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I have a vague memory of being told not to gaze at the moon through the glass of a window. I think it had something to do with kabbalah. I know it's permitted to say kiddush levanah by looking at the moon through the glass of a window if one has no other option, but I am wondering if anyone knows anything about a kabbalah-based minhag against gazing at the moon through a window?

Isaac Moses
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Shemmy
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  • I've heard not to look at the moon in general unnecessarily, but nothing specifically about through a window. – Double AA Mar 05 '12 at 18:37
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    Shemmy, welcome to Judaism.SE, and thanks very much for this interesting question! Please consider registering your account, which will give you access to more of the site's features. – Isaac Moses Mar 05 '12 at 18:51
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    @DoubleAA why shouldn't one look at the moon? – ertert3terte Mar 05 '12 at 18:51
  • @ShmuelBrill See MB sk 13 here – Double AA Mar 05 '12 at 19:02
  • @DoubleAA I thought that's only during Kiddush Levana – ertert3terte Mar 05 '12 at 19:12
  • @ShmuelBrill Why would kiddush levana be worse? If anything there is more of a reason to look at it then and it is still discouraged. – Double AA Mar 05 '12 at 19:13
  • I don't know, but it reminds me of a superstition among (Jewish?) Romaninans not to sleep with a window open or something along those lines. – Seth J Mar 05 '12 at 19:29
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    @Vram I always thought that we don't look at the moon because it get's "embarrased" that it is so small compared to the moon (and presumable also because of its actions that warranted its size). This reason applies always. – Double AA Mar 05 '12 at 20:21
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    Although I didn't see it in the Mishna Berura, my understanding is that we don't look at the moon during kiddush levana, so that people don't think we're praying to the moon (The M"B says this explicitly about bowing a little later on). If so, this would explain why only by Kiddush Levanah we are told not to look at the moon (as opposed to the rest of the time). It would probably be useful to find the sources the M"B quotes and see what they actually say. @DoubleAA – Menachem Mar 05 '12 at 22:54
  • נ"ל...it hasn't to do with the window - the Hida writes not to look at it (except for before the blessing I believe). – Hacham Gabriel Mar 06 '12 at 02:11
  • @HachamGabriel See my answer for sources that say just that. – Double AA Mar 06 '12 at 02:13
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    @Menachem Did just that! See what I found in my answer. – Double AA Mar 06 '12 at 02:14
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    @ShmuelBrill It seems some explicitly extend it outside of Kiddush Levana. See my answer for details. – Double AA Mar 06 '12 at 02:32

2 Answers2

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The Magen Avraham (OC 426 sk 8) quotes the Shelah (here) that one should not look at the moon during kiddush levana but rather glance at it in the beginning and look down. The Shelah references what he wrote earlier (here) where he quotes the book Shushan Sodot (bio?) that one should not look at the moon seemingly ever. The Shushan Sodot himself (here) quotes his teacher Rabbi Meir HaLevi as teaching a new law that has no source in Torah, Neviim or Midrash that compares looking at the moon to looking at a rainbow which is forbidden per the Gemara in Chagigah 16a and codified in Shulchan Aruch OC 229:1. He says that the moon represents the House of David and that when the moon is diminished it somehow represents a diminishing of some spiritual forces.

I admit I'm not really sure what's going on here, not being a kabbalist myself. It does at least seem that there is some kabbalistic reason for not looking at the moon even not during kiddush levana and even when not looking through windows.

Kazi bácsi
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Double AA
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  • If we're saying looking at a rainbow and looking at the moon is the same thing, this would seem to indicate that when one does look at the moon for Kiddush Levanah, he should only do so briefly, like looking at the rainbow to say the blessing: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/10930/603 – Menachem Mar 06 '12 at 04:00
  • @Menachem That is indeed what the Magen Avraham that I quote in the begining says. – Double AA Mar 06 '12 at 04:02
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    This is so bizarre to me. How were witnesses supposed to testify about the new moon? – Baby Seal Dec 11 '16 at 21:41
  • @BabySeal Glance and look away, I suppose? – Double AA Dec 11 '16 at 22:17
  • @DoubleAA seems like a sure way to get a bunch of faulty witnesses, but I guess. – Baby Seal Dec 12 '16 at 00:42
  • @Baby the way this is presented, it seems the problem is when the moon is waning. Witnesses only testify when it waxes. – user6591 Jun 01 '20 at 01:57
  • @user6591 but it's quoted as applied to Kiddush Levana which is always a waxing moon – Double AA Jun 01 '20 at 02:17
  • @Double Correct. I was unclear. I meant specifically the idea from Shushan Sodot. Shlah apparently felt it applies even when waxing. Seemingly the fact that the moon has a waxing and waning cycle at all would be the p'gam. A full moon should be fine, but Shlah interprets it one can never look. – user6591 Jun 01 '20 at 02:36
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http://www.dailyhalacha.com/m/halacha.aspx?id=1351

Optimally, one should recite Birkat Ha'levana outdoors, rather than while looking at the moon through a window indoors. This Halacha, stems from the notion that one greets the Shechina when reciting this Beracha, thus requiring that one leave his building to go greet the Almighty.

For Kiddush Levana there is a special reason why one should not do it through a window, however there is no problem looking at the moon through a window at any other time.

Eliyahu
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Gershon Gold
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    The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. – Double AA Mar 05 '12 at 21:40
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    Todah rabah to all who provided responses and sources. I posted the question because I've been unable to find any source for not looking at the moon through a window, but I am still bothered by this memory of being told not to do so. It could be that I am remembering having been told some sort of superstition. From the sources brought here, I think it's safe to say that even if there is an obscure custom or superstition for not looking at the moon through a window, there is no normative halachik issur against it. – Shemmy Mar 06 '12 at 02:27
  • @Shemmy you’re not the only, I have heard this before of not to look through the window for Kiddush Levana. It might be one of those things being taught at school just like we don’t shecht a giraffe because we don’t know where to Shecht. – Daniel Ross Apr 02 '20 at 10:54