Okay, thank you very much. And as you just heard, tonight's class, tonight's shiur is concerning the eclipse, an eclipse of the sun or eclipse of the moon. Now we all know what an eclipse is, an eclipse is when the sun is blacked out, or eclipse of the moon means when the moon is blacked out. A time when normally you should see the moon, not at a time when you normally shouldn't see the moon, a time when you normally should see the moon, and because of the position of the sun and the Earth and the moon, the moon is blacked out and you can't see it. And an eclipse of the sun means that there's a certain time when the sun is blacked out because of the position of the Earth and of the sun and the moon, all the different things. Astronomical the way it's set up is that this blacks out the sun. And this is what we're going to discuss. I hope when you saw the title of today you didn't come to hear some astronomy, because I'm not an astronomer and I really don't know what to tell you about the eclipse from the astron- astronomical point of view. This is a shiur, a class in Torah, so we will talk about some Torah thoughts concerning an eclipse of the sun or an eclipse of the moon. And when we talk about what Torah has to say about an eclipse, we have to find a source in the Torah, so we do find a sugya in Gemara, there's a section in the Talmud that deals with it. It doesn't explain what it means, but there are certain things that the Gemara talks about, and this is in Gemara Sukkah דף כ\"ט, that's page 29, כ\"ט. The Gemara says here like this, בזמן שהחמה לוקה, when there is an eclipse of the sun, סימן רע לכל העולם כולו, it's a bad sign for the whole world. משל למה הדבר דומה, this is compared, the parable to this would be למלך בשר ודם שעשה סעודה לעבדיו, a king that made a party for his servants, והניח פנס לפניהם, and he put the lantern in front of them to light up. כעס עליהם, he got angry at them, ואמר, and he said לעבדו, to his servant, טול פנס מפניהם, go take away the lantern from them, והושיבם בחושך, let them stay in the darkness. And this is what an eclipse is, that it's a bad siman that Hashem is taking away the light, that's in the case where there is an eclipse of the sun. Then the Gemara continues, תניא we learned, רבי מאיר אומר, רבי מאיר says, כל זמן שמאורות לוקין, when these luminaries have an eclipse, סימן רע לשונאיהם של ישראל, it's a bad sign for the שונאים, means the enemies of the Jews. Really what we mean here is that if the moon has an eclipse, it's a bad sign for the Jews. And the Gemara does not want to use the term a bad sign for the Jews, so the Gemara always does that. It says it's a bad sign for the enemies of the Jews, but it means the Jews. מפני שמלומדים במכותיהם, it says because the Yidden are always used to suffer, and this is another sign of suffering. The Gemara goes through more details. Then the Gemara continues further, תנו רבנן, בזמן שהחמה לוקה, the Gemara says, when there's an eclipse of the sun, סימן רע לעובדי כוכבים, it's a bad sign for the goyim. לבנה לוקה, if there's an eclipse of the moon, סימן רע לשונאיהם של ישראל, it's a bad sign for the Yidden. If there's an eclipse of the sun, that's a bad sign for the goyim, eclipse of the moon, that's a bad sign for the Yidden. And the Gemara says why: מפני שישראל מונין ללבנה, because the Yidden, the Jews, count their calendar according to the moon, ועובדי כוכבים לחמה, and the goyim, their calendar is according to the sun. So they are, they follow the sun, and therefore if there's something wrong, so to speak, with the sun, it's a bad sign for the goyim. If there is something wrong, there is an eclipse, there's a darkness in the moon, that's a bad sign for the Yidden. And the truth is that the Yidden are compared, the Jews are compared to the moon, and the goyim, the non-Jews, are compared to the sun, for different reasons, as it is explained in different sefarim. The simplest reason is the sun always stays in the same position, doesn't have any changes, while the moon gets smaller and smaller, then it gets bigger and bigger. The Yidden also, the Jews, sometimes they're up, sometimes they're down. We're not talking about spiritually, physically. And the goyim, they're always on top, so they're compared to the sun that always shines, while the moon is sometimes smaller, sometimes bigger. But anyway, being that the goyim, the non-Jews, are compared to the sun, so if there's an eclipse of the sun, The Gemara says it's a bad sign for the goyim. If it's an eclipse of the moon, it's a bad sign for the Jews. Then the Gemara goes on. We're not just going to read everything here. But then the Gemara continues: בשביל ארבעה דברים חמה לוקה. There are four things the Gemara says that would cause an eclipse of the sun: על אב בית דין שמת ואינו נספד כהלכה. If a leader, the head of a Beis Din, passed away and he wasn't eulogized properly, he wasn't mourned properly, which is a sin that the Yidden would have committed, that's one of the causes that would bring about an eclipse of the sun. ועל נערה המאורסה שצעקה בעיר ואין מושיע לה, in a case, or if there was a case that there was an engaged girl who, according to halacha, in the time of the Gemara, means she was married, and she was forced into doing an aveirah and no one stopped her, no one stopped him, in other words, from forcing her. ועל משכב זכור, this is in the the aveirah of relations between men. ועל שני אחים שנשפך דמם כאחד, and in a case where you would have people murder two brothers, etc., etc. Then it says, בשביל ארבעה דברים מאורות לוקין, and there are four reasons why there would be an eclipse of the moon: על כותבי פלסתר, for people who are writing documents which are false, ועל מעידי עדות שקר, people who testify false, ועל מגדלי בהמה דקה בארץ ישראל, people who raise animals in ארץ ישראל, in Israel, that might eat off other people's fields, which is really stealing, ועל קוצצי אילנות טובות, and for and people who would cut off trees that you're not allowed to cut off. Now, I'm not going to go into the details here of what exactly are the different specific things that cause the eclipse of the sun or eclipse of the moon. The main point we're going to discuss here is the general idea of what the Talmud tells us, that an eclipse of the sun or an eclipse of the moon is caused by the behavior of the people. That's the question that we're going to discuss. From this Gemara we see that it is the מעשי בני אדם, which means the behavior of people, the sins that the people might do, that might cause that there should be an eclipse of the sun, an eclipse of or an eclipse of the