Thursday, March 12, 2009
More Birkat Hachama resources
See http://www.blessthesun.org/ and the Birkhat HaHammah blog http://coejlblog.blog.com/4360537/ for a compilation of resources.
For a copy of the Cleveland communitywide celebration flyer see http://jrf.org/birkat-hahammah.
For traditional sources and the complete ritual service see www.berachot.org/halacha/24_birkathachammah.html#4.
For a Song for the Sun performed by Rabbi Shawn Zevit see &feature=channel_page">www.youtube.com/watch?v=629JxUYTlFk&feature=channel_page>&feature=channel_page. It's beautiful!
Calculate the timing for your local gathering for the ritual and education about solar energy at www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/sunrise.html.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Birkat Hachama: Blessing the Sun
This is the my April newsletter column, written for the Temple where I am a rabbinic intern:
How do you feel about the sun? Do you like it? Are you glad it’s here?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, take note: On the 8th of April this year, you will have a special once (or twice) in a lifetime opportunity to bless the sun in an official Jewishly sanctioned way! The holiday of Birkat Hachama will be here, and it’s a holiday that only happens once every 28 years!
Birkat Hachama is a special blessing made on the “anniversary” of the sun’s return to the position that it was in when the universe was first created. (The rabbis of the Babylonian Talmud, circa 500 C.E., determined when that was.) The Talmud says: “Our Rabbis taught: One who sees the Sun at its turning point should say ‘Blessed be the One Who effects creation’. And when does this occur? Abaye said every 28 years when the cycle begins again, and the Nissan equinox falls in Saturn, on the evening of the third day going into the fourth day.”
The full blessing they are referring to is as follows: Baruch atah adonai, elohanu melech haolam, oseh ma’aseh b’reisheit. Blessed are you, HASHEM our God, King of the universe, who effects the work of creation. This blessing is also recited on other occasions of natural phenomena, such as witnessing lighting, comets, meteor showers and even wondrous natural topography, such as great mountains, rivers and vast wildernesses.
For the day of Birkat Hachama, however, other passages and prayers are recited in addition to this blessing, largely from psalms and the prophets. The structure of the prayer service was set down in the Shulchan Aruch, a codification of Jewish law written by Yosef Karo in the 16th century. The service generally includes the following:
• Quotations about the sun from the Tanakh
• Four verses from the Tanakh, which spell out the Tetragrammaton
• Some of Talmud Berachot 59b
• Parts of Psalms 148 and 90
• The blessing recited on natural phenomena (Baruch Atah...ma’aseh b’reisheit)
• Psalms 121, 8 and 19
• The hymn El Adon al kol hama'asim (normally part of Shabbat services).
• Aleinu
• The Mourner's Kaddish
The Internet is teeming with creative Birkat Hachama services, which are roughly structured on this outline, but vary in the addition of other texts or songs. Jewish ecological groups in particular are seizing on this unique opportunity to teach about the ecological values of our tradition.
How can you observe Birkat Hachama? Here are some ideas:
How do you feel about the sun? Do you like it? Are you glad it’s here?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, take note: On the 8th of April this year, you will have a special once (or twice) in a lifetime opportunity to bless the sun in an official Jewishly sanctioned way! The holiday of Birkat Hachama will be here, and it’s a holiday that only happens once every 28 years!
Birkat Hachama is a special blessing made on the “anniversary” of the sun’s return to the position that it was in when the universe was first created. (The rabbis of the Babylonian Talmud, circa 500 C.E., determined when that was.) The Talmud says: “Our Rabbis taught: One who sees the Sun at its turning point should say ‘Blessed be the One Who effects creation’. And when does this occur? Abaye said every 28 years when the cycle begins again, and the Nissan equinox falls in Saturn, on the evening of the third day going into the fourth day.”
The full blessing they are referring to is as follows: Baruch atah adonai, elohanu melech haolam, oseh ma’aseh b’reisheit. Blessed are you, HASHEM our God, King of the universe, who effects the work of creation. This blessing is also recited on other occasions of natural phenomena, such as witnessing lighting, comets, meteor showers and even wondrous natural topography, such as great mountains, rivers and vast wildernesses.
For the day of Birkat Hachama, however, other passages and prayers are recited in addition to this blessing, largely from psalms and the prophets. The structure of the prayer service was set down in the Shulchan Aruch, a codification of Jewish law written by Yosef Karo in the 16th century. The service generally includes the following:
• Quotations about the sun from the Tanakh
• Four verses from the Tanakh, which spell out the Tetragrammaton
• Some of Talmud Berachot 59b
• Parts of Psalms 148 and 90
• The blessing recited on natural phenomena (Baruch Atah...ma’aseh b’reisheit)
• Psalms 121, 8 and 19
• The hymn El Adon al kol hama'asim (normally part of Shabbat services).
• Aleinu
• The Mourner's Kaddish
The Internet is teeming with creative Birkat Hachama services, which are roughly structured on this outline, but vary in the addition of other texts or songs. Jewish ecological groups in particular are seizing on this unique opportunity to teach about the ecological values of our tradition.
How can you observe Birkat Hachama? Here are some ideas:
* Download a service off the Internet and get together with some friends for your own potluck and service
* Join the Birkat Hachama group on Facebook: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=20544854723
* Chabad has put together a handy website of information, which includes a “global event finder” where you can find a Birkat Hachama event near you.
Given it’s from Chabad, my guess is they will only include Orthodox-sponsored events.
* Check your local Jewish newspaper for other events that might be happening in your area.
* Check your local Jewish newspaper for other events that might be happening in your area.
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