From my translation of chapter 6 of Pirkei d'Rebbi Eliezer:
And in 366 degrees (not 360), the Sun goes up and down, 183 it goes up in the East, and 183 it goes down in the West, corresponding to the days of the solar year. And in 366 windows, the Sun goes out, and it comes in the East, 91 days on the southern end, and 91 days on the northern end, and 1 window in the middle called the Nogah window. In Tekufat Tishrei, it (the sun) starts from the Nogah window and goes around to the southern end, window after window, until it arrives in the Shabbtai window. In Tekufat Tevet, it starts from the Shabbtai window and goes around and returns back, window after window, until it arrives to the Taalumah window, from where the light goes out, as it says, "And Taalumah brings out light" (Iyov, 28:11). In Tekufat Nisan, it starts from the Taalumah window, from where the light goes out, and it goes to the northern side, window after window, until it arrives in the Naamon window. In Tekufat Tamuz it starts from the Naamon window and goes around and returns back, window by window, until it reaches the Cheder window, from where the storm wind (ruach sufah) goes, as it says (I'm not going to translate the pasuk, but its Iyov 37:9).
In those [windows] that are in the East, it would go out, and correspondingly in the West, it comes in, and the Shechinah is always in the West. It comes in and prostrates itself before HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and says before Him, "Master of the Universe, I did all that you commanded of me".
The window in the middle of the Firmament, its name is Mezarim, and it (the sun) doesn't go out and enter in it aside from one time in the great cycle, that through (the window), it goes out on the day that it was created, in the night, in the west.
החלון שבאמצע הרקיע, שמו מזרים, ואינו יוצא ונכנס בו אלא פעם אחת של מחזור גדול, שבו יוצא ביום שנברא בלילה במערב
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יוצא ביום שנברא בלילה ובמערב החמה
ReplyDeleteGoes out when Tekufat Nissan is in (the Middle of) the Night on the day it was created - year 17 - (after it went in when Tekufat Nissan was) B'Maarav HaChama (sunset after the day it was created) - year 12.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p_YrEhIuWkGZNwnZN2LUdPw
ReplyDeleteYou mean 18 and 13. It'd be nice to find something meforash on 5 and 17.
Though your take on it seems to coincide with what I found, that every 6 years it advances 12 hours.
ReplyDeleteThe Machzor is likened to a day, five plus two plus five hours. In the two middle hours the Sun and its light reach above a level that may be hard to endure. This refers to beyond the physical.
ReplyDeleteYou're referring to the 12 year machzor, correct?
ReplyDeleteIt applies to 12 and 28.
ReplyDeleteOk it appears that my translation had an error in pisuk that changes this keta. Words are deleted due to this from this section.
ReplyDeleteI just realized, during Mincha, something that startled me. Year 2449 is 12 years after Birkat HaChama, and year 3406 is 17 years after Birkat HaChama. Year 3406 would be the year of Purim according to Masechet Megilla (it was the penultimate year of Achashverosh, while Bayit Sheni was in the second year of Darius).
ReplyDeleteSo Yetziat Mitzraim was 1 day after Birkat HaChamah and Purim was 1/4 day after Birkat HaChamah. Please explain a bit more the implications.
ReplyDeletePurim would be בלילה
ReplyDeleteYetziat Mitzraim would be במערב החמה
I am trying to make more sense of the Kadosh Elyon.
I take it you do not accept what I wrote at 7:01am
ReplyDeleteIf there is going out there must be coming in.
ReplyDeleteIt seems kasheh to connect those words to this paragraph.
ReplyDeleteI read it to say that it goes out and in one time in the Machzor, on the fourth day, in the night and at sunset. Out at night, in at sunset.
ReplyDeleteI think I see what you mean. You think this makes this Chalon too different. But isn't that explicit? It it in the middle unlike the others. Suddenly the Machzor comes in, setting a different time scale in my reading.
