Teaching Team
The Song of the Sun
Within Judaism, there is a collection of prayers known as Perek Shira which is the Song of Creation. The text of these prayers are primarily taken from the Scriptures; each line mentions an object within creation and proceeds to tell the song of that specific creature or entity. To many, these songs may be perceived as metaphorical or just beautiful poetry with no literal meaning. Yet, if one were to take a look at the magnitude of creation and pause for a moment to hear the creation, one will discover a divine symphony all uttering praises to the Creator.
Still, one may turn to the text of Perek Shira and see that objects like the sun and moon also have a song. This person may object and say that these are large planetary-like bodies and not organisms that have the ability to produce sound like the birds and wild animals. The objector may further state that he can agree that the animals and similar creatures have a song, but these words in Perek Shira concerning the sun, moon, etc. are words of poetry and are not meant to be taken literally.
However, if one were to consider the wisdom of the prophets and sages who wrote these lines (after all, nearly every line in Perek Shira comes from the Bible) he might want to consider that these men were much loftier and holier than us. If one of these great men said that the sun sings, shouldn't we believe him?
Perek Shira says,
"The Sun says, 'The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear.'" (Quoting Habakkuk 3:11)
So, if we take this literally, the sun actually sings this line from Scripture. Some may object and say, this is absurd! But, the fact of the sun singing doesn't seem too absurd to some scientists.
Approximately two months ago, scientists discovered that the magnetic field in the outer regions of the sun's atmosphere carry waves that produce sound much like a musical instrument or pipe organ. The sound waves are generated at the base of magnetic loops known as coronal loops. This is generated by explosions known as micro-flares which set the sound wave in motion. Here is a picture taken by NASA of these coronal loops on sun's outer atomosphere:
These discoveries are relatively new to the world of science and more is sure to be explored in this area of creation. For those interested, see the article here from which the basis of this blog was derived.
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Visitor Feedback:
fascinating...our Father is to be praised...
awesome picture also...beautiful
D.A.Fluker Jr. | July 30, 2008 12:09 PM
I looked briefly online to see if Perek Shira was available for free to download and didn't see it anywhere. Do you (or anyone else out there) know if and where it is available?
Todah
**Brian's Response** : There are Hebrew/English versions available through Feldheim and Artscroll.
Sabrina H. | July 30, 2008 11:27 PM