[Avodah] sun and moon

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Micha Berger wrote:

> Chazal probably didn't know that moonlight is reflected sunlight,
> and even if they did, they aren't likely to have assumed the
> listener would know that.

Really? I would think that even the most cursory study of the moons phases and eclipses would lead to the conclusion that the moon is lit up by the sun.

On second thought, if the sun goes *above* the rakia at nighttime, then I shouldn't be so quick about what they'd learn from that. But certainly by the time they understood that the sun is *below* the horizon at night (relativistically speaking), they'd realize that that's why (for example) such a tiny sliver of the moon is lit up after the molad, and only immediately after sunset, etc etc.

Whether the ordinary folk understood this I don't know, but certainly anyone who studied it to any depth at all. No?

Akiva Miller

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