ReplyDeleteWhat about this historical Drash? There was a historical Chalon of Gilui HaShem from the Geula at Yetziat Mitzraim until the Geula at Purim. It was too hard for Am Yisrael. For our benefit, gradually as the Sun moves, Hester Panim became reality.
ReplyDeleteWhat I said about 5 plus 2 plus 5 works here out also, to good approximation. Yetziat Mitzrayim was after 5 times 500 years, Purim is 5 times 500 years before the end. 2 times 500 years are in between.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the delay, was busy solidifying a contract for my apartment for the next year.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the Chalon, is it not more like 1000 years? From Yetziat Mitzraim until the time of Alexander? I think I remember something to that affect from Imrei Binah, that the end of nevuah was marked around then.
You are right. Nevuah existed until Yosef ben Yoezer (Temura 15b). That is why I wrote gradually.
ReplyDeleteI think the word "in the west" should included in this sentence, but not the sun. Re-adding it.
ReplyDeleteI don't know. The "pshat", if there is one, seems to be just saying that the window is in the west, and the sun can only go in to it on Yom Revi'i at 6pm in the West. But then there is a redundancy, of course the sun goes in to the "windows" in the west at night.
ReplyDeleteYou now took the girsa without Vav before Maarav, which gives you only one time. Does the Sun go in then, or out, or both?
ReplyDelete"seems to be just saying that the window is in the west"
ReplyDeleteIt says this one is in the middle of the Rakia.
Maybe the confusion stems from me having two girsaot. One in a sefer at home, and one on the internet:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.shechem.org/torah/pdre/5.htm
Regarding middle of the rakia, I would say that means that it goes exactly east to west, i.e. middle on one plane.
That would mean that Mezarim refers to a straight line of stars.
ReplyDeletePerhaps this requires re-reading the prior passage in Hebrew.
ReplyDeleteצדקת ממני
Read the beginning in English. Regarding the degrees, of which there are 366, and the windows, of which there are 366. The degrees it says explicitly there are 183 in the East and 183 in the West.
Furthermore read the link that I sent, the word ma'alot isn't there at all, it appears to be missing a word, and the implication is that the missing word is chalonot, as it says in that girsa "in *the* 366 windows".
If I were to reword this, I would say there is a point in the sky called Mezarim. This point is only "there" from time to time (once every machzor), and is only reached by the sun at the proper angle (equinox).
ReplyDeleteSo we would then ask why the sun doesn't go through it also the following Tekufat Tishrei. The answer is that the window isn't open for that long.
If it is apoint it would be the pole star. I think it is the region around it, the region of the non-seasonal stars, which are always visible, towards the North. The Rakia apparently rotates around an axis. The apparent trajectory of the Sun along the sky is divided according to the progress per day. The division is called Chalon, or degree. The visibility of the stars in the Chalonot depends on the yearly season. Mezarim must be another type of Chalon, otherwise it would be reached every year. If I am right, of course the Sun never reaches Mezarim, not even approximately. The claim that it does says Darsheni.
ReplyDeleteThere are two natural planes that cut through the Rakia. One is the plane defined by the solar motion, or really the plane of the Earth moving around the Sun. The other is what one could call the equinox plane, orthogonal to the first and going through the equinox positions of the Earth, Tekufat Nissan and Tekufat Tishrei. Both planes define a trajectory along the sky. The equinox plane defines a 180-degree trajectory, like the Sun does every day, along the Rakia with the Mezarim (as above) in the middle.
ReplyDeleteI went over this section of the midrash over Shabbat. It appears that the last two words are indeed part of the next paragraph. The proof is that the same phrase appears twice, each one followed by the tekufah names.
ReplyDeleteCan you expand the last paragraph of your latest post?
I was arguing what could be the middle of the sky.
ReplyDeleteIf the midrash is about the beginning of the night being important, then midday is 3/4 through the cycle, or 21 years in to the cycle.
ReplyDelete