Windows on the Sun

Sefer HaBris (1:4:10), writing in the 18th Century explains that most people are unaware of the Copernican view of the Solar System. They are of the view that each day the sun passes through the sky and then exits the sky through a window in the west and re-emerges through an eastern window the following morning. The same is true for the moon. If you would try to explain to them the Copernican view they will lack the ability to grasp it as their minds are very constricted. It is for this reason that our Sages, writing the morning prayers, wrote in colloquial language that every person can understand. They recite the blessing on the sun and the moon according to their limited (and incorrect) view that the sun and moon come through gates and doorways and windows in the heavens. They did not establish the prayer for the scientists who are few in number but for the hoi poilloi to be able to sing and enjoy the song according to their understanding, even though it is factually incorrect. A wise composer once wrote that someone who wants to write a good song shouldn't worry about the words being factually correct, most people don't know or understand the words they are singing.

While all this is correct, the Sages who composed the prayers knew that from a Kabbalistic perspective the words are factually correct. In the Kabbalistic manifestation of the sun there are windows as is expressed in both the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmud. In the Talmud there is an interesting discussion in which the Jewish Sages are quoted as saying that in the day the sun travels under they sky, by night above the sky. The secular scientists say that by day it goes under the sky, by night under the ground. Rebbe says that logic would dictate in accordance with the scientists.

Why would Rebbe side with the secular scientists against the other Sages? The answer is that they are both true, and really they aren't arguing. The scientists, and Rebbe, are speaking from the perspective of the physical world, whereas the Sages were speaking of the spiritual perspective.