Posted on 09/12/2011 6:35:02 PM PDT by DManA
There are stars whose light only reaches the earth long after they have fallen apart. There are people whose remembrance gives light in this world, long after they have passed away. This light shines in our darkest nights on the road we must follow.
It blows me away that someone could have written this 1500-1800 years ago. Think what you need to know to make that sentence make sense: You have to know that stars are unimaginably far away. You have to know that stars are not eternal. You have to know that light has a finite speed. None of this was know by western science until less than a hundred years ago. It litterally makes my head spin that a Talmud writer could have had this idea 1500 years ago.
I agree that is very amazing.
HANG ON! Found an article that this is NOT from the Talmud.
It’s a quote from Hannah Szenes (or Chana or Hannah Senesh) (July 17, 1921—November 7, 1944)
Sorry.
And someone might argue that “fallen apart”, if it’s an accurate translation, implies that the process has something to do with gravity, which of course it does.
Obviously, as a Christian I don’t consider the Talmud to be divinely inspired, but I can accept that some of the writers may have had a good relationship with God, and that He may have revealed such things.
“HANG ON! Found an article that this is NOT from the Talmud.
It’s a quote from Hannah Szenes (or Chana or Hannah Senesh) (July 17, 1921—November 7, 1944)
Sorry.”
I see. Maybe best if this thread was deleted due to being posted in error.
After I did a little more research it seems it is a more contemporary quote. Nice quote but not ancient.
Sure.
Except, it really is a nice quote (even if not ancient).
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110214222221AAlDu48
It’s even wilder than that: Prevailing understanding of optics was that light emanated from one’s eye to the object being seen.
You wanna blow your mind? Try reading of Nicolas Cardinal di Cusa, whose notions he tried to assert as doctrinal. Galileo made a straw man out of Aristotelian physics and the Pope took the bait; the reality was Galileo set astronomy back about 4 centuries; he was more correct than the straw man he created, but he falsely presumed the universe was small, spherical and helio-centric. Di Cusa had it correct that it was staggeringly immense, diffuse, and centered on wherever the observer is.
Galileo’s problem was that he was convinced by Copernicus that the planets revolved around the sun, but trapped by over-simplification, he simply ignored the absence of parallax view.
This is not from any tranchte of the Talmud. It is a quote from Hannah Szenes. Her two novels and diary are well regarded and studied (as a Jew, I have studied them).
Hannah Szenes (1921-1944) was born in Budapest, Hungary, to an assimilated Jewish family, the daughter of an accomplished playwright and journalist. Executed in her native land at the age of 23, she became a symbol of idealism and self-sacrifice. Her poetry, made famous in part because of her unfortunate death, reveals a woman imbued with hope, even in the face of adverse circumstances. She was a symbol of courage in one of the darkest times of modern history.
Sure, probably better to post it again seperately
Yup found that out. Beautiful quote. Glad I discovered her.
Yup found that out. Beautiful quote. Glad I discovered her.
“What’s the speed of dark?”
—Steven Wright
My instincts told me this wasn’t ancient. Should have listened to my instincts.
How do these myths get started? Who could have though someone could have written that 1800 years ago?
Whoa...great quotation! Very true, both for the lights of humanity and for the darkness.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/szenes.html
(as a Jew, I have studied them).
Is she well know in Jewish circles?
Beautiful. Truth.
She is very well known in Jewish circles. Her writings convey an intellect and introspective ability that is most admirable. I was first introduced to her writings at age 13 with a poem called ‘Blessed is the Match’.
She is well respected in Israel through her service in the British army during WWII. Her remains were brought back to Israel and interred on Mount Herzl. Her ability to offer hope in dark times through her writings are something that most Jews, particularly in Israel, can relate to and seek out for guidance and comfort.
Well, I’ve read the original source material for Nicolas diCusa, whom Johannes Kepler called, “divinely inspired,” without even having a clue how dead-on diCusa was.
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