- In general Kiddush Lavanah has always seemed to me to be akin to "Avodas Kochavim" - so does anyone know of a satisfying answer that works with Occam's razor?
More specifically:
- We say Just as I can not touch you so should my enemies not be able to touch me. (a)It would seem that we are directly addressing the moon, hence the celestial worship... and (b)We debunked the idea that we can't touch the moon in 1969.
Later on we say that is should be G-ds will that the light of the moon should be as the light of the sun. (a) The light of the moon is the light on the sun - and (b) even if you understand it to mean that they should be of comparable brightness - why would you want it to be "daylight" for 24 hours a day?
It continues that we want the moons light to be like the light of the 7 days of creation - This one is just full of mystery? (I'll leave the whole 7-day question for some other time) Was the light of creation some giant cloud of glowing plasma after the "Big Bang" event? Is there some reason we want to be bombarded with more radiation that even if our ozone layers offers us protection, would knock out our satellites?
I can come up with one reason for an event similar to Kiddush Levanah, but not sufficient to explain the service we now have. Also, it would seem to be more logical to say on Rosh Chodesh or as close to it as possible instead of first waiting several days. Our forefathers had to look to the moon to know that start of the new month. Looking at the moon and following its cycles was a mandatory part of Jewish life. Now that we are on a fixed calendar systems, there's no need to look to the sky at all to observe our Holidays. Some sort of "zecher" (remembrance) for this practice might be called for but if that was the intention, then it would seem to me that we should recite only the main (2nd) paragraph, close the siddur and go home before we cross the line of "Ovdei Kochavim U'Mazalot".
Your insights would be appreciated.
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