Ring of Fire Solar Eclipse to appear as Rosh Hashanah begins
As the sun sets in Israel on Wednesday, October 2, and Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, begins, the second solar eclipse of the year will appear in the heavens.
This will be the second and final solar eclipse of the year. It will appear at precisely 15:42 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which corresponds to 18:42 in Israel, almost precisely as the sun sets and the holy day begins.
The eclipse on October 2nd will not be visible in the continental United States or Israel, and the eclipse’s path will be entirely over the Pacific Ocean.
The first eclipse appeared on April 8th, known as the “Great American Eclipse of 2024.” It is important to note that April 8th was the eve of the new moon, marking the beginning of the Hebrew month of Nisan, referred to in the Torah as the first month. The month is considered auspicious as it contains the holiday of Pesach (Passover).
An annular solar eclipse was visible along a path covering parts of the United States, Mexico, and several countries in Central America and South America on October 14, 2023, exactly one week after the horrific attack by Hamas on Israel.
While skeptics claim this astronomical phenomenon has no spiritual significance, others note that the eclipse of 2017 that transversed the United States ushered in a catastrophic hurricane season, the global COVID epidemic, the war in Ukraine, and the horrific Hamas attack on Israel.
When the three are aligned, an eclipse occurs when the moon passes between Earth and the sun. If the moon is close to Earth, then the lunar disk will completely block the sun in a total eclipse.
A ring of fire, referred to by astronomers as an annular solar eclipse, occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth while at its farthest point from the Earth. Hence the Sun appears as a very bright ring because the Moon doesn’t completely cover the Sun (like in a total eclipse) and instead leaves a bright border. This is, essentially, the opposite of a supermoon, when the moon is close to the Earth, making it appear larger. Sunday’s annular eclipse is especially rare as it comes in the summer.
The Earth’s orbit around the Sun is elliptical, so its distance from the Sun varies throughout the year, affecting its apparent size. When Earth is at its farthest distance from the Sun in early July, a total eclipse is somewhat more likely. In contrast, conditions favor an annular eclipse when Earth approaches its closest distance to the Sun.
In the Bible, solar events are recorded as having a remarkable and sometimes supernatural significance. Control over the sun was demonstrated by God in the three-day Plague of Darkness and is prophesied to be an essential part of the End Times. The Prophet Joel (2:31) predicted, “The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” The Prophet Amos makes a similar prediction: “And on that day – declares my God – I will make the sun set at noon, I will darken the earth on a sunny day.”
In giving rebuke to Hezekiah to inform him that he would die from his illness, the prophet Isaiah (13:9) wrote, “The stars and constellations of heaven shall not give off their light; The sun shall be dark when it rises, And the moon shall diffuse no glow.” As Isaiah predicted – and as much later calculated by NASA – on March 5 in 702 BC, the 16th year before Hezekiah’s death, a prominent solar eclipse appeared over the Middle East. Its path crossed the Arabian Peninsula and the obscuration of the sun over Israel was more than 60 percent.
Astronomical phenomena are often discussed in Jewish literature as accompanying the Messiah. Jewish mysticism explains that this slight to the moon will be rectified at the end of days when the sun and the moon will be equal both size and intensity.
In its discussion of eclipses, the Talmud (Sukkot 29a) specifically described solar eclipses as bad omens for nations that base their calendars on the solar cycle. At the end of this section describing the omens contained within eclipses, the Talmud states a disclaimer: “When Israel does the will of the place (God), they have nothing to fear from all of this,” citing the Prophet Jeremiah as a source.
Thus said Hashem: Do not learn to go the way of the nations, And do not be dismayed by portents in the sky; Let the nations be dismayed by them! Jeremiah 10:2
The same source in the Talmud specifies that lunar eclipses are a bad omen for Israel since Israel is spiritually represented by the moon. If the lunar eclipse takes place in the east side of the heavens, then it is a bad omen for all the nations in the east, and similarly, if it occurs in the western hemisphere of the sky, it is a bad sign for all the nations in the west.
A solar eclipse can only occur because the sun and the moon appear to be the same in diameter as seen from the earth. This is due to a coincidence that is unique and has not been found anywhere else in the galaxy. Though the sun is about 400 times farther away than the moon, the sun is also about 400 times bigger. If the distances or sizes were different than they actually are, eclipses would not take place.
The Talmud relates to this, explaining why the sun and the moon appear to be the same size. The Talmud (Hulin 60b) discusses the seeming contradiction in the verse describing the creation of the sun and the moon.
Hashem made the two great lights, the greater light to dominate the day and the lesser light to dominate the night, and the stars. Genesis 1:16
Though initially described in equal terms, the verse then noted the sun and the moon were not equal, with the sun being called the “greater light” and the moon the “lesser light”. The Talmud explains that when God created the sun and the moon they were equal in every manner, including size and intensity. The moon complained, saying, “Two kings cannot share one crown.” God agreed and made the moon shine less intensely, compensating the moon by commanding Israel to set the calendar by its cycles.
Jewish mysticism explains that this slight to the moon will be rectified at the end of days when the sun and the moon will be equal in both size and intensity.
A solar eclipse can only occur because the sun and the moon appear to be the same in diameter as seen from the earth. This is due to a coincidence that is unique and has not been found anywhere else in the galaxy. Though the sun is about 400 times farther away than the moon, the sun is also about 400 times bigger. If the distances or sizes were different than they actually are, eclipses would not take place.
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