Torah and Jewish Idea > Torah and Jewish Idea
A B’rakha on the Venus Transit
muman613:
--- Quote from: IsraeliHeart on July 19, 2012, 12:43:05 AM ---
Every year? It's supposed to be once in 28 years on Tekufat Nissan, the Halachic Vernal Equinox (April 8), not the Summer Solstice.
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That is a different Bracha... That is Birkat HaChama
http://www.chabad.org/holidays/sun/default_cdo/aid/817861/jewish/Birkat-Hachamah.htm
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/817862/jewish/About.htm
--- Quote ---Every 28 years the sun returns to the same position, at the same time of the week, that it occupied at the time of its creation—at the beginning of the fourth day of creation. A special blessing – called Birkat Hachamah, "the sun blessing" – is recited to mark this event. Due to the rarity of this event, this blessing is customarily recited amid large public gatherings of men, women and children.
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Tag was talking about a blessing on the Summer Solstice...
Tag-MehirTzedek:
--- Quote from: IsraeliHeart on July 19, 2012, 12:43:05 AM ---
Every year? It's supposed to be once in 28 years on Tekufat Nissan, the Halachic Vernal Equinox (April 8), not the Summer Solstice.
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Yes every year. The once in 28 years calculation is wrong and wrong time of the year as well. If interested let me know I will link you the information on this.
Sveta:
What is the source for a bracha on the Summer Solstice? Also, is that Tekufat Tammuz (July 8) or the astronomical one?
I remember Rav Bar-Hayim opposed saying the bracha for Birkat HaChama. I think he only believes in the Talmud Yerushalmi and not the version in the Talmud Bavli. He thinks the baraita in Mesechet Brachot regarding Birkat HaChama is made up.
Sveta:
So what about a bracha on a solar eclipse? On Erev Rosh Chodesh Elul in 2017, there will be a total solar eclipse visible in many places in the United States. It's a rare once in a lifetime event even rarer than Birkat HaChama.
muman613:
There is a difference between saying the blessing on the summer solstice and the 28 year cycle of the Birkat HaChama. The summer solstice occurs every year, but the Birkat HaChama is said when the sun is supposed to be at the same place it was when it was created, and this occurs only once every 28 years.
There are questions as to whether the calculations of the day are correct. Due to changes in the calendar that most nations use it is difficult to reckon the exact date {because the sun was created on a Wednesday}.
Here are some good resources which explain why Birkat HaChama is only said once every 28 years.
http://ascentofsafed.com/cgi-bin/ascent.cgi?Name=sun28
http://www.globalyeshiva.com/forum/topics/on-the-talmud-dialectics
--- Quote ---Therefore, Rabbi Huna (Palestinian Talmud, Berakhoth 9:2) explained “during its season” in the following way: “[That which you say here (i.e. about the necessity of making a blessing over the sun) is referring to the rainy season alone, after three days [of downpour]. This happens to be that which is written (Job 37:21): ‘As for this time, they see not the bright light in the heavens, but a wind blows and cleanses them.’” Meaning, Rabbi Huna requires making a blessing over the sun each year during the winter solstice, when rain is prevalent in the Land of Israel.
In subsequent years to this teaching, in the generation that followed Rabbi Huna, an exceptional man of learning came along, whose name was Abaye, and he explained “during its season” to mean “at the end of its cycle,” just as we find the word “tekufah” (i.e. season) used elsewhere in the sense of a “span or period of time,” as in Exodus 34:22: “And thou shalt observe… the feast of ingathering (i.e. Sukkoth) at the year’s end.” (Heb. תקופת השנה = tekufath hashanah). Seeing that the word “tekufah” is used in the Talmud when referring to the blessing made over the sun, Abaye reasons that it might also apply to the sun’s circuit. That is, when it completes a 28 year orbit around the universe, a cycle that repeats itself once in every 28 years. However, since “tekufah” can also refer to seasonal changes caused by the sun, he therefore requires having both conditions, i.e., (1) the sun’s completion of its orbit, and (2) a seasonal change affected by the sun, saying in the Babylonian Talmud (Berakhoth 59b):
“[They make the blessing] every twenty-eight years, when the cycle repeats itself, and the season happens to fall in Nisan (i.e. Spring equinox), during the hour of Shabtai (Saturn), that is to say, at nightfall on the third day of the week (Tuesday) when the fourth day (Wednesday) actually ushers in.”
Here, Abaye, requires making the blessing over the sun on a Wednesday (i.e. Tuesday night), just as when the sun and moon, planets and stars, were all created on a Wednesday of the week (cf. Gen. 1:14-19), and to do so only in the first hour of the night after the sun sets, when the earth is then governed by the astral influences of the planet Saturn (Heb. Shabtai), just as it was when G-d first created the great and lesser lights in the sky during the first hour of the evening of that weekday, on the 28th of Elul, some 5771 years ago, when the influences of Saturn prevailed. Although one does not see the sun at night, the sense here of saying, “He that sees the sun, etc.” (Palestinian Talmud, ibid.) is rather, “He that considers the sun’s position, etc.” – even though he does not actually see it when he blesses over it. Maimonides, however, in his Code of Jewish Law (Mishne Torah, Hilkoth Berakhoth 10:18) actually requires making the blessing over the sun during the day, when he can see the sun, as does the Shulhan Arukh (Orah Hayyim, section 229:2). This, however, was not a requisite in Rabbi Shimon Kiara’s “Halakhoth Gedoloth” (Hilkoth Berakhoth ha-meqomoth). Neither does the author of “Halakhoth Gedoloth” decide in this case, one way or the other, whether he is in favour of Rabbi Huna’s opinion or in favor of Abaye’s opinion, or of both, leaving the matter open to interpretation. It is to be noted here that Haga’oth Maimoni brings down Rabbi Huna’s opinion as Halacha in Hilkoth Berakhoth, chapter 10 letter ayin.
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