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.
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.
“What’s the speed of dark?”
—Steven Wright
Whoa...great quotation! Very true, both for the lights of humanity and for the darkness.
Beautiful. Truth.
—
“Where and in what trachte of the talmud does the following quote come from?”
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110214222221AAlDu48
Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
“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.” ~ Hannah Szenes
Hannah Szenes (or Chana or Hannah Senesh) (July 17, 1921—November 7, 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.
Szenes was one of 17 Jews living in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine, now Israel, who were trained by the British army to parachute into Yugoslavia during the Second World War. Their mission was to help rescue the Jews of Nazi-occupied Hungary, who were about to be deported to the German death camp at Auschwitz. Arrested at the Hungarian border, she was imprisoned and tortured, but refused to reveal the details of her mission, and was eventually tried and executed by firing squad. She is the only one whose fate after capture is known with certainty. Hannah Szenes was officially exonerated in November 1993.
Szenes’ writings have become a part of the popular heritage of Israel, her diaries providing a firsthand account of life in Hungary during the rise of Nazism. They also provide a window into the life of Palestine's early Zionists. Her works include two well-known plays, The Violin and Bella gerunt alii, tu felix Austria nube, as well as the notable poem entitled, “Blessed is the Match.”
Hannah Szenes is perhaps best described in her own words quoted above.
Does not sound like it is 1500 years old
Those this particular quote seems to have been debunked in this thread, it is truly amazing, when you start rummaging around in ancient Hebrew wisdom, the grasp that that those ancient Jews had on a lot of things that we still don’t understand very well.
Though the Hebrews discerned that God was beyond the Sun, Moon and stars some 3,000 years ago. That ain´t bad.
It also amazes me that in Leviticus XI, 18-19 the word ¨Tinshemet¨ is used to describe a bird, then in v 30 to describe a reptile. This is interesting considering modern debates linking dinosaurs and birds.
s, ping.