Imagine a commandment that one can fulfill only once in twenty-eight years! Judaism has such a ritual that marks the conclusion of an astronomical cycle and it will be observed this Wednesday morning, April 8th in congregations around the world. We at Temple Israel will gather Wednesday morning at 6:30 a.m. to gaze upon the sun which has returned once more to its place at the time of creation, according to ancient rabbinic calculations, and to offer in the context of songs and prayers, a blessing to the Almighty who continues to renew His works of creation. April 8th happens to coincide with the eve of Passover this year, so after morning services, the congregation’s rabbi, Edward Friedman, will also conclude a portion of study and hold a siyyum, a celebration of that accomplishment which allows all the participants, some of whom may be observing the fast of the firstborn, to join in a joyous meal marking the mitzvah, the fulfillment of a divine precept. Since the firstborn of Egypt were killed in the final plague at the time of the Exodus on the eve of Passover, the custom arose in medieval times for all Jewish firstborn to fast on this day in recognition of their unworthiness to have been spared and in thankfulness for God’s grace in keeping them alive. By tradition, the fast is canceled if one engages in a meal celebrating some joyous occasion such as the completion of the rabbi’s study.
As for the blessing of the sun, this 28 year cycle is based on a statement in the Talmud requiring one who sees the sun at the turn of its cycle on the Tuesday night/Wednesday morning following the spring equinox to recite a blessing acknowledging God as Creator. Why on a Wednesday? According to Genesis 1, the sun was created on the fourth day of the week, Wednesday. As for the delay following the equinox, which most of us already marked a couple of weeks ago on March 21st, that is due to the fact that the 3rd century Babylonian sage Shmuel who calculated this event, used the common estimate of 365.25 days in a year. That rough figure is slightly high and results, after centuries, even when one adds one day for leap year every 4 years, in an accumulation of extra days. (Our Gregorian calendar which omits a leap year on the turn of a century every 400 years, helps somewhat in avoiding this problem.) In addition, Shmuel didn’t know about the calendar reform instituted by Pope Gregory and so the date is based on the old Roman (Julian) calendar as well. I might add that for us Jews who celebrate the New Year in the fall and consider that to be the season of the creation, it seems a bit strange to claim that the sun was created in the Spring. This, too, reflects an old rabbinic argument over exactly when the world was created, one sage claiming it was in the fall and another in the spring. For this purpose, clearly the one who argued for the spring won.
To my way of thinking, all of this inaccuracy in calculations and the questionable timing of the creation adds to the mystique of this event. In point of fact, we are not marking an observable astronomical event. There is nothing to see other than the same sun which, thank God, rises every day. We however, are different. We are entering mythical time, so to speak. We are imaging ourselves back to the time of Creation and recognizing the power of the Lord in bringing everything into being. We are also taking the opportunity to view history and particularly our own personal histories from an unusual point of view. In observing a commandment that occurs in most lives only 3 to 4 times at most, one is given an opportunity to recognize the passage of time and the changes that have come with each new 28-year cycle.
This is the third cycle that is beginning in my lifetime. The first time it occurred, 56 years ago, I was a child and was not aware of the event and did not mark it. Twenty-eight years later, I was already a grown man with a wife and young son and was serving as a rabbi in Dallas, Texas. I still have a file with copies of the service we read that morning as we searched for the sun among the clouds. I had dreams and expectations back then and was just setting off into my career in the rabbinate. Years have passed, our son as grown up and is on his own and the years have carried us to various places, most recently Manchester. I look back over the past cycle and see various accomplishments and changes. Some of the dreams have been fulfilled and others are still waiting to reach fulfillment. I remember many people who are no longer with us and I rejoice in new friends and acquaintances who have become part of our lives in the passing years. With God’s help, I pray that I may yet reach the beginning of one more cycle, 28 years hence, and have another opportunity, in old age, to look back on a life devoted to the Jewish community and our ancient tradition.
A number of books have come out in recent months preparing for this event. The Conservative Movement has created A Guide to Birkat Ha-Hammah: The Blessing of the Sun by Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser and Gary H. Kitmacher. They also have published a short booklet called Masechet HaHammah, the Tractate on the Sun which brings together a number of traditional texts as well as some reflection on the significance of the sun in our lives, particularly in our present-day world when the concern for global warming and alternative energy sources have brought us back to the sun in our search for answers to these problems. I've also seen at least four or five new or revised books published by the Orthodox community gathering the detailed laws for this traditional observance.
Rabbi Prouser gathers in his book a number of references to historic observances of this custom. Most interesting for American Jews is the mention of the arrest of a leading New York rabbi whose congregation gathered in Tompkins Square in 1897 to bless the sun. Apparently the police complained that no one had obtained a permit for such a gathering and they took the Yiddish-speaking rabbi into custody until they could figure out what this assembly was all about. We do not anticipate such a problem this week.
I invite anyone who wishes to join us to gather at Temple Israel at 66 Salmon Street on Wednesday, April 8th, at 6:30 a.m. and to help us mark this event.