Does it really matter what religion he was
Yeah. JK- No, it doesent really matter, but I am sure that some dumbbell Nazi will blame this on the Jews, and its some pre-Zionist stupid conspiracy.
Maybe Galileo Galilei was Jewish also.Maybe Nostradamus was also Jewish that is how he had all those visions
Someone who sees visions does not have to be Jewish. (Anyway I dont know too much about his visions, but I did hear that they are too vague, and people are just seeling into his visions- something that is not accurate, because we can apply that to anything- Unlike real Jewish Prophecy which many times is more clear and exact to the point- (Prophecy is higher then dreams and visions).
Also about Galileo- I dont know too much about him, but I do know that he wasn't really the first to discover the telescope as the academic world now claims. Around 2,000 years ago, and maybe earlier already in the Talmud it describes a tool (Telescope) that Rav Gamliel had and used. Same with the knowledge that the world is round, and many other things- it is written straight and described straight out in the Zohar about these things (also many things both in the Zohar and Talmud, science and secrets/discoveries wayy ahead of its time).
I don't know what you're trying to say Tzvi, but there are places in the Talmud that indicate the earth was round, not flat - or "straight." So since the Talmud predates the Zohar by a long long time, I'm not sure it matters what the zohar says about the shape of earth.... Although by that time, they should have known already, no?
I didn't/ dont say that the Talmud says otherwise (although I dont think that secrets are more openly written there. Talmud doesn't predate the Zohar by a long long time. Everything came from Sinai (many things even before that as oral tradition). Also Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai who's lessons appear in the Talmud also do so in the Zohar (meaning the same generation of Rabbis being discussed).
THE SHAPE OF THE EARTH
THE ROTATION OF THE EARTH
DIFFERENT CLIMATES SHAPE THE FEATURES OF INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH
THE PERIOD OF ONLY DAY AND ONLY NIGHT AT THE POLES
THE EARTH IS SHAPED LIKE THE HUMAN EYE
IT IS WRITTEN IN THE ZOHAR (VAYIKRA 10a)
“In the Book of Rab Hamnuna the Elder it is explained further that all the inhabited world rotates in a circle like a ball, so that some are above and some below, and the strange appearances of certain races are due to the nature of the air, each one according to his respective place but they live and are sustained as other men. There is a part of the inhabited world where it is light for some when in another part it is dark for others, so that some have night while others have day. Also there is a place where it is always day and where there is no night save for one short hour. All this account which is found in the books of the ancients and in the Book of Adam the first man is confirmed by Scripture, which says: "I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, wonderful are Your works" (Ps. , 15), and again, "O Lord, how manifold are Your works" (PS. 104, 24). This mystery" has been entrusted to the masters of wisdom,[The Rabbis and prophets who received the knowledge from the first man] but is not known to those who mark the boundaries because it is a deep mystery of the Torah.
SO YOU CAN SEE IN ONE SMALL PARAGRAGH RABBI SHIMON BAR YOCHAI TELLS US IN THE ZOHAR THE FOLLOWING:
1- THE EARTH IS ROUND
2- IT ROTATES JUST LIKE A BALL
3- SOME PEOPLE ARE ABOVE AND SOME BELOW [YET THEY DON’T FALL]
4- APPEARANCE OF PEOPLE GO ACCORDING TO THE DIFFERENT CLIMATES
5- ROTATION PRODUCES DAY AND NIGHT AT THE SAME TIME IN DIFFERENT PLACES
6- THE LENGTH OF DAYLIGHT AT THE POLES
7- RABBIS KNEW ABOUT THESE THINGS BUT NOT GEOGRAPHERS
HERE ARE ANOTHER 2 PORTIONS FROM THE ZOHAR WHICH SHOW YOU ITS KNOWLEDGE MORE THAN 1500 YEARS AGO OF THE SHAPE OF THE EARTH
(ZOHAR VAYECHI 226a)
THE EYE AND THE SHAPE OF THE EARTH
The human eye represents the world with its various colors. The outer ring of white corresponds to the Oceans that surround the whole world. The next color represents the land that is surrounded by the Seas. A third color in the middle of the eye corresponds to Yerushalaim which is in the center of the world. Finally there is the pupil of the eye, which reflects the onlooker and is the most precious part of all and it corresponds to Tzion which is the central point of the Universe, in which the reflection of the entire world can be seen.
THE EYE AND THE SHAPE OF THE EARTH
[ZOHAR II, 222b]
Now, the earth's expansion round the central point was completed in three concentric rings, each of a different hue and texture. The first ring, the nearest to the Point, is of the purest and most refined earth-material; the second expansion, surrounding the first, is of a less
polished, less refined earth-material than the first, but is superior to the one surrounding it; the third expansion consists of the darkest and coarsest earth-material of all. Then, surrounding that expansion, come the waters of the ocean that surrounds the whole world. Thus the point is in the center, and the various expansions encircle it. The first expansion embraces the Sanctuary and all its courts and enclosures and all its appurtenances, as well as the whole city of Jerusalem bounded by the wall; the second expansion embraces the whole of the Land of Israel, the Land which was declared holy; the third expansion comprehends the rest of the earth, the dwelling-place of all the other nations. Then comes the great ocean which surrounds the whole. The whole arrangement is symbolized by the structure of the human eye. For just as in the human eye there are three concentric layers surrounding a central point, which forms the focus of vision, so is the world's vision focused in the central point, consisting of the Holy of Holies and the Ark and the Mercy Seat. Hence the description, "a beautiful bowery, the joy of the whole earth", "beautiful" in its appearance, and radiating joy to the whole world. It is compared to a "bowery" because the beauty of a tree is displayed in its branches. Observe that true beauty and symmetry were not manifested in the world until the Tabernacle was finally erected and the Ark brought within the Holy of Holies. From that moment the world appeared at its best, it attained its just balance, and a way was opened through the Tabernacle and past the Ark up to that Point.
It is he who sits upon the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are as grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. (Isaiah 40:22)
He stretches out the north over the void, and hangs the earth upon nothing. (Job 26:7)
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