[Avodah] mabul

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Nov 04, 2011 at 12:27:23AM -0400, Zev Sero wrote:
> On 3/11/2011 6:29 PM, Micha Berger wrote:
>> R' Yonah (4th gen, early 4th cent) talks
>> about Alexander flying high enough to see that the earth was a ball.
>> But that's 2 centuries after Rebbe.
>
> The story of Alexander is also in Bavli, Mas. Tomid.

I assume you mean the 10 questions of Alexander the Great, in Tamid
31b-32a. (It is relevent, and was the only match for "Aleksunderus" and
"Tamid" I found on he.wikisource.org.) The gemara is stam, so I can't play
this game of which tanna or amora believed what. But more importantly
I didn't see the story of flying up in that gemara. Just a question of
whether the sun is closer to us at noon or when rising or setting. The
answer -- at noon, is consistent with either a ball or a disk.

>                                                        Butin that gemara
> does it mean a ball or a disc?

Is AZ 3:1 banning the use of balls or discs as the device atop a standard
(or flagpole)? In the Y-mi, R' Yonah is quoted in the discussion
explaining that issur. The word is "kadur" in both the mishnah and the
quote of R' Yonah.

R' Yonah is an Israeli amora, so he had no less exposure to Greek thought
-- or as I would put it, the Roman acceptance of this Greek model of
the cosmos following Ptolmey -- than a tanna would have. More, actually,
since that acceptance was pretty much universal by his day.

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Every second is a totally new world,
micha at aishdas.org        and no moment is like any other.
http://www.aishdas.org           - Rabbi Chaim Vital
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