Question:
Shalom
This evening there will be a lunar eclipse.
Is the any problem to look at the moon during an eclipse?
Can you provide the sources for your answer?
Thank you
Good shabbos.
Answer:
My apologies that the answer didn’t get to you in time, as I was away for a few days.
Regarding your question, I am not aware of any sources that say that one should not look at a lunar eclipse. In fact the poskim discuss if one may say kidush levana after seeing a lunar eclipse. There are poskim that say that if the person looked at the moon during the eclipse then he may not say Kiddush levana after seeing it, (because then he knows that it is already the second half of the month), but if he didn’t see it then he may.,
As a side point, a lunar eclipse is not always a bad sign for Klal Yisroel. The Zohar writes that if the eclipse is in the second half of the month, then it is a bad sign for Yismael! (As a side point the Zohar is hard to understand because a lunar eclipse is only in the center of the month) Aside from this there are sources that if the eclipse is on Shabbos or Yom Tov that it isn’t a bad sign.
Sources:
Daas Torah 580-1, Birkas Ish ( Kiddush Levana) pg. 551.
