By Julia Spitz, MetroWest Daily News
It’s a time of sacred observances for the faithful of many faiths.
Palm Sunday is three days away. Passover starts Wednesday night. Good Friday falls on April 10, followed by Easter Sunday, and, on April 19, Eastern Orthodox Easter. Even those who don’t observe Judeo-Christian traditions celebrate the season’s signs of rebirth and renewal.
They are observances that follow centuries-old traditions. They are observances unique unto themselves.
And this year brings an observance that hasn’t happened since 1981. Actually, it’s an observance that hasn’t happened exactly this way in 280 years.
“It is usually 10 days before or after Passover,” said Rabbi Yakov Lazaros of Congregation Bais Chabad in Framingham, but this year, Birkat Hachama, the “Blessing of the Sun,” falls on April 8, as does the first night of Passover.
“It is very meaningful,” said Rabbi Levi Fogelman of the Chabad Center of Natick.
At Congregation Beth El of Sudbury, the 6 a.m. blessing will be followed by a meal of food that cannot be eaten during Passover, followed by a ceremonial burning of non-Passover foods, said Rabbi David Thomas. Congregation Beth El members will also unearth a time capsule buried in 1981, during the last Birkat Hachama, and leave another one “for the people who come after us,” Thomas said.
The Blessing of the Sun is observed when the sun reaches the same point on the same day of the week as the time of the universe’s creation, according to Talmudic interpretation of the Torah.
“The sun has a very particular cycle,” said Fogelman, and the rabbis whose discussions of Jewish history, laws and customs formed the Talmud more than 2,000 years ago “were experts in astronomy.”
When the solar alignment falls on a Wednesday – “It says in the Torah, the sun and moon came into creation on the fourth day,” said Lazaros – as it does once every 28 years, it is an opportunity to thank the creator and recognize “creation is an ongoing process.”
“The blessing is, He restores creation,” Fogelman said.
“I think it has appeal for all kinds of Jews,” said Thomas, whose Sudbury congregation is a member of the Union for Reform Judaism. “What’s appealing is the opportunity to say a prayer you say only once every 28 years.”
“Anything you take part in that rarely stays with you forever,” said Rabbi Mendy Kivman of the Chabad Center in Milford.
In 1981, thousands joined Lubavitch leader Rebbe Menachem Schneerson in Brooklyn for the prayer service. Later, Schneerson used the significance of the solar cycle to encourage solar technology.
This is the first time information is available on numerous Web sites, but not the first time the Blessing of the Sun has made news. A New York Times account of the 1897 observance in a park notes a rabbi was arrested for not getting the required permit for a large outdoor gathering.
Local gatherings this year may not be large enough to require a permit, but there are several planned. In addition to Beth El’s 6 a.m. service, observances include the Chabad Center of Natick’s at 9 a.m.; Congregation Bais Chabad, following regular morning prayer service, at 8; and the Chabad Center in Milford at 8:15 a.m.
“According to Jewish law, in order to make a complete blessing, you have to have some contact with the sun,” said Fogelman. If it’s too cloudy to see the sun, “you wouldn’t use the name of God in the blessing.”
No matter what the weather, the day will be memorable.
“I was a little kid the last time it happened. I remember it. It stayed in my mind,” said Kivman.
And “we would encourage anyone who wants to, to join us,” said Congregation Beth El’s Thomas.
If you had read correctly you would have seen “…an observance that hasn’t happened exactly this way in 280 years,” writes the METROWEST DAILY NEWS. So you must be reffering to the newspaper when you use the word “he” and not to any particular person.
Obviously “280 years” is either a typo to “28 years” or the type of mistake that a journalist usually makes. You need to practice what you preach and “know the facts before trying to repeat them” INSTEAD of condemning someone who definitely knows MORE than you.
If he’s referring to the fact that this year it’s Erev Pesach, last time this happened was 1925, a mere 84 years ago.
It would be good if people knew the facts before trying to repeat them.