moon, depending on which different things. And the question that is asked by many of the commentaries is we all know that an eclipse is something that comes naturally. There is a whole cycle that takes place, and scientists, astronomers can predict exactly the second when there will be the next eclipse of the sun and when there will be next eclipse of the moon. In other words, scientifically, an eclipse is something that is there naturally put into the system, the solar system. How does that fit to what the Talmud tells us, that an eclipse of the sun or an eclipse of the moon happens because of certain aveirot? Other places it says if a person, if Yidden do certain aveirot, then certain terrible things might happen, so there it makes sense. But here we're dealing with things which are definitely part of nature. It's like saying if people behave good then the sun is going to rise the morning, and people behave don't behave good then the sun sets. That's not true! The sun rises every morning, the sun sets every evening. That's something that's natural. The same is with an eclipse; the eclipse is natural. What is the meaning of the Gemara that it depends on the behavior of people, and the Gemara tells us different things that might happen that might cause the eclipse?

The truth is this happens to be one of those Gemarot that people have used, and I say again have used, to prove that not everything that it says in the Talmud is true. And therefore, people said since not everything it says in the Talmud is true, here we see the Talmud tells us something which is definitely in at their eyes not true, that means that we can't rely on everything it says there. The moment one of the things in the Talmud is not true in their eyes, then that brings doubt into everything else the Talmud says. And therefore, all the Torah and all of the mitzvot that we have to keep, which is all based on the Gemara, might not be true. And people use this, and some people use this as an excuse not to have to keep what it says in the Talmud, because after all, the Talmud is not necessarily true because not everything in the Talmud is true. The truth is that those people that use this or any thing similar as a reason why they don't want to keep Torah, it's not because this is the question that made them intellectually realize that the Gemara is not necessarily true, and therefore they stopped keeping Torah. That is not so. These are people who don't don't want to keep the mitzvot. They want to be free. These are people who don't want to have the yoke and they're looking for an excuse. און מען האט זיך אנגעטשעפעט, you know, in Yiddish there's an expression אז מען האט זיך אנגעטשעפעט, they just grabbed on to something to use as an excuse for their תאוות, for their own personal desires. But a person who wants to keep the mitzvot will not be able to, will not use this and not say, \"Well, here I have a proof that the Torah is not true.\" And in this case specifically, any person with a little bit of logic and a little bit of knowledge in history will know that this definitely cannot show anything, cannot show that the Torah, God forbid, is not true. Why? Because here we're dealing with facts that everyone knows, that already in the time of the Gemara, which is 2,000 years ago, less than 2,000 years ago, the people, scientists already knew how to calculate the times when there will be an eclipse. The גויישע scientists, the non-Jewish scientists, the astronomers already knew how to calculate. Now, one thing is clear, that the Jewish chachamim, our chachamim, our sages were in close contact with all the non-Jewish scientists. They were definitely in close contact. We know that from the Gemara, the Gemara, Talmud tells us many discussions that the chachamim, our sages had with the non-Jewish chachamim, with the non-Jewish scientists, scholars. There is a whole section in Gemara Arakhin which deals with סבא דבי אתונא, the whole discussion that Reb Shimon, Shimon, anyway had with this, such scholars of Athens, the greatest scholars. We find in different places where the Gemara speaks about discussions that they had, they were in very, very close contact. Now if the גויישע scientists, the גויישע astronomers already knew how to calculate, there is no question, just looking at technically, that the Jewish chachamim, the sages would have known all the facts that the non-Jewish astronomers knew. This is even a person who doesn't believe that everything it says in the Torah is true, even a person who does not believe that the chachamim, our chachamim were greater scholars in science and in astronomy and in things like that than the non-Jewish ones. We know that is true. We know that they took all their knowledge in science from us. That is the fact. The Rambam writes that a lot of astronomy which is important for קידוש החודש, for calculating how to set up the calendar, nowadays it's all set up already in cycles, but in the time of the Gemara they had to calculate every month and then the years, etc., etc. So the Rambam says that even though the גוים have a lot of books written on astronomy, the Rambam says they took it all from the Jews. The Jewish chachamim already wrote books explaining the whole thing, the whole solar system in the time of the nevi'im, of the prophets, which goes back many, many years before science started with anything. The only thing is, the Rambam says, we don't have it, it got lost, but the גוים, the non-Jews, took it from our chachamim and they wrote it in their books, and when our books got lost, we are able to figure it out from their books, but it all starts from us. So one thing is clear, that the chachamim were the greatest scientists, greater than any scientists that ever lived. The chachamim were the greatest scholars even in חכמת העולם and the chochmah, the wisdom of nature, besides the fact that the chachamim were great tzadikim and the chachamim had ruach hakodesh, they had this Holy Spirit, so they knew all the truth, all the scientific truths they knew from, from Torah, from spiritual ways. And it's all put into the Torah. Pirkei Avos says, הפוך בה והפוך בה דכולא בה, if you look into it, everything is there. So that is for sure, we know that the chachamim, whatever they said fits and is true. But what I'm saying is that even those that will not accept it at face value, will say, \"Well, that's what you say, you say the chachamim were the greatest scholars, greatest astronomers, סיי because of ruchniyus, they understood it from the Torah, from from kedushah, also you say they're the smartest people.