‘Avenues of the Skies’ Brought to Life in Boro Park

As the Daf Yomi cycle inches its way through the damping of Rosh Hashanah, Klal Yisroel comes upon the complex topics known as the sugyah of “kiddush hachodesh”—necessitating some level of familiarity with astronomy, which most know very little about.

 To this end, the Daf Yomi Commission of Agudath Israel of America, in concert with Chevra Lomdei Torah of the Boyaner Kloiz in Boro Park, brought down Rabbi Shia Hertz Ostreicher of Lakewood, an expert who has dedicated years of his life to understanding these complex scientific topics through the lens of Chazal.

 His presentation left the overflow crowed with a renewed appreciation for these wonders in the skies, and a clear understanding of the topics they had been learning in the daf, utilizing modern technology.

 Boropark24 reached Rabbi Ostreicher as he was putting the finishing touches on the English version of his Sefer Shvili D’Rokeah (pathways, or Avenues of the skies), which, like its Hebrew counterpart, holds hundred of high resolution images, bringing these concepts to life.

 He explained that he usually brings an inflatable planetarium to many of his presentations, enabling up to 30 people at a time to observe the planets and stars in question in real time.

 Utilizing simple props, as well as modern technology, he demonstrates obscure concepts such as the rising of the moon and other planets rising and setting, the axis many planets and when they will be seen, the mazalos and stars which are so I often talked about in the Rishonim, and why they have been assigned the signs that they have, and so many other ideas which are simply unfamiliar to the lay man. He also pointed out how, with a little bit of knowledge, we can often spot major planets in our city skies.

 Rabbi Ostreicher delivered a similar presentation in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the conclusion of Maseches Beitza, and regularly does events in many cities on these incredibly fascinating topics.

 As Klal Yisroel prepares to close Maseches Rosh Hashanah, it was with a renewed appreciation for this complex area of Shas.