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Blessing of the Sun: Birkat Hachama, Rare Jewish Prayer April 8

by Tina Kells | April 8, 2009 at 07:50 am

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Birkat Hachama (ברכת החמה) is a rare Jewish prayer that happens only once every 28 years. Birkat Hachama is a prayer blessing the sun and is performed by devout Jews to mark the sun's return to the position it was in at the time of creation.

Birkat Hachama (ברכת החמה, "Blessing of the Sun") refers to a Jewish blessing that is recited in appreciation of the Sun once every twenty-eight years, when the vernal equinox, as calculated by tradition, falls on a Tuesday at sundown. Jewish tradition says that when the Sun completes this cycle, it has returned to its position when the world was created.

According to Judaism, the Sun has a 28 year solar cycle known as machzor gadol (מחזור גדול, "the large cycle"). A solar year is estimated as 365.25 days and the "Blessing of the Sun", being said at the beginning of this cycle, is therefore recited every 10,227 (28 times 365.25) days. The last time that it was recited was on April 8, 2009 (14 Nisan 5769 on the Hebrew calendar). This coincided with the day before the Jewish Holiday of Passover (Hebrew: פסח), which is said to have happened only two other times before in history.

The last time the blessing of the sun prayer was done was in 1981, and the next occurrence will also be on April 8 in 2037.

Technically, this is the second time I was alive for this. The first time, I was one years old, it was on Wednesday, 8 April 1981 (4 Nisan 5741). This is the second time and this time, I will remember it. The next time we say it will be Wednesday, 8 April 2037 (23 Nisan 5797).

The text of Birkat Hachama blessing the sun the prayer begins:

"ברוך אתה ה' אלהינו מלך העולם עושה מעשה בראשית"

"Blessed are You, LORD, our God, King of the Universe who makes the works of Creation."

Download the entire text of the Birkat Hachama prayer blessing the sun in Hebrew with English translation (PDF)

The Birkat Hachama prayer is offered at sunrise on the day of the sun's return. According to the Shulchan Aruch, a code of Jewish law, the blessing of the sun prayer must be said when the sun is at its turning point in the sky.

In the strict observance the Birkat Hachama prayer should only be said if the sun is clearly seen in the sky, so on an overcast day the blessing of the sun prayer should not be recited. However, the prayer is usually offered whether the sun is seen or not on the premise that it is still in the sky.

According to the Babylonian Talmud,[14] the Sun makes a 28 year cycle to return to the position that it was in when the Universe was first created at the time (Tuesday evening) it was created.

According to Jewish tradition, the Sun was created[15] on the fourth day (יום רביעי, yom rivi'i) of the week of Creation. Because Jewish law considers the time unit of a day to span from evening to evening,[16] the beginning of the halachic fourth day, so to speak, is on Tuesday evening at sundown. The 28 year cycle therefore begins and ends at the point in time when the Sun was created, this being sundown on Tuesday.[17] The Sun only returns to this exact position at sundown on a Tuesday once every 28 years.

Despite the rigorous calculations that follow, there is no synchronization of this prayer and the actual astronomical point in time when the sun crosses the celestial equator; the symbolism is no different than a situation in which the molad for Tishrei would fall out by day on a Sunday and Rosh Hashanah falls out on Monday.