\" A person will say, \"We don't accept it.\" But one thing is clear, everyone knows that, that this sages had close contact with the non-Jewish astronomers, and the non-Jewish scientists. And therefore, whatever they knew, definitely even according to this way of looking at it, transferred to the chachamim. And at the time of the Gemara, they already knew that in order that this the eclipse comes based on calculations, and according to the way the system is, solar system was set up, naturally, there are certain times where you could predict when the eclipse will be. And therefore, the question comes up, how do we So for sure, the chachamim did not make a mistake. So those that want to use this as an excuse that chachamim didn't know exactly what they were saying, and therefore the whole Torah might be doubtful, that is, in simple words, a baba maaseh. That is definitely not so. Definitely when the chachamim wrote it, they did not make that mistake. They knew that an eclipse is something that comes naturally. But then, we have to come and answer, how does it fit to what the chachamim say that an eclipse is happens because of the behavior of the human beings, if people do something bad, and the Gemara gives a few examples of what they might do which will cause an eclipse of the sun, and certain things that they might do which will cause an eclipse of the moon. Now,

in the mefarshim, the commentaries, we have different explanations. For instance, the Ya'aros Devash. The Ya'aros Devash is a sefer written by Rabbi Yonasan Eibeshitz. Yonasan Eibeshitz lived, I would say, about 300 years ago. He was known as a great tzadik, great talmid chacham, great gaon, great leader, and also as a great scientist. And he writes that the Gemara does not mean the regular eclipse that we know. He says that there are certain times that astronomers are able to see certain black spots, dark spots on the sun, or certain dark spots on the moon, and this is what the Gemara refers to. This is not part of the the regular setup system of the solar system, and that's what the Gemara, the Talmud means. And therefore, it's no contradiction to the fact that we know this. This answer is not 100% understood because, first of all, science says nowadays that even these things, whatever they are, and there are such things according to the astronomers, this is also something that is calculated, something that you could predict, because this also fits into the system. But besides that, the Talmud says that an eclipse is a sign, signs for the Yidden or a sign for the goyim, good sign, bad sign for the goyim, bad sign for the Yidden. If it's something that only astronomers see, what kind of sign is it? A sign is something that you could see. Obviously, the Gemara means something that you could see. So therefore, it's hard to say that this is what the Gemara means. Most Most mefarshim don't learn that way. Most mefarshim learn that we're dealing with a regular eclipse, and this is what the Gemara means, that a regular eclipse is connected to what people do. And they do not accept the pshat the way the Ya'aros Devash learns peshat here. Then there's another peshat, and this is written in the Sefer Chasdei David on the Tosefta. Tosefta is a collection of sayings of the of the חכמים that is ברייתאס, which is equivalent to the Mishnah. And on the Tosefta And the Tosefta brings the same thing as we quoted from the Gemara before. So there is a commentary on the Tosefta called Chasdei David, and he gives a different explanation. He says that there are times when there could be an eclipse that is not an eclipse that is according to the schedule. In other words, generally an eclipse could be calculated, could be could be predicted, but there are some times that there is an eclipse that is not part of the of the normal system. And that's what the Gemara means. Now, since the Chasdei David was a great man and he says it, we have to accept it. But on the other hand, the mefarshim ask, when did that ever happen? As far as we know, whenever there was an eclipse, it was always part of the system. It was always predicted. And therefore, what does he mean that What does the Gemara mean according to this peshat, that at sometimes it could happen that it would be different than what is predicted? Then there's another peshat. The Shelah, the Shelah, the Sefer Shnei Luchot HaBrit by Rabbeinu Yeshayah Horowitz, one of the greatest מקובלים. He happens to be one of those people that when you call him by his name, the name of his book, of his ספר, many people add the word הקדוש, the holy one, Shelah Hakadosh. Not too many people have that title, הקדוש, and he does. And the Shelah writes that Hashem knew what's going to happen in the future, and Hashem put into the system when he created the world, he put into the system the times when there will be an eclipse, knowing that those will be the times when these things are going to happen. He knew when the people will do this and will do that, which deserve, as the Gemara says, an eclipse, and he put it in. So even though it's predicted, and we know when it's going to happen, but it's all based because Hashem knew when the people are going to do this, which sounds like a very interesting peshat. The only thing is, if Hashem did something, put something, set something into the system, into the solar system, that, according to many other mefarshim, would have an effect on a person's free choice. And I don't want to get into the subject of free choice, but we do have to touch upon it just for a moment. We know the famous question that the Rambam asks: How do we reconcile, how do we fit ידיעה ובחירה? We know Hashem knows the future, and nevertheless, we say every person has free choice. How does that fit? And the Rambam doesn't answer, he just says that it's something we can't understand. The question is, if Hashem knows what I'm going to do tomorrow, so that means I have no choice tomorrow. I have to do that because Hashem knows it's going to happen. The Raavad, who's one of the commentaries on the Rambam, actually he's not even a commentary, he called his own, he called it, or other people called his commentary השגות. השגות means arguments. Everything he says he argues. He argues on the Rambam, wherever he has something to argue, he has a comment. And he says that there is no question how ידיעה ובחירה fit, how Hashem's knowledge of the future fits with free choice. And the answer is very simple: Hashem knows what you're going to choose. Now, you are not forced to choose it. When a person chooses something, it's on his own. He could have chosen differently. But Hashem knows the future. Imagine you have a human being who's a יודע עתידות, who knows the future. A tzaddik who could see the future. Would that have any effect on the person's choice? He knows what that person is going to choose. Has no effect on the choice, on the person's choice. I don't want to get into the subject, but I have to tell the story which I always tell when it comes to this point, with the story of the, with R'' Yonatan Eibeshitz himself, the one we mentioned before. Once the king, he had a lot of discussions with the king, the king asked him this question: How does Hashem's knowledge of the future fit with choice? So he said, \"I'll tell you. I'll show you that I also know the future, of something that you're going to do, and you'll tell me later if my knowledge forced you to choose it in any certain way.