Sefer meyrav (Book of Abundance)

Now the daughter of the King of the Kittim, on hearing this, became highly enraged, and she said, “Is there any room to defend the cause of these people who were lacking in wisdom and set down a disgraceful thing in their prayers, for, in accordance with what they have stated, the sages of old formulated the following phrase: ‘Who cleaves the windows of the firmament, causing the sun to issue forth from its place and the moon from its abode, and illuminates the entire world with the attribute of mercy.’ It is well known, however, in the science of astronomy that the sun and the moon do not issue forth from a window each day, but rather, they revolve in a circular fashion, not resting either by day or by night, and this is the view of Ptolemy; and according to the view of Copernicus, it is the earth that revolves. In conclusion, the statement: ‘Who cleaves the windows of the firmament’ is incorrect and built upon nonsensical folly—the assertion of men who had not the slightest grasp of the science of astronomy.”

However, it is incumbent upon us to praise the sage, the physician Joseph Solomon Delmedigo (who was preeminent within the ranks of Jewry, and one of the rabbis), in any event, in his work [Elim:] Ma‘ayan ḥatum 63, praised him [i.e., Copernicus] effusively by stating that the sages of old had deviated from the truth in this area, and erred therein, and were not aware of the essence of the science, whereas this man had loved the truth exceedingly.

But Meyrav, the aforementioned sage, replied, “His gain has disappeared in a loss, including everything that he remedied throughout that entire work, to demonstrate the wisdom of the deeds of the Almighty, and the wonders of the Almighty, which He has bestowed upon His creatures who dwell in houses of clay, so that people should attain a grasp of the depths of the stars of the heavens and of their mode of operation in the skies; and yet he who revealed secrets caused harm thereby, and silence on his part would have been better for him than all his words! For how could he have entertained the thought, regarding the sages, who established the order of prayer for us—which was undoubtedly carried out with the assistance of the Holy Spirit—that they knew no more than Ptolemy and his uncircumcised colleagues? Now Maimonides did not act in such manner, for despite his being perfect in wisdom, he did not presume to ascribe impropriety to those who established the text of the prayers; and in this connection it is stated: Who turns wise men backwards (and makes their knowledge foolish [Isaiah 44:25]).”

For in accordance with what we have stated, namely, that the atmosphere is called “Firmament,” and the air in between it and the earth is filled with vaporized waters arising from the earth, which are akin to a firmament constituting a dividing curtain, and if they are frequently positioned close to one another, the light of the sun, and a fortiori, that of the moon, would not be visible except in the manner of a lantern, which constitutes a secondary image, rather than a primary one, as is well known, and the rays of the sun would not hit the earth as they are supposed to do, as they will have ceased to exist and come to an end in the atmosphere, within the portions of water and clouds contained therein. And as men have attested that, beneath the equatorial belt—that location which the ancients determined not to be a habitable place, by reason of the excess of heat, from the eleventh hour until after midday, when the shadows of the evening arrive—we nonetheless find habitation there, for when the sun’s rays reach their midday position, the clouds rise up and cover the sun, and for an hour or two, no light will be visible, nor will there be heat, as the cloud will have covered it.

And this would indeed have been appropriate for all habitable places at all times, but the Almighty, in His abundant mercies, in order to benefit His creatures, so that the light of the sun can shine through the thick clouds of the earth for all desirable purposes, endowed the sun with the power to pierce clouds and to disperse the binding of the vapors of the clouds, and to have its rays proceeding through the aforesaid atmosphere, causing a great and distinct division within the aforesaid atmosphere. And this is what is referred to [in the Sabbath morning prayer ha-kol yodukha] as “the windows of the firmament,” as it is written: And the windows of heaven were opened (Genesis 7:11). And this is the meaning of the statement: “Who pierces the windows of the firmament,” etc. “and illuminates the entire world in mercy”—for it is a kindness on the part of the Almighty to illuminate the earth and to pierce clouds and to open windows in the heavens, so that the rays of the sun reach the earth and are not impeded and weakened in force through contact with the clouds. The darkness of an abundance of waters does not quench the love of the Almighty for His creatures, and the sun of righteousness shines. And thus said the Psalmist: Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies (Psalms 18:12)—for the thick portions of the clouds are called “the skies” that grind manna, for its source is in the atmosphere, in the second section thereof, as is well-known; for it is there that the portals are opened and the atmosphere and the vapor becomes manna, and it is they that darken and turn into thick clouds to the point where the world grows dark by reason of them. But at the brilliance before Him, etc. (Psalms 18:13) is that the Almighty has illuminated the world, and, by virtue of their abundant light, its thick clouds disperse, and this is just as we have mentioned above, that the thick clouds are scattered, and He creates a mighty path for the rays of the sun and the moon—their produce shall not bend to the earth (Job 15:29).

