Don't believe it: How can it be dark outside but it's already morning for you?

Little of the light rejects much of the darkness, so the beginning of the day in halakha is determined by the appearance of sunlight across the sky, while the sun itself is not visible. Blessing of Blessings, page 9

Don't believe it: How can it be dark outside but it's already morning for you?

When one wishes his friend a "good morning," there is usually daylight outside. Even when one wishes his friend 'good night', then there is darkness outside. But Judaism is different. Our sages said the morning begins when there is still darkness outside. At a time when a person is walking around the street and in his eyes he sees that it is still completely dark, it will be considered a day. how? In Halacha there is a concept of dawn or dawn, the beginning of the day. This time is determined by the appearance of sunlight across the sky, while the sun itself is not visible and still below the horizon.

Rabbi Haim David Kowalski, the digital Gemara presenter, explained that this has many implications. For example, a Jew wants to fulfill the commandments of taking the four sexes on Sukkot. When is the Mitzvah fulfilled? Day and not night. Adam was on his way to the flight, before boarding, he knew it was dawn. He takes the lulav and etrog, blesses and thus abides by the mitzvah, even though it is dark outside, since it is the beginning of the day in halacha.

night? Only when there is complete darkness outside. Illustration (Photo: ShutterStock)

Illustration (Photo: ShutterStock)

By contrast, Lila, when is Lila called Halacha? Not when it gets dark, but when there is complete darkness outside. This time is referred to as 'the stars', the moment in which the night begins in a halachic manner. Even before, there is the term 'sunset,' which indicates the moment when the time period called 'between the suns' begins, which is daytime, nighttime.

Why in the morning when it is still dark outside, is it already called day but night, when it is not a bit dark yet to be considered night? Rabbi Kowalski explained the following: The Jewish people are struggling for the light, clinging to the light because little of the light rejects much of the dark and everything depends on a person's head. If his head is still a night but he already knows that it is already a day, he is already starting a new beginning and at this beginning he wants to hold as much as possible because as long as it is not night, it is another day and cling to the light.

Little of the light repels much of the darkness. (Photo: Reuben Castro)

Lighting a Second Candle in Nehemiah and Merchim Landscape, December 13, 2017 (Photo: Reuven Castro)

The Digital Gemara is the first venture of its kind led by Rabbi Kowalski, founder and head of the Daily Page Lights organization, in which anyone can be part of the hundreds of thousands of people around the country and the world who regularly study one Gemara page daily by watching a short daily video clip. The Babylonian Talmud in its most popular version has 2,711 pages. In the daily videos, you will meet every day at significant and fascinating points related to daily life based on the daily study of the Gemara.

Rabbi Meir Shapiro conceived the idea for regular daily study somewhere in 1923. Rabbi Shapiro had one major goal: to encourage all levels of the public to set times for Torah study and to create a common denominator among all learners, regardless of class, profession, or country of origin. Today, 96 years after the initiative launched, hundreds of thousands of Jews across the country and the world are studying together in a regular learning cycle that lasts seven and a half years.

This is the way to be in the next world: Tractate Greetings, page 9