\" And he told him that soon, in a few weeks, he was supposed to visit a certain town, and to enter the city, city had a big wall around it, there were two gates, the smaller one and the big one. \"You have a choice to go whichever whichever gate you want. I tell you now, I know which gate you're going to go into. I'll write it down, we'll seal it, no one will look at it, and you tell me later if you had free choice.\" So fine, he wrote something down, sealed it, they locked it up. And a few weeks later, the day came. The king with his whole entourage came. Imagine they prepared the big gate, where else would the king come? Came to the big gate which is decorated, it was ready for him to go in. The king comes, tells everyone to stop. No one understood why he wanted to stop. Stop means stop to think. \"Well, R'' Yonatan Eibeshitz he says for sure thought that where else would I go, definitely through the big gate. I'll show him!\" Made everybody go around the other side of town and went in from the small, to go into the small gate. By the time they got to the small gate, he says, \"Stop.\" Once right there, what again? He started thinking, \"R'' Yonatan Eibeshitz is definitely as smart as I am. He for sure knew that I'm going to change and go through the small one. I'll show him, I'll go through the big one.\" \"Back!\" Whole thing, everyone turn back, they're coming to the big one. They came to the big one, he told them to stop again. Thinking he said, \"Well, he probably knew my cheshbon. He, I'll show him, I'll go to the small one.\" And back to the small, came to the small one, back to the big. He saw he had free choice, he couldn't make up his mind, and was thinking what to do. Finally he realized, he said, \"I have an idea.\" He called over his workers, says, \"Break through the wall, make a new gate!\" And that he won't know for sure. Well, right away, they broke through the gate. After a while, he passed through the new gate, and he says, \"This time I got him.\" And he called R'' Yonatan Eibeshitz, and they took out that letter that he had signed. All R'' Yonatan did was he wrote an expression of the Gemara, מאמר חז\"ל. The Gemara describes the strength of a king. The Gemara says, מלך פורץ גדר ואין מוחין בידו, a king could break through a wall, no one can stop him. And the Gemara's expression. So he says, \"You see?\" And then he asks him, \"Do you think, did you have free choice?\" He says, \"You bet I had free choice! I couldn't make up my mind! But I knew.\" What's the point? That when a person knows the future, it doesn't affect his choice. He just knows what he's going to choose. Getting back to our case here, so that's the answer normally that is given why knowledge, knowing, when Hashem knows the future, it doesn't affect one's choice. On the other hand, the sefarim say, says in the other commentaries, that that's only if Hashem knows. But if Hashem says, if Hashem would say something concerning the future, or Hashem would do something concerning the future, that does affect the choice. If Hashem does something based on what the person is going to do later, and what Hashem did only fit according to what the person will choose later, then it is considered that it affects the choice. Now, according to the way the Shelah says, that Hashem set into the nature that the eclipse should be at the time when Hashem knew the people are going to behave in a certain way, that does affect because He's put it in, He did something במעשה, which actually He put it into the into the system, that is considered affecting the free choice, and that Hashem wouldn't do. And that's one of the questions they ask on the Shelah's pshat. And therefore it's hard to say that the Shelah's pshat, accept the Shelah's pshat. I mean, he has a pshat and we have to understand that, too. Not trying to knock it, God forbid. I'm saying, but for us to understand, his pshat is not so simply understood. So, we're back to the question. How does this fit, when the Gemara says that it depends on what people do, and really we know an eclipse is predetermined by Hashem, by the system, by the solar system? Then there's another possible pshat. Even when there is an eclipse, not always is it in a way that people should be able to see it. What would be, it could be a cloudy day. Not always is it seen. And that's what the Gemara means. When an eclipse is seen, the reason is because of what the people did. In other words, the eclipse itself happens by nature, because this is the time, according to the way the system works, that this is the time for the eclipse. But doesn't necessarily have to be seen. And the fact that it's seen, that is because of what the people did. But this pshat is also not a hundred percent, because that's not what it seems from the Gemara. It seems from the Gemara that the eclipse itself depends on what the people do. In Hebrew, the eclipse is called the ליקוי. I don't know what the word ליקוי in English, how you translate it. ליקוי חמה. Translate eclipse, but ליקוי, the word comes from being hit. Less than being perfect. Yeah, but the word ליקוי means from the word לקה, to hit. To also to take away, to to Less, okay. And that's what it means. That's what the Gemara means, that if a Yid is, Yidden are less than perfect, let's use your expression, then the moon is less than perfect. If the goyim are less than perfect, then the sun is less than perfect. So, it's not whether we see it or we don't see it, it looks like it depends that actually the eclipse will come because of that. So, we're back to the question, and this is what we have to understand. What is the meaning that the eclipse is dependent on these different things?

