Timekeepers > Astronomy II
LOPIS, YITSḤAK.
Tekhunat ha-olam u-binah le-itim bo yitbaer tsurat ha-arets ve-tavnit ha-olam.
Manuscript in Hebrew on paper.
[Syria], 1704.
MS X893 L979
Rare Book and Manuscript Library
The study of astronomy was important to Jewish scholars because the Jewish calendar is based on the placement and visibility of the moon. The scribe of this astronomical work, Yitsḥak Lopis of Aleppo, Syria, chose to include a whimsical aspect to an otherwise serious subject. In numerous places, he added a face to the sun (sometimes smiling, sometimes serious) when he would include it in a diagram, as shown here.