Les Psaumes 8:4 Halakha : The Sabbath Epistle, Mishneh Torah, Foundations & Sefer Chasidim

There is no disagreement among astronomers that there are two great circles (the celestial equator and the ecliptic).¹⁰ In the geocentric system of Ibn Ezra there are seven spheres that encompass the earth, each containing a planet; an eighth sphere, the “zodiacal sphere,” containing the zodiac and the fixed stars; and a ninth sphere, the “diurnal sphere,” which rotates all of the lower spheres from east to west in 24 hours. The ecliptic is a path through the zodiac and it is the projection of the sun’s path on the zodiacal sphere. The celestial equator is the projection of the earth’s equator on the diurnal sphere and lies midway between the celestial poles. These are the outer circles, of which one is concentric with the earth.¹¹ The diurnal sphere has as its center the center of the earth. The ecliptic is the projection of the sun’s path upon the zodiacal sphere, and, although the zodiacal sphere is concentric with the earth, however the sun’s sphere is eccentric with its center some distance from the earth’s center. (It seems to me that there is a scribe’s error here, and the text should read “the center of the earth is the center for each,” referring to both the zodiacal sphere and the diurnal sphere.) They intersect at two points (the equinoctial points), and from there they diverge, one (the ecliptic) bending south and also north approximately two fifths of one sixth of the sphere.¹² 2⁄5 ׳ 1⁄6 ׳ 360÷ = 24÷. This angle, called the “obliquity of the ecliptic,” is defined as the angle between the plane of the ecliptic and the plane of the equator. The modern value for the obliquity of the ecliptic is approximately 23÷26ʹ.

But how may one discover the way to love and fear Him? When man will reflect concerning His works, and His great and wonderful creatures,¹But he must make thorough study. C. and will behold through them His wonderful, matchless and infinite wisdom, he will spontaneously be filled with love, praise and exaltation and become possessed of a great longing to know the Great Name, even as David said: "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God," (Ps. 42,2); and when he will think of all these matters,²Sifre, Deut. 6.5; Shabbat, 30–31. G. he will be taken aback in a moment and stricken with awe, and realize that he is an infinitesimal creature, humble and dark, standing with an insignificant and slight knowledge in the presence of the All Wise, as David said: "For when I see Thy heavens, the wonderful works of Thy fingers, of what use is man that Thou mayest remember him?" (Ibid. 8,4). And, in harmony with these matters, I elucidate great, general principles of the works of the Lord of the universe, so that they might serve as an opening for one who understands by which to love the Name, as some sages said on the subject of love: "Out of it thou wilt recognize the One who spoke, and the universe was called into existence."

The root of loving God is loving God with all your heart (Deut. 6:4). Our Creator commanded us to serve him with love,¹The term “love” is the preferred reading. that the love of our soul be bound up with His soul in joy and in His love and with a good heart. And the joy of this love is of such intensity and so overpowers the heart of those who love God, that even after many days of not being with his wife and having a great desire for her, in the hour that a man ejaculates he does not find it as satisfying as the intensity and power of loving²Ibid. God and finding joy in his Creator. And all the pleasures of playing with his children are as naught compared to the pleasures of the heart of the man who loves God with all his heart and soul and with all his might, i.e., with all his thoughts, about how to love God and how to make the public acquire merit and sanctify God’s name, and how to devote himself with love to the Creator,³Berakoth 61b. as did Phineas the priest who dedicated himself with love for his Creator to be zealous in His name. Let him not covet money in a situation where there is a Sanctification of God’s name if he resists taking money, as we find with Abraham, “that I will not take a thread or a shoe latchet” (Gen. 14:23). And so (it was) with Elisha who did not want to take money from Naaman. Let him not neglect the study of the Law because of pleasures, playing with his children or attachment to his wives. Also let him give up leisurely walks, meeting with women, sweet songs, in order that his heart may be whole in the joy of God, toiling and laboring in that which is the will of the Creator. He should take a lesson from one of flesh and blood. If he knew a matter to be the desire of a king, he would not yield nor rest until he fulfilled the will of the king, who is a worm like himself. He would be overjoyed that his deeds received the notice of the king and especially if it met with the will of the Creator who is eternal. Therefore must he labor all the more and seek how to fulfill the will of His commandments. He who serves out of love, occupies himself with Torah and commandments, goes in paths of proper wisdom and occupies himself with Torah and loves God with great love, not for any other reason, and not for fear of evil, nor for the purpose of inheriting the good. But he serves in truth, because the Holy One, blessed be He, is truth and in the end the good will come because of it.⁴Nedarim 62a. He must love the Creator with a great and strong love until he becomes sick because of his love, as the man who is love-sick for the affections of a woman and reels constantly because of his love, when he sits, rises, goes and comes, also when he eats and drinks. He neither sleeps nor slumbers because of this love. Greater than this should love of the Creator be in the hearts of those who love Him and they should be absorbed in it constantly,⁵Rosh ha-Shanah 4a. as we were commanded, “with all thy heart, with all thy soul …” (Deut. 6:4); and this is what Solomon in his wisdom said by the way of simile: “For I am love-sick” (Cant. 2:5). And this is a matter as clear as day and sun, for all who know that love of the Creator is not bound up with the heart of man until he is absorbed in it continuously, so as, for example, to forsake all else in the world outside of Him, as He commanded us “with all thy heart” (Deut. 6:4). This is impossible except through the apprehension of the mind. Therefore this is the truth, and the sum of it all is, that man must understand and study in the wisdoms and disciplines that make known to him his Master⁶Shabbath 75a. according to the intellectual ability that he possesses to understand, consider and comprehend.⁷Maimonides, Hilkhoth Teshuvah, 10:6. And the Creator, blessed be His name and exalted be His revered and awesome fame, commanded us to love and fear His name, as it is written “and thou shalt love the Lord thy God” (Deut. 6:4); and it is said, “thou shalt fear the Lord thy God” (Deut. 6:13). And which is the way in which to love Him and fear Him? In the hour that the individual comprehends the great and wondrous works of God, the Holy One, blessed be He, which are beyond assessment and limit, he immediately loves, praises, glorifies and yearns deeply to know that great, revered and awesome name.⁸Moses Maimonides, Book of the Divine Commandments, trans. Charles Chavel (2 Vols.; London: Soncino Press, 1940), I, 82, commandment 3. And thus did David say, “My soul thirsteth for God for the living God” (Ps. 42:3). And when he reflects upon these matters he will be startled, he will fear, and will tremble that he is a very small and lowly creature standing with poor and scanty knowledge before Him.⁹Maimonides, Hilkhoth Yesode Ha-Torah, 2:2, adds the words, “Who is omniscient,” (literally, “Whose knowledge is complete”). And so did David say, “When I behold Thy heavens the work of Thy fingers etc…. What is man that Thou art mindful of him” (Ps. 8:4).