There is a peshat, there is a way to explain it that the Rebbe explains. The Rebbe in the Sefer Likutei Sichot explains this. And he explains it like this. Says that we find in the Talmud, we find in the Gemara, that there are certain times when there are bad mazalot. When the mazal, which the regular translation is the constellations, but there are certain times when there's a certain mazal which is not so good. And what it means is that at those times, it's more chance for Hashem to punish a person for an aveirah, for a sin, more than other times. We find that in the Talmud many cases. For instance, it even says that a person has a court case with a goy, a non-Jew, try to push it off to the month of Adar, because the month of Adar is a good mazal, and it'll help you out. Try to keep it away from the month of Av. Av is a bad mazal. And the Gemara has other things that there are certain bad mazalot. And what that means is that those are times when a Yid will be punished more than other times, if he does something wrong. If a Yid doesn't do anything wrong, then Baruch Hashem, then there is nothing to worry about. But if a Yid does something wrong, there are certain times where there is more chance that the mazal should work, that he should be punished. Similar to what we learned in the other parashah last week, where it says השטן מקטרג בשעת סכנה, a time of danger, then the satan is there, and then Hashem could punish faster at a time when their danger is anyway there, or other things that we find in the Gemara. And the same thing is here, at a time when there is an eclipse, which comes naturally, which comes naturally, that's a sign that at that time, it's more possible that Hashem is going to punish for certain aveirot than other times. That's what the Gemara means. That's just the first point. So when the Gemara says that the the the the sun has an eclipse or the moon has an eclipse because of certain things that people do, it's not that the behavior of the people caused the eclipse, but what it means is the eclipse is a sign that Hashem will punish for those things that the people did more than he will punish for other times. But it's more than that. Let me explain it further. When we talk about mazal, that there is a mazal that always is there, different mazalot, different constellations that are stronger at different times, the Gemara says that these mazalot have an effect on the person. Even lehavdil the goyim know that there is such a thing, if you're born under a certain star, then you will be a certain type of person. The Gemara, there's a whole sugya, a whole section in the Gemara Shabbat, which says if a person is born on Sunday, this is this kind of mazal he has, he's born on Monday, he'd be like this, he's born this and this hour. For instance, it says if a person's born on the hour when the mazal of מאדים, which is Mars, when Mars is strong, then this person could become a murderer, person might become a shochet, person might become a mohel, become a surgeon, it's all spilling blood. But it's a type of mazal that the Gemara says takes place. So the mazal has a certain effect on the person. What it means is, not that God forbid that it takes away free choice from a person. Every person has free choice. What it means is, that if a person is born in a certain mazal, there is a certain using the term that the Lechem Mishneh on the Rambam says, there's a קצת נטיה, there's a certain inclination that a person will have to a certain thing. And this person will have to work harder in order to get rid of it. It's like the Rambam says in Shmoneh Perakim, there is a section in in Peirush Hamishnayot, the Rambam's commentary on the Mishnah, called Shmoneh Perakim, there the Rambam says, and I'm quoting the words, he says there are certain people who are born בטבע בעל מעלה ולא בעל חסרון. A person has מעלה, positive positive powers, attributes, and some people have חסרונות. Now he says it's impossible to say that a person is born that that's his way of life, that that's going to have to be. It can't be, because that's a contradiction to free choice. A person has free choice. What it means is, that a person who's born with the מעלות, all these positive things, for he doesn't need much effort to be positive, to do good things. A person who is born under a other mazal, who is born with חסרונות, it doesn't mean that he has חסרונות and he can't get rid of it and he has to behave in a negative way. What it means is that this person will have to work harder to overcome all these negative things that he might have. But these mazalot that a person is born under have an effect. There are even in halacha certain things that we don't do at certain times because of the mazal, in halacha. I'll just give an example, one thing that is brought down in halacha, and I think only chasidim follow this halacha, this minhag based on halacha and others don't, that that is Friday night not to make kiddush between six and seven. And that's our minhag, that between six o'clock and seven o'clock, that hour, we don't make kiddush. And the reason is, it says, because the מזל מאדים, this mazal of Mars shines. And if you make kiddush, it'll have a bad effect. Now this is something that people might think is very superstitious. It's brought down in the Magen Avraham, in Shulchan Aruch. That's why I wonder why most other people don't keep it. Chasidim keep it, not only Chabad, a lot of Chasidim keep it, keep this minhag. But it's brought down in the Magen Avraham. He said that now some people are not careful with it, not getting into the details, but the point is that there are things in halacha that we do because of the mazal. The Gemara, like I said before, the Gemara in Shabbos says that if a person is born at that time, he he will be a certain type of person. But it doesn't mean that he can't be other, different. But this means that this is a נטיה. This will cause the person to have a certain נטיה, a certain inclination, a certain pointing to that, to a certain direction. When the Gemara says here that when there is an