Eleazar of Worms, MS Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale héb. 772, fol. 144b

 

It is said in Sanhedrin [42a]- He who sanctifies the moon it is as if he received the face of the Shekhinah. Therefore we leap as [it is written] “the creatures ran to and fro like the appearance of lightning” (Ezek. 1-14). Therefore we bless the moon until midnight when her blemish is filled and the rainbow is formed. The throne is [in the shape of the letter] kaf, thus is [it written] “the appearance of the splendor like the appearance of the image of the throne.” “The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him” (Ps. 25-14).

Translated by Elliot Wolfson in “The Face of Jacob in the Moon- Mystical Transformations of an Aggadic Myth,” in The Seduction of Myth in Judaism- Challenge and Response, 235-270. Edited by S. Daniel Breslauer. Albany- State University of New York Press, 1997.

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