation of Shema or he does not properly fulfill the mitzvah (Shulchan Aruch OC 60:5). Ideally, this is accomplished with specific focus on the "ches" and "dalet" of "echad," as explained in 61:6. The ches corresponds to HaShem’s rule over the earth and the seven levels of Heaven. This is a one-dimensional focus in concurrence with the events of the second day of creation. The dalet corresponds to the four directions, essentially, the other two dimensions, over which HaShem rules. This coincides with the events of the third day. Hence, HaShem’s dominion over the three physical dimensions. The Mishnah Berurah (63:11), in the name of Levush and Magein Avraham, writes that "Baruch Sheim Kevod, etc." is subject to the same concentration requirements as the first pasuk. In this pasuk, as the words clearly indicate, we assert the eternity of HaShem’s kingship. In essence, we are declaring HaShem’s rule over the fourth dimension, time.

It also occurred to me that perhaps the requirements set forth in 61:6 regarding the specific כוונות should be augmented for modern times. The שולחן ערוך declares that we are to (mentally) proclaim השם's kingship on the heavens and earth and the four directions of the world. But in those times, that was the extent of what your average Yosef could fathom. The average layman knew little about the celestial bodies and what lies beyond our earth. However, nowadays, when all young school children are taught about the extent of our universe and are aware of the planets that make up our solar system, perhaps it is incumbent on us to have this in mind and proclaim השם's kingship on all of the universe as we know it.

The Two Luminaries

Pasuk 16 refers to the sun and the moon as "shnei hame'oros hagedolim", the two large luminaries but concludes by referring to the sun as the "maor hagadol" and the moon as the "maor hakatan". On this pasuk there is the well-known Rashi, quoting the Midrash, that the moon and the sun were created equal but the moon complained that "two kings cannot share one crown". Therefore, it was reduced to a smaller luminary. However, this is certainly an allegorical understanding of the pasuk. What, then, is the simple understanding?

In In the Beginning: Biblical Creation and Science, a fascinating book reconciling the Biblical account of creation with modern science, Professor Nathan Aviezer offers an eye-opening interpretation. An astronomical body is measured both by its true size and by its apparent size or angular diameter. The apparent size specifies how large it appears to an observer on Earth. This figure is the ratio of the true size of the object to its distance from the Earth. This figure is expressed as the angle that the object subtends from the position of an observer on Earth. That means, if you were pointing to the bottom of the object, the apparent size is the number of degrees you must rotate your arm to be pointing at the top of the object. The sun is 400 times bigger than the moon. It is also exactly 400 times further away from Earth. As a result, the apparent size for the sun and moon are identical at 0.53 degrees! Now we can understand the pasuk as follows: The first part of the pasuk is referring to the point of view of an Earth observer. From our point of view, the sun and moon are the biggest heavenly bodies and in fact, appear identical in size. The second part of the pasuk refers to the true size of the sun and moon.

Sukkahtarium

As we approach Sukkos, I thought I would share another quick thought. We leave our more permanent houses this time of year in order to dwell for seven days in our temporary Sukkos. Thus, we commemorate that Hashem protected us in "Sukkos" throughout our travels in the wilderness.

Rabbeinu Bacheye teaches that the construction of a Sukkah mimicks the world around us. As seen in Rashi (Sukkah 4a, the "standard" Sukkah, in the eyes of Chazal, was constructed of three walls, not four. Rabbeinu Bacheye points out that this reflects the way this world appears to be set up. The Sun rises from the east and travels across the southern sky (northern for southern hemisphere dwellers) and then sets in the west. Thus, the Sun only travles across "three walls" of the sky and leaves the fourth open. The Sukkah of three walls expresses this point. (See Rabbeinu Bacheye Kad HaKemach, Sukkos)

Keep in mind that solar activity is integral to Sukkah design as one of the fundamental features of a Sukkah must be that there is more shade provided by the Schach than there is sunlight. Additionally, stellar activity plays somewhat of a role as it is appropriate for one to be able to gaze at the stars through the Schach.

Have a wonderful Sukkos!

7/10

As Yom Tov approaches and things become more and more hectic, I figured I would just post a quick thought. Yom Kippur is called Shabbos Shabbason, the ultimate Shabbos. Shabbos is the completion of the week and one would think that Yom Kippur should demonstrate some form of completion that seems more palpable than just being the end of the Aseres Yemei Teshuva. Perhaps, upon further review one can actually see this demonstrated based on the date upon which Yom Kippur falls.

Yom Kippur is the tenth day of the seventh month. Our sages have historically described the celestial movements as occurring through spheres that encircle the world. The first seven contain the naked eye celestial objects that move independent of the regular stars, the "planets." These are the sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The eighth sphere contains the regular stars and the ninth is the outer wheel that sets the inner eight into proper motion. The Master of the universe is described allegorically as being in a tenth sphere, one not physical nor comprehensible via human rationale, and He is "turning the ninth wheel with precision" to ensure that the inner workings happen appropriately. The first seven of these wheels, the planets find their completion with the number seven and this is expressed in the seven day week showing a demonstrable completion. Shabbos' completion displays the first element of this completed universe, that of the planets. Yom Kippur shows the entire universe being complete. It is the tenth day, ten for the full ten spheres, of the seventh month, seven for the planets. Gmar Chasima Tova.

The kabbalsitic sources also appropriate the above mentioned spheres with the kabbalistiv sephiros which are also expressed in sevens and tens.