eclipse of the sun, it's because to the sins, because of a certain thing that people did, and when there's an eclipse of the moon, that's because of something that the people did, what it means is that at that time, because of the eclipse, the eclipse is as good as any other mazal. Mazal are the stars. When a certain star shines, this gives a certain influence onto the people. When there is an eclipse, which comes naturally, that gives, influences the people that they're more apt to do these things than other times. Now it doesn't take away free choice, they could not do it. But it's more chance that they will do these negative things at a time when there is an eclipse. And that's the pshat in the Gemara. When the Gemara says that an eclipse comes because of these and these different negative things that people might do, so it doesn't mean that these negative things cause the eclipse. That cannot be because the eclipse is there naturally. But what it means is this is a type of mazal, that because of this eclipse, therefore it brings an inclination into the people that they should have more chance of transgressing these aveirot that the Gemara mentions. Nevertheless, the גמרא says that the גוים, they should be afraid of all these signs. The גמרא right here, I'll read it: ובזמן שישראל עושים רצונו של מקום, when the יידן do the will of השם, אין מתיראים מכל אלו, they shouldn't be afraid of all that. שנאמר, and he quotes a פסוק, כה אמר השם. He says, this what השם said, מאותות השמים אל תחתו. Don't be afraid of the signs from the skies, from the heavens. כי יחתו הגוים מהמה, the גוים should be afraid. עובדי כוכבים יחתו, the גוים should be afraid, ואין ישראל יחתו, the Yidden shouldn't be afraid. That means if the Yidden do the will of Hashem, they shouldn't be afraid. And this fits to what we're saying before. The idea is that this eclipse has an effect that the people are able, more able to behave in a certain way. But a Yid who does the will of Hashem should not be afraid because if a Yid does the will of Hashem, we overcome all these influences that might come from the stars. A non-Jew doesn't have that power. And the reason is because a Yid has a neshamah. And if you have a neshamah, a Yid has within him the koach, the power of going beyond nature. All this is natural. Naturally when you have a certain mazal, a certain star, if you're born under a certain star, naturally you will have a certain nature. But if you do things beyond nature, if you have the ability of going beyond nature, then we're not afraid of that. Just like by Avraham Avinu, we learned that once when we spoke about the the different, you know, mazalot and things like that, astrology. It says by Avraham Avinu, Hashem said to Avraham, Avraham said, I see through astrology that I'm born under a certain star that I can't have children. Hashem said, I'll take you out of that. You'll be you're beyond it. A Yid is beyond the nature. And the same here the Gemara says, a Yid is beyond this nature that the eclipse has an effect, because a Yid has a neshamah. A goy, since he doesn't have this holy neshamah, this holy Godly soul, so he is limited to nature. Now it doesn't mean that it will force him, because even a non-Jew has choice. I mentioned once before, he doesn't have, it says in sefarim, free choice, but he has choice. Hashem would never punish a person if he doesn't have choice. So, a non-Jew also has choice, a different level of choice. Therefore, we do not say that this will force the non-Jew to behave in a certain way. But, nevertheless, it is much harder for a non-Jew to overcome these natural inclinations. And that's why the pasuk says they have to be afraid. Doesn't say it'll definitely happen, but יחתו, they have to be afraid. But a Yid, if they do the will of Hashem, עושין רצונו של מקום, then they don't have to be afraid. So, what comes out from all this is that an eclipse is a natural thing. And what it means is that it gives the person the push to be more able and, you know, having the nature of doing these different things. But if a Yid is osim retzono shel Makom, if a Yid does the will of Hashem, then he has nothing to be afraid of. And when the Gemara uses the term here that a Yid does the will of Hashem, an expression osim retzono shel Makom, the will of Hashem, and I want to explain what these words mean, based on a different place in the Talmud. And just in a few words, the Gemara in Berachot, the Talmud in Berachot asks a question: Why is it that the first part of Shema, it says בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך ובכל מאדך, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might, בכל מאדך. The second portion of Shema says בכל לבבכם ובכל נפשכם. Doesn't say בכל מאדכם. So, the Gemara says that the first one is talking when a Yid is osah retzono shel Makom, when the Yidden do the will of Hashem, and the second one is when the Yidden don't do the will of Hashem. But, that is not understood. If you look at the portion of Shema, what does it say there? והיה אם שמוע תשמעו אל כל מצותי, you're going to listen to all my mitzvot. So, it talks about a time when the Yidden do mitzvot. So, how could the Gemara say that it's a case when the Yidden don't do the will of Hashem? And the answer is, doing the will of Hashem doesn't mean just doing mitzvot. Doing the will of Hashem means doing more than what Hashem wants you to do, doing the will of Hashem. Mitzvot are the commandments of Hashem. Just like you have a child that sometimes, not only does what he's told by his parents to do, he knows that my parents are happy with some certain thing, so he'll go ahead and do it, knowing that this will make them happy without them asking for it. That's a person who's called doing the will of Hashem. If you know that Hashem wants something, even if He didn't tell you to do it, that beyond what you are told. And that's why in the first portion of Shema it says בכל מאדך, מאד means very, very much, beyond limits. That is called עושין רצונו של מקום if you do beyond limits. The second portion, there it doesn't say בכל מאדכם, it