Just as most Jews are finishing up their spring cleaning and getting ready to burn the last of their chametz, which we do on the morning before the first night of Passover, we get a chance to stop and do something totally different. It’s something we haven’t done for 28 years. Actually, it’s something we haven’t done on the Wednesday prior to the first night of Passover in six centuries.
What do we get to do? We get to bless the sun. We only bless the sun when the sun will be in the same position in the sky, on the same day of the week, and at the same approximate hour, as it was on the fourth day of creation. Yes, we bless the sun on Wednesday, April 8, on the vernal equinox, the time when the sun will be in the same position as when it first appeared in the sky after God created it.
And what do we say? The words of a blessing called Birkat Hachamah. In English we say, Blessed are you, God, Who fashions the work of Creation.” Or, another translation you might use says, “You are a fountain of blessing, Adonai, our Divinity, Master of all Hidden and Manifest, Activator of the Awesome Acts of Creation.”
You can say the blessing just as the sun rises or until 12 noon. But don’t miss your chance. It won’t come around again for another 28 years.
And while you are at it, take the opportunity to think about how God created the cycles of nature. This event happens on the vernal equinox, an event that happens each year. The Talmudic scholar Abbaye said we are to bless the sun only “Every 28 years, when the cycle begins again, and the Nissan (spring) equinox falls in Saturn, on the evening of Tuesday, going into Wednesday.” (Berachot, 59b)
Each cycle represents a new beginning. A chance to recreate what has come before or to create something totally different. Which would you like to do on Wednesday? As you bless the sun, take a moment to think about this and to create a blessing to acknowledge the beginning of whatever this new cycle represents to you.
