“Astronomy and mathematics are like the seasonings of wisdom.” Rabbi Eliezer ben Chisma, Pirkei Avos 4:23.
“Our father Abraham possessed great astronomical wisdom and the nations of the world clamored at his door” (Midrash).
One might logically expect conflict between science and religion, judging from the debate over evolution vs. creation. As I have written extensively elsewhere (“Judaism and the Multiverse,” posted at academia.edu), “[T]he conflict between science and religion should not be surprising, but the vehemence of that rivalry is. The conflict revolves around two competing, mutually exclusive views of reality. As expressed by the theories of evolution and the multiverse, contemporary science essentially takes the view of Amalek, that all of existence is but a series of random events without a Prime Mover. Religion, on the other hand, beginning with Judaism, asserts that the evolution of the Universe is guided by G-d’s plan as expressed in the Torah.
“A major consequence of contention is that each side invades the other’s territory. When science tries to invalidate religion by citing examples such as Bishop Usher’s calculation based on Biblical timelines that the world was created in 4004 B.C.E. compared with the results of geological dating, it oversteps its bounds.
“Likewise, when religion tries to dictate science, as, for example, the Church did when it sought to deny the evidence of Copernicus and Galileo that the earth is not the center of the universe, it is also overstepping. Simply put, science should seek to answer the question ‘How?’ and religion should seek to answer ‘Why?’ Or, as Rabbi Sacks puts it, ‘Science is the search for explanation. Religion is the search for meaning.’ [Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, The Great Partnership: Science, Religion, and the Search for Meaning, p.37]. Subsequently he elaborates, ‘Science takes things apart to see how they work. Religion puts things together to see what they mean’ [Ibid. p.39 ff].”
Nevertheless, the Talmudic Sages have had remarkable insights into science. Let’s consider three aspects of the natural world about which they should not have known. As reported by Rabbi Adam Jacobs (“The Scientific Foreknowledge of the Jewish Sages,” aish.com):
- The first topic concerns the number of stars visible to the unaided eye in the night sky, which is about 4,000. Rabbi Jacobs saw no reason for the ancients to think there would be an astronomical number [pun intended] beyond that. But here is what the Talmud had to say:
“I [G-d] created 12 constellations in the firmament, and for each constellation, I created 30 hosts [clusters of stars], and for each host, I created 30 legions [30 legions of stars for each host], and for each legion, I created 30 divisions, and for each division I created 30 battalions, and for each battalion I created 30 camps, and to each camp I have attached 365,000 tens of thousands of stars [3,650,000,000], corresponding to the days of the solar year, and all of them I have created only for your sake” (Brachot 32B).
[Doing the calculations, 365,000*10,000 stars/camp *30 camps *30 battalions *30 divisions *30 legions * 30 hosts *12 constellations = 1,064,340,000,000,000,000.]
“It is interesting to note that in 1997, NASA concluded there were 10 to the power of 21 stars in the Universe. Other sources suggest both smaller and larger numbers. The Jewish sages said it was 10 to the power of 18. Whatever the actual number may be, what would have prompted them to speculate on such a massive scale?”
- The second topic is continental drift. Around 2,000 years ago, the Zohar Chadash (12:1) explained that ‘one single continent came out of the water, and from it, seven continents were formed.’
“There are manuscripts and references to the Zohar that go back as early as the 14th century, yet the first scientist to talk about continental drift was Alfred Lothar Wegener in his book The Origin of Continents and Oceans in 1915. By what means would these sages have acquired the notion a) of a single land mass that broke apart and b) the correct number of continents before they were even discovered? Why would they even discuss it?”
- The third topic is the sheath of the sun. While the sun’s interior has a temperature of 15,000,000 Celsius, there is an outer layer called the photosphere that has a temperature of 6,000 Celsius, which protects the Earth from destruction by absorbing the massive amount of radiation generated as ultraviolet rays, X-rays, and gamma rays. Dr. N. Vidal, a senior astronomer at the Greenwich Observatory in England, observed that if these rays were to reach the Earth directly, they would incinerate the entire world.
“These critical features of the sun were only discovered in recent times. It’s odd, then, to note that the Midrash (Bereshit Rabbah 6:6) claims that “There is a sheath around the sun’s orb,” referring to a line in the Book of Psalms [Tehillim] (19:5) that says, ‘He has set up a tent for the sun.’
“There are several places in the writing of the Sages where they suggest that this sheath protects life on Earth from destruction (For one example see Bereshit Rabbah 26:6). Could it just be allegory or metaphor? Or did they perhaps have access to information that would not become available for 2,000 years?”
Although Rabbi Jacobs’ article alludes to numerous other examples of scientific knowledge, let me conclude by examining a broader area which might be termed practical or applied astronomy. Jews have long been fascinated by astronomy, both because of its use in calculating the calendar and its expression of G-d.
As we know, Judaism uniquely uses a lunisolar calendar, with months determined by the moon and years by the sun, which is reconciled by adding a thirteenth month (intercalation), Adar II, in seven of every nineteen years, so that 235 lunar months almost exactly correspond to 19 solar years. Hashem delegated to us the responsibility for determining the months by fixing Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of the month, as the time when the crescent new moon first becomes visible. This was initially done in Biblical times by direct observation. The procedure was voluntary reporting by witnesses, as vetted by questioning by members of the Sanhedrin.
After the Second Temple was destroyed and the Jewish population dispersed, in 4119 (358-59 CE) Hillel II constructed a fixed calendar not requiring eyewitnesses, which uses months of 29 (even-numbered months) or 30 days (odd-numbered months), all fixed except for Cheshvan and Kislev, which can have 29 or 30. Detailed calculations can be found, among other places, in chapters 2 and 3 of Rabbi J. David Bleich’s book, Bircas haChammah (Artscroll-Mesorah).
Beyond the determination of Rosh Chodesh, there is the fascinating issue of the Jewish view of eclipses. Another article, also featured on aish.com, begins by noting the astronomical knowledge of such scholars as Maimonides and the Talmudic sage Samuel, and goes on to note Jewish familiarity with astronomical instruments: the ancient astronomical instrument, the astrolabe, mentioned in the Code of Jewish Law [Orach Chaim 307:17], and a possible reference to a very early telescope prototype in the Talmud [Eruvin 30b] (circa 500 CE), namely that Rabban Gamliel had a special tube through which he could see a distance of two thousand cubits on land, and also determine a corresponding distance of two thousand cubits at sea.
There follows a comment: “[T]he Rabbis of the Talmud encouraged the study of astronomy and the performance of astronomical calculations as being a mitzvah, a religious precept. From where is it derived that there is a mitzvah incumbent upon a person to calculate astronomical seasons and constellations? As it was stated: ‘And you shall guard and perform, for it is your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the nations’ (Deuteronomy 4:6).”
Finally, regarding eclipses: “[T]he Talmud states, ‘The Sages taught: When the sun is eclipsed it is a bad omen for the entire world. [Sukkah 29a].” The question then arises how a natural, predictable phenomenon could be a bad omen.
According to the author of the article, Rabbi Mordechai Becher, the Talmud explains that G-d created the orbits in such a way as to produce occasional eclipses because light symbolizes reality and existence, while darkness symbolizes chaos and illusion; since G-d gave humanity free will, He knew that people would often choose chaos over order, and illusion over reality, so He created a system that would remind us regularly that our choices are either to create darkness, even at times when there should be light, or to allow Divine light to be seen.
In conclusion, how did the Talmudic sages attain such remarkable scientific knowledge? Let’s just say they had “inside information.”