doesn't say with beyond limits. It's just doing the mitzvot, but not doing the will of Hashem. What the Gemara says here, when don't Yidden have to be afraid of all these signs? When they do the will of Hashem. That means they go beyond their limits. And if you go beyond your limits, then you're beyond nature. Then all these signs that normally, naturally have an effect will not have an effect. If a Yid goes beyond his natural limits, then Hashem will go beyond His limits too. The word meod, what does the word meod mean? Very. Very means very much, beyond limits. Because it says very and it doesn't say how far, so obviously it's beyond. The word בכל מאדך means בלי גבול, beyond the person's limits. And that's what the Gemara says: in order for us to be beyond the limits of the signs of nature, we have to do the will of Hashem, which is going beyond our limits. And this is what we have to know. The truth is, there are certain signs and there are certain things, and there are natural things that happen, but nevertheless we don't have to be afraid. The Gemara says הכל תלוי במזל, everything depends on the mazal, on the stars, אפילו ספר תורה שבהיכל, אפילו the Sefer Torah in the Aron Kodesh. You know, sometimes on Shabbos they go to lain, and they have four Sifrei Torah, and they go and they take out one. Why did they take this one, not the other one? Sefer Torah's mazal. זיין מזל, he had mazal. That's what it means. It's the mazal. That's what the Gemara means! Everything is a mazal, even which ספר תורה to take out. I remember once in 770, the Rebbe used to every time they would ever want that they should read from the special ספר תורה that they wrote to to receive Mashiach, it's called the ספר תורה קבלת פני משיח, and they have it in the ארון קודש. And certain times the Rebbe would say to read it. It was once a Shabbos, and before Shabbos the Rebbe gave out a message they should use that ספר תורה on Shabbos. And they forgot to tell the person who had פתיחת הארון to open the ארון to take it out. So, he took out another one. So, the gabbai ran over and said, \"No, no, no, that one!\" And the Rebbe was watching and the Rebbe said, \"הכל תלוי במזל, אפילו ספר תורה שבהיכל\". That's it. That's the mazal, that ספר תורה was taken out, so that's it. You can't take it and put it back. So, that's the mazal also. Everything is a mazal. Nevertheless, the Gemara says, \"אין מזל לישראל\", Yidden don't have mazal. But it says everything has a mazal. What do you mean there is no mazal, that the stars have no effect on the Yidden? The answer is it does. Naturally Yidden are under the stars as much as non-Jews. But a Yid has this power of overruling it by עושין רצונו של מקום, if we do the will of Hashem. We do the will of Hashem, we do mitzvot, we could overpower it.

Let me just finish up with one thing. This is a story I don't know accepted or not. I remember this goes back 10 years ago when there was a a time when a few times when there was problems in Eretz Yisrael and the Rebbe said to fast a half a day. So, one of the shluchim in France told over later he put in an ad in the newspaper about that half-day ta'anit. After that day, he got a call from somebody. The guy identified himself said told him his name. He said, \"I'm not Jewish, but I'd like to know who's this Lubavitcher Rebbe.\" So, he said, \"Why do you want to know?\" So, he says, \"I am a head of a group of astrologers, and we looked into the stars, he said, \"I saw in the stars We saw, the group, that there something terrible is going to happen to the Yidden in Eretz Yisrael. And then, and we kept on looking, and we saw the sign there.\" I don't know how or what, but it's a chochmah, it's not a magic, it's a chochmah. And so, \"But then, after that half-day passed, we looked into the stars and we saw that it's not there anymore. And I saw the ad in the paper, I understood it had some connection. Now I want to know who's this Lubavitcher Rebbe that is able to affect so strongly.\" But this is it. If we do teshuvah and we do mitzvot and we do what we're supposed to, we're able to change all the signs that might be, God forbid, negative. We change them all for the good. And the main thing is we have to change it for the good sign that Mashiach will come very very soon. Yes. Not that I know of. No. Definite. Make kiddush. On Friday night. From Shulchan Aruch. And the Magen Avraham הלכות שבת, in הלכות שבת, the הלכות of kiddush. The Magen Avraham brings that you shouldn't make kiddush and he says some people don't do it. And in the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch, the Baal HaTanya Shulchan Aruch, he brings it as a minhag and that's why we shouldn't do it. Chanukah candles is no problem. It's only kiddush. Only kiddush, making kiddush is a problem. I heard I didn't see it inside anywhere, I heard that it's only red wine, but I don't see it anywhere, so that's why I can't say it. But it has to do with the מזל מאדים, that's what the מפרשים say, that's what the Magen Avraham says. Yes. Not an eclipse. No, that's ברכת החמה, it has nothing to do with an eclipse. That's ברכת החמה. No. No. ברכת החמה it means that when the sun comes back on a Wednesday to the same place where Hashem started with the sun, which happens once in 28 years, in the month of Nisan, that's when we make a special berachah, the Gemara says. That's a different thing altogether, that's nothing to do with it. Once in 28 years. Let's give a chance to the to the women for a moment. Oh, that's not so simple either. No, daylight saving doesn't count. Now it's not daylight savings time, but some say it's every week different, that you have to look exactly when חצות is, and the sixth hour from חצות, and some say it's exactly six to seven. That's already differences of opinion. Here most people follow six to seven. In Eretz Yisrael they follow different, they follow the חצות. Yes? Okay. People would go to the Rebbe for a berachah to change their mazal, have better mazal. And the Rebbe blessed with 770. Seven and seven, 77 is the אותיות מזל. Okay. And ten ספירות or Okay, very