The Blessing Of The Sun - Birchat HaChama (April 8th)

In this study I would like to look at a blessing which we say every twenty-eight years. The blessing of the sun, Birchat HaChama[1], or Kiddush HaChama. It is definitely one of the rarest blessings that Jews make on a regular basis. Because of it’s rarity, and because it comes in a multiple of seven (7 * 4 = 28), it must have a significance that is not always recognized.

Birchat HaChama is said in every year that is divisible by 28 +1. Birchat HaChama will be said in the Hebrew year 5769, but 5769 is divisible by 28 +1.

Since the next Birchat HaChama will be the 206th cycle, it follows that the Hebrew year should be 206 x 28 + 1 = 5769! This discrepancy arises because there was no year '0'. The first 12 months from creation was labeled year '1', hence the first Birchat HaChama was said 28 years later in the year 29. All cycles are thus divisible by 28 with a remainder of 1.

Birchat HaChama was last said on Nisan 8, 5741 (corresponding to 8 April 1981). This was the 205th 28-year cycle of the Sun. It will be said again on Nisan 14, 5769 - April 8, 2009.

The blessing of the sun is the same blessing (same words) that we say when we see lightning and a shooting star. Think about it.

Birchat HaChama is a Hebrew phrase which literally means “the blessing of the sun”. The popular Hebrew word for sun, shemesh, appears over one hundred times in the Tanach[2]; its synonym, chama (chama means hot), appears only six times:

Iyov (Job) 30:28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.

Tehillim (Psalms) 19:6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs) 6:10 Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 24:23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when HaShem of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 30:26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that HaShem bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.

In each of these pasukim we see the sun used in a way that is not consistent with the normal use of the sun. This suggests that our blessing has a non-normal meaning that needs to be explored. By the way chama is the term most often used in the Mishna. We will try to look a bit at some of these perspectives, but I am getting a bit ahead of myself.

Once every 28 years, the Sun returns to the position it occupied when it was created at the beginning of the fourth day of creation:

Bereshit (Genesis) 1:16-19 And God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night and the stars. And God placed them in the sky of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from darkness; and God saw that it was good. And it was evening and it was morning, a fourth day.

Our Sages used this opportunity to institute a special prayer acknowledging HaShem's might and His creation of the world. This blessing is known as the blessing on the sun, or Birchat HaChama.

Every twenty-eight years, the sun is said to be at full-strength in the month of Nisan, precipitating the special blessing said at this time. It is part of Halacha (Jewish Law) to say Birchat HaChama in Nisan, on a Wednesday (the fourth day of the week), at dawn, in all years that are a multiple of twenty-eight plus one (there was no year zero).

Birchat HaChama is always recited in the first year (or eighth year, depending on your perspective) of the Shmita cycle. This makes sense when you consider that twenty-eight is a multiple of seven. Birchat HaChama was last recited on: Nisan 4, 5741 (April 8, 1981). The next occurrence will be on: Nisan 14, 5769 (April 8, 2009). This is the eve of Pesach (Passover). The eve of Pesach is also known as the fast of the firstborn. The firstborn fast on this day to commemorate the fact that they were spared when HaShem slew the firstborn of Egypt. Nisan 14 is also one of the busiest day of the year as Jewish homes are converted from using chametz (leaven) to a chametz free kitchen. The men are burning the last of the chametz.

Kadosh Elyon,[13] author of Meir Enei Chachamim, wrote in his sefer that there are only three times in the 6,000 years of Jewish history, when Birchat HaChama falls on 14 Nisan. These are:

1. Prior to being redeemed from Egypt. Birchat HaChama prior to being redeemed from Egypt was Nisan 14, 2437 and on Nisan 15, 2448 at midnight Israel left Egypt. Erev Pesach, is the day that we slaughtered the god of the Egyptians (a lamb).

2. Prior to the miracle of Purim. (Birchat HaChama prior to the miracle of Purim was Nisan 14, and Rashi writes that the following year, in Adar, the miracle occurred.)[14] It is worth nothing that Mordechai and Esther were fasting on the 14th, 15th, and 16th of Nisan to prepare for Esther’s plea before King Achashverosh.

3. In the year 5769.[15] It is worth nothing that 5769 is the eighth year, the year after the Shmita.

"This will be last time ever and shortly afterwards, the Geulah, redemption, MUST come.”[16]

Since the first two occurrences preceded miracles and redemption, the Admor wrote that in the year 5769 the same will occur: This will be last time ever and shortly afterwards, the redemption must come, Baruch HaShem!

In the year 5769 (2009), the 206th cycle of the sun will be complete, and in the Nisan of that year, we will have the privilege once again of saying the blessing on the Sun. May it come to us and all Israel for good!

Is this year possibly the year of the Geulah (redemption): 5769?

As a Christian, I am unfamiliar with Jewish eschatology; further, I recognize there may be as many differences of thought on the subject between Jewish scholars as there are between Christians.

Would anyone care to enlighten unfamiliar readers about Jewish beliefs in the matter? Particularly, is there significance to the fact (as presented) that this is the end of the 206th cycle?

The mathematical term is “modulo.”

5769 mod 28 = 1

My summary:
April 8th will be (arguably) only the third time in history that there has been this conjunction of observances associated with Pesach (Passover). The last two corresponded to major redemptive events for Israel: 1)Release from Egypt, 2) Purim (read Esther).

Therefore, there are some who are looking for something big coming soon!

6 posted on 03/19/2009 10:09:24 AM PDT by Lazamataz ("We beat the Soviet Union, then we became them." -- Lazamataz, 2005)

Not at all!
“What Must I Do to Be Saved?”
http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=5570

We may be saved from, or go through tribulation, but our eternal destiny can be secure.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.