[Avodah] God who knows the future

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Aug 16, 2011 at 03:52:13AM +0000, kennethgmiller at juno.com wrote:
: The source seems to be the Tur OC 230, who writes, "... but davka after
: 40 days of pregnancy. But within 40 days, his tefilah is effective." The
: MB (230:1) explains, "Because the shape of the newborn will have been
: formed; but witin 40 days, tefilah is effective."
...
: I don't remember R' David Riceman mentioning it in this discussion,
: but there's a principle which would seem to support at least some of his
: position. "Amar Rabi Yitzchak: Bracha only comes on something which is
: hidden from the eye." (Bava Metzia 42a) As long as no one *knows* the
: child's gender, it can still be changed for the better. Why should it
: matter that this is usually determined at a certain stage in the fetus'
: developement, if no one knows?

It's like Schroedinger's Cat. <grin>
(For those who want an explanation, see
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger%27s_cat>)

The fetus knows. Not only is 40 days when the gender is determined,
but also when neshamah notzerah. (Menachos 99b; I am quoting the Aramaic
rather than paraphrasing, because I do not want to blur what happens at
40 days with what happens at birth.) There is now some aspect of the soul
which knows its own gender, and therefore while it's "ne'elam min ha'ayin"
in the literal sense -- fetuses don't see -- there is one neshamah that
does know the baby's gender.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Between stimulus & response, there is a space.
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