nice. Yeah. You talk about mazal, the Gemara says: משנה מקום משנה מזל. When you change place, you change your mazal. That's what the Gemara means. A lot of times when people used to write to the Rebbe about changing apartments or buying a house, so the Rebbe would answer: מ׳ מ׳ מ׳ מ׳ ל׳ ט׳ ו׳ ל׳. And the first time we saw it, no one knew what it was. משנה מקום משנה מזל לטובה ולברכה. Yes. When we use astrology, what should we say extra Tehillim, should we do a ta'anit, like Well, it says that there's a pasuk that says: תמים תהיה עם ה׳ אלקיך. You have to be straight and with Hashem, not to look into the future. Just if you happen to know, then you have to say extra Tehillim. And it's always good to say some extra Tehillim, just in case. Just remember when we used to live in Cleveland, so my father instituted in the shul, it wasn't a Liubavitch shul, it was Shabbos Mevarchim to say Tehillim before davenen. So, the first week they had a minyan, a Yid comes in towards the end and he saw this, he says, \"What's happening? Is anybody sick? Why are you saying Tehillim?\" So, he told him, \"We say Tehillim to make sure we don't get sick.\" To make sure what? You don't get sick! You don't have to wait till you get sick to say Tehillim. Yes. How if we're taught to השגחה פרטית, He doesn't ever intervene in In free choice? In choice, not. In choice, He never intervenes. He intervenes in what happens, but not in choice. Whatever happens to people is by Hashem, but whatever we to do No. No. No, we have free choice and it's not, yeah. And but you what you're asking is a good question: how do the two things It happened, but not our choice. It's a funny thing, our choice is pure and free no matter what happens, even though it seems that it's influenced by something else. Now how to explain that, we need another class. We had a class on השגחה פרטית, didn't we? But we didn't have on בחירה חפשית. On free choice, we had? I don't think so. But that'll be on the schedule. השגחה פרטית we had once. On on Divine Providence, last year. Okay. What? Okay, Rabbi, when you said before about the ועשית הישר והטוב, is that another way to say that lifnim mishurat hadin? Yes, yes, yes. Now exactly exactly what does that mean? In other words, you're doing the mitzvah, תרי״ג mitzvot, but you're doing it with more kavanah or more more hidur, or what? With more hidur. It's more hidur. It means that if you know that Hashem would be happier if you do it a certain way, let's say there is a mitzvah that has, for certain opinions, according to one opinion you're yotzei this way, according to another opinion you have to do different, better, more. So if you do the other opinion, Hashem is happy. But, because the halacha is that way, if the halacha is like the lenient one, but definitely Hashem is happier if you also follow the more strict one. And if you do that, that's called lifnim mishurat hadin, that's more than you have to. But that that is that is Or, another example, a person could give tzedakah, you give a 10%, 10%, you did the mitzvah. It's better if you give 20%. You do that, that's lifnim mishurat hadin. But halevai, all the Jews would do do the halacha, but you're you're saying going beyond the letter of the law. Right. And there is there is also a sefer that says: you shouldn't subtract or add This is not adding, chas veshalom. To add a new mitzvah, that you're not allowed. But in the mitzvah itself to do it in the best possible way, in the nicest way, that definitely is important. It's taken from a pasuk: זה ק-לי ואנוהו, this is my God and I should beautify Him. So it means pashut to make the mitzvot beautiful and also to be mehader in mitzvot, it's lifnim mishurat hadin. How do you do that, though? After all, a person could make a mistake and do do do the wrong thing and Sure you have to know how to do it. Sure. Sure, you don't do things on your own, you have to find out in halacha. Yes. When you talk about free choice, I get very confused, because Okay. we come into the world with certain amount of heredity, environment affects our character. We don't all have the same free choice, we have different free choice. Looks like it. Looks like it. The kid in the ghetto doesn't have the same free choice as the boy in It's not for now, but it's a it's a very, very deep subject, and it's very hard to understand. But definitely there is 100% free choice. We will have to have sometime a special shiur on free choice. It's not a simple matter. But what but what you're saying is true, it seems as if every person has things which are there from before, and that pushes him to do certain things. But the truth is one of the principles of Yiddishkeit is that everybody has free choice. Free, and free means completely free. However, we will explain it. Then a Yid has choice and a goy doesn't have choice? has choice, right. So therefore the kid in the ghetto is generally Yeah, but that's if it's a goy. We're talking about Yidden. No, a goy is different, but a Yid. Well, how do they explain that? Some have handicaps that have to do Right, right. True. But by by goyim, by Yidden, you might have to work harder, but the choice is the same, which needs explanation. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for coming. Next week's class is lashon hara, I believe. I don't know. Let's not talk lashon hara of it. In any case, mostly the list is posted. If anybody wants a list of the upcoming classes that you'd like to give out to people, we're always interested in having more people to come to the class. Please bring your friends. I have sheets of the list of the classes that will be upcoming, as well a list of the tapes, if you're interested in purchasing this purchasing any of the tapes of the past classes, which are available at $4 a $4 a tape. Again, please help you yourselves to the refreshments. We always need sponsors for the refreshments. It's $15 to sponsor that week's refreshments. There is a sign-in sheet on that table. Please let us have your name and number so we can send you information about the upcoming classes. Thank you very much.