Kaisipang Hudyo sa Jeremias 10:2: Akeidat Yitzchak & Derush Chiddushei HaLevanah

Since G'd in His wisdom saw fit to make man a mixture of matter and spirit, He had to make the earth and the Heavens to provide a home for the spirit. This is expressed in Isaiah 45,12, by the words "I have made earth and Heaven and created man on it." The meaning is that earth and Heaven were needed for the sake of man. We have to conceive of rakiyah, the horizon as the dividing curtain between the purely spiritual "upper" regions, and the "lower" physical part of the universe. That this is so can be confirmed by the motion that we observe in the part of the universe inhabited by our bodies. For this reason Solomon in Kohelet, keeps referring to the state of things as "under the sun." By this he wants us to understand that he speaks only about the physical part of the universe. Since spiritual beings are not subject to time, they are also not subject to motion, since motion is measured by time. Not only are spiritual beings not bound by time, but, on the contrary, time and its "carrier" are subservient to them. Celestial bodies, (sun and planets) are in a category in between. Inasmuch as their very function is motion, they are affected by it; they are, however, not dominated by time. Their motion commenced before a time frame had been established, but ever since such time frames exist, they exist side by side with time. On earth, things are different, as Solomon said: "everything has its time and season under the sun." (Kohelet 3,1) Man is subject to the dictates of time. Israel the nation, assured as it has been by G'd of arichut yamim, a timeless, i.e. infinite future on holy soil however, can demonstrate by its history that there are aspects to its existence which set it above and beyond the limits imposed upon man by time. All this, providing Israel acts as Israel should. When Kohelet refers to eyt lechol chefetz, "there is a time frame for every desire," the reference is to an intellectual achievement. The message is that since we are in a human shell, a body, the workings of the mind are somewhat impeded. If we did not have a body to contend with, our mind would comprehend immediately things which require time for us to be able to understand them now. The body acts as a brake for the intellect.

a) The verse states that “the luminaries will serve four purposes: for signs, for appointed times, for days and years.” However, the purposes are not mentioned in order, i.e., of the four purposes mentioned, “for days” is mentioned third, even though seemingly, it should be first. This applies according to Rashi’s interpretation that “for signs” refers to an eclipse. If a lunar eclipse occurs, it takes place on the fifteenth of the lunar month. If a solar eclipse occurs, it takes place on the first day of the lunar month. Similarly, the four purposes are mentioned out of order according to the interpretation in Midrash Rabbah.³⁵Bereishis Rabbah 6:1. According to Midrash Rabbah, “for signs” refers to the Shabbasos, “for appointed times” refers to the three pilgrimage festivals, and “for days” refers to the Rashei Chodashim. Thus, according to either interpretation, “for days” should precede “for festivals”, i.e., according to Rashi’s interpretation, “for days” should be the first point mentioned, and according to Midrash Rabbah, “for days” should be second, preceding the festivals.