Sun salutations
Passover begins tomorrow night, as you probably know. But I was surprised to learn that there’s another Jewish holiday to celebrate tomorrow morning. Joyce Cohen of the New York Times reports:
Every day, the sun rises. But only once every 28 years does the sun return to the position it occupied at the same time during the week of its creation, according to Talmudic tradition.
This auspicious occasion is cause for celebration among many observant Jews, who will greet Wednesday morning with the Birkat Hachamah, or Blessing of the Sun.
Samuel J. Freedman’s “On Religion” column also discussed Birkat Hachamah on Friday. Today’s story lets you know where you can join in the celebration. And don’t miss this related article from April 1897 — posted as a .pdf file by the NYT — about a clash between “Policeman Foley” and a Rabbi who neglected to get a permit for his “ancient Talmudic ceremony.” Sample paragraph:
The celebration is a rather complicated matter to explain to anybody. Rabbi Klein’s knowledge of English is slight, while Foley’s faculties of comprehension of matters outside of police and park regulations and local events are not acute. The attempt of a foreign citizen to explain to an American Irishman an astronomical situation and a tradition of the Talmud was a dismal failure.
It gets better from there! Maybe newspapers would be in better financial shape today if their accounts of events were as colorful as they were in the nineteenth century. Speaking as an American Irishwoman, however, I have to say I’m happy some things have changed.
This sort of calculation implies that there has been a succession of seven day periods from creation to the present so that the fourth day of this week corresponds to an unbroken succession of fourth days. I wonder if this view is shared by Christian creationists.
Thanks for this post. I didn’t know about this Jewish feast that takes place every 28 years. The New York Times piece had a link to a talk Rabbi Dr. J. David Bleich gave about Burkhat HaChammah. He discusses how human beings are commanded to intellectually apprehend God’s grandeur, glory, majesty and give praise. Apprehending God’s glory and our praise can happen in different ways. Three examples were given. Somebody sees the Grand Canyon and praises God for his glory. This is an apprehension of God’s glory in the past. Another apprehension would be looking at a leaf under a microscope and seeing photosynthesis at work. This would be a apprehension of God’s glory in the present. The third example is the one observed on Burkhat HaCammah. It apprehends the order and precision that God has introduced into creation. It is an introspective and reflective apprehension of how God continuously conserves creation and our praise for this. It is important that human beings not be desensitized to God’s majesty so God made it only possible for this celebration take place every 28 years. The Jewish tradition puts great stress on the idea that God’s glory can only come into the world where women and men let it in. I think all of this assumes that God’s qualities are God and they are intrinsically a relationship. This is the link to his talk.
http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/732921/Rabbi_Dr._J._David_Bleich/Birkhat_HaChammah