Еврейская мысль к Шмот 26:5

Do not question the interpretation I offered for the moon being called “small” – that the moon was described in this manner because it conducted itself in the manner of petty people who flaunt themselves before all others. These explanations are in accord with the interpretation given by R. Avraham ibn Ezra in explanation of the Aggadic teachings in Tractate Chulin mentioned above,⁶Ibn Ezra explains that the passage in Chulin 60b does not interpret the diminishment of the moon in a simple sense, but rather that it refers to the moon’s waxing and waning in its phases. Tosfos Yom Tov offers a different interpretation of that passage (see page 86ff.), but cites Ibn Ezra’s interpretation here because Ibn Ezra also refers to the moon as boasting and contending with the sun, as it were. as cited in the Akeidah, ch. 37,⁷Tosfos Yom Tov is referring to Akeidas Yitzchak, by R. Yitzchak ben Moshe Aramah. This text is often referred to as “the Akeidah” who states: The moon’s protests refer to the time of the alignment.⁸The time of the full moon when the sun, the moon, and the earth are all aligned in a straight line. Hence, the disc of the moon is full. Such an alignment occurs every month. When the three bodies are on more or less the same latitudinal plane, a lunar eclipse takes place. Generally, however, they are on different latitudinal planes and hence, such eclipses are rare. It is as if the luminaries are contesting with each other when they are at opposite ends of their orbits. When they are both filled with light it is as if the moon raises itself up to say “I will rule.”⁹Cf. I Melachim 1:5. Ibn Ezra borrows the wording of the verse that refers to Adoniyahu, who, like the moon, attempted to achieve greatness he was not destined for. From that time onward, as soon as the moon departs from that point, its light begins to diminish. This is the diminishment referred to by our Sages. God commanded that a sacrifice be brought on the day that all of the moon’s light is eliminated. The verse speaks of “a sin-offering for God,” since God was the first cause for the light of the moon to be diminished, for He created the moon in a manner that it receives light from the sun and does not possess its own light.