Sky Clears for Portland Event

By EDWARD D. MURPHY, Portland Press Herald
April 9, 2009

PORTLAND — The weather cooperated just enough Wednesday morning to make one think there was some help from above.

A group of about 30 gathered at Fort Allen Park on the city’s Eastern Prom for an occasion that comes along only two or three times in a lifetime.

Birkat HaChammah, the blessing of the sun, occurs every 28 years. It’s intended to mark the day when, according to Jewish tradition, the sun rises in the same position as when God made the sun, on the fourth day of creation.

Rabbi Moshe Wilansky, who led the ceremony, said there’s another requirement: You must be able to see the rays of the sun to have the blessing.

Wednesday ended cloudy, but as the blessing occurred at 8:30 a.m., the sun climbed over Casco Bay under a clear sky.

The ceremony is relatively short, which was a blessing itself, given the cold wind that whipped across the park. After prayers and praise, the ceremony culminates in a joyous song and dance.

Wilansky reflected on the blessing, saying he thinks of the sun as a child that’s growing and giving the world both light and life.

He also noted that many Russian and Eastern European Jews were unable to have the blessing, since this time of year is notoriously cloudy in that part of the world, but the odds for clear skies are much better for many American Jews.

Robert Aranson said the ceremony this year was special, since it coincided with the first day of Passover, when Jews celebrate the ancient Israelites’ freedom from slavery in Egypt.

“The sun represents a rebirth and goodness in the world and freedom and many things, so it dovetails very well with the first day of Passover,” Aranson said.

Orly Kahn said that, for her, the connections between the blessing and the creation were the most meaningful things about the ceremony.

“Being able to say the blessing for the sun on the day that it supposedly looks like it did on the day it was created is amazing,” she said. “It was pouring over the last few days. The sun is out and it’s amazing.”