Moshe Rabbenu and NASA

So many people are worried that their sons prefer Torah study in Yeshiva to university. Be proud and happy, and please don't worry anymore. 

Hashem taught Moshe Rabbenu on Mount Sinai things that NASA is only discovering today, thanks to their advanced technological equipment. And, Moshe Rabbenu didn't have satellites or atomic clocks - he didn't need them.

My wonderful friends and colleagues at Israel National News have made a beautiful sanctification of Hashem's name by comparing NASA's latest research on the lunar cycle to what our sages in Talmud have known for the past thousands of years:

The Talmud states that the lunar cycle spans ‘29.5 days and 793 fractions of an hour’. In Talmudic terms, the hour is divided into 1080 parts.

793/1080 = 0.734259 hours.

0.734259/24 = 0.03059 days.

29.5 days + 0.03059 days  =  29.53059 days for the moon to travel around Earth.

NASA Research concluded that the lunar cycle is 29.530588 days, two 1/1000ths of a second short of the Talmudic figure. More advanced research in Berlin came to a figure of 29.530589 days, only one thousandth of a second short of the Talmudic figure.

The Sinai tradition of the span of the lunar cycle is thus corroborated by figures reached via advanced satellites and atomic clocks.

Put down the astronomy book and start learning Tractate Rosh Hashana, the Rambam's laws of the new moon, and the Tiferet Yisroel's commentary on Mishnayot. If you're looking for a degree, go to university; if you're looking for wisdom, go to the Torah.

Comments

[Leah Finkelstein]

Yasher koach. I could not have said it any better.

[www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawkN6EH_OfvpoZo-YEO1qoHq_nkolFJy2TA]

A good rounded education includes the following subjects :

The Tanach; History; Geography; Science; English; The National Language (in Israel's case Hebrew); Sport; Art and Music. Other electives can be chosen. More Renaissance men and women are needed not less.

The word "educere" comes from the Latin, to bring forth from within. Some guidance is required but people learn best when their curiosity is sparked.

[Elliot Brill]

Thanks for that Rabbi Lazer. There are so many people walking about with college degrees doing mundane jobs or no jobs. People study all sorts of obscure & useless subjects at colleges, but Torah study is beneath them. For many parents sending their children to university is almost holy, Heaven help us.
Elliot

[YY127]

Rav Arush stresses in Garden of Peace (which I urge all men to read, by the way!) that the ketubah says husbands are obligated to support their wives, so they need to get a job if they need income. It is hard to get a job without a degree, or some kind of professional training, so if people want to fulfill their ketubah isn't this what they should do? It can be combined with Torah study, such as at places like Touro and Yeshivah University. Anyway, Pirkei Avot 2:2 says that we must combine Torah study with work, and the Talmud rules that parents are obligated to teach their sons a trade. When a large proportion of Orthodox Jews do no work or only work under the table, this is a great chillul Hashem making the secular look down on them and Torah, Hashem forbid. Orthodox Jews should be in all professions (ideally part-time), even those requiring years of university study, because all these Jews will have the opportunity to fulfill many mitzvot through these jobs, and show the secular that one can contribute to the practical functioning of society and still spend much time in Torah study and prayer.

[Daviddavid474]

Right on lazer ! May the day be coming that caltech berlin university oxford stanford MIT and harvard are the students of those whove mastered the pardes of torah like the gra and baba sali !