The above represents what we need to speak of by way of introduction to the topic requiring understanding, but, truth to tell, there is more, for recent astronomers have already arisen and discovered numerous spots upon the sun, to such an extent that, as a result of this, they discounted those earlier experts, who determined that the sun is a clear light, as it has spots upon it, and they declared that it is a burning substance and the spots are smoke, or that it forms one part of those portions of the sun which is not burning in such large measure, or that its light has been extinguished; and words such as these are terrifying when employed in connection with a [scientific] determination in respect of the sun, which has been created by the Almighty. And accordingly, the leading sage has declared, in his delightful and florid phrase: “Clear as the sun, and it was transparent”; but contemporary experts have finished with this notion, and have, moreover, developed a fresh idea out of this, when they perceived that the sunspots do not always remain stationary, but take thirteen¹ days to complete a circuit from east to west on the surface of the sun, and similarly in the reverse direction—and from this they determined that the sun revolves of its own accord, spinning on its own axis, in reverse motion, opposite the surface, every one hundred and three days and twelve hours. And therefore the sunspots appear to us as though they were revolving, albeit that they are in reality located at one place upon the sun; for the sun revolves of its own accord around its own axis once every hundred days and twelve hours—and thus the sunspots appear to us to be in various locations. Now this is hard to believe; namely, that a ball as huge as this can revolve of its own accord, and accordingly, it is more likely that the sun is a clear, clean, and pure object, containing no derisive elements. However, the sun does possess a sheath encasing it, which is like a firmament surrounding it on all sides, for its heat is great, and [were it not for this sheath] it would harm the world—heaven forbid! And hence the Almighty placed a substance emanating from the essence of the heavens encompassing it on all sides, which serves as a shelter for the world; and the rays and the sparks from the sun are emitted by way of the aforementioned sheath to the earth. And that is why it is said about the sun: And it is like a bridegroom exiting from his bridal chamber (Psalms 19:6), for the aforesaid sheath provides a cover for and a shield for all, so that they do not suffer injury from the sun, and the sun gives forth light from the midst of its chamber, just as a bridegroom does.

Now the sheath mentioned above also receives an overflowing abundance from the light produced by the stars, in the sphere of the constellations, and they are responsible for illuminating and purifying it, so that, by their means, the light of the sun attains greater visibility; for the greater the purity of the sheath, the more visible the sunlight will be. And the sheath obtains its purity from the light of stars in the upper regions [of space], since, in regard to any precious stone that is in the light, the greater the amount of light shining upon it, the greater the amount of purity and substance it will receive. And as it is the case that in the position [in the sky] occupied by the stars of the eighth sphere, there are daily variations—on some occasions, many stars will be visible, while at other times they will be concealed and will turn about as they travel—it follows that within the sheath likewise, a variation will occur in its substantive brightness, and thus we sometimes see a diminution of light in one location and think that this is due to a sunspot, albeit it is solely in its sheath. And it is conceivable that the sheath revolves around the sun as do the remaining spheres and astral bodies revolving around the sun, which is like a king at rest, with his servants moving to and fro around him, as is written. Now that being so, one can distinguish the mode of appearance of the sunspot as between one location and another, and needless to say, the spot is located within the sun, and it leaps about, and will travel around when another spot comes to the fore. And this is the meaning of the statement to the effect that “in time to come, the Almighty will remove the sun from its sheath” [Rashi on Genesis 1:5]. And it is presently encased inside its sheath; and this means that the sun shines through its sheath, which constitutes the substance and the essence of the heavens. And thus [our sages] expressed this notion in a most apposite fashion: “He pierces the windows of the firmament,” for it is through the medium of the perforations in the aforesaid sheath that rays of light issue forth from the sun, and they constitute the windows of the firmament. And this is similarly the case in regard to the moon. And this phenomenon occurs on account of His everlasting, that people should not be burned by the light of the sun, or that of the moon, which is very close to us. And this is what [the sages, in ha-kol yodukha] included: “And He illuminates the entire world and its inhabitants, whom He created with the Attribute of Mercy”—for this is one of the merciful and compassionate acts of the Almighty. Thus [the sages] expressed themselves in a most apposite manner, of which all the sages among the gentile nations have not the faintest notion.