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Summer solstice- Opportunity for Beracha to be said.

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muman613:
Here is my question about this whole 'blessing on the summer solstice' thing:

The summer solstice happens every year, thus it is not an occasion like Birchat HaChama which happens every 28 years. I said Birkat Hachama last time we had the opportunity to say it {was it about 2 years ago?}.

Is there not a prohibition on saying a blessing which is superfluous? I got into the habit of saying the blessing on beauty whenever I saw this awesome mountain on my way to work. I said this every day and then I realized that this blessing was not being done right.

I found this written about saying this blessing on beautiful things:


--- Quote ---http://www.pardes.org.il/online_learning/weekly-talmud/2009-08-06.php
How often can this blessing be recited? If someone lives with a beautiful person, should they recite the blessing daily? Monthly? Yearly? According to one prevalent opinion the blessing can be said only once over a particular item. Once the benediction has been pronounced over a certain beautiful person, for instance, it cannot be recited again - ever - over that same person (Shulhan Aruch). Others maintain that the blessing may be recited once every 30 days (Meiri).

Alas, this blessing has largely fallen into disuse, and is at most recited without the Almighty's name. Why do we not say this blessing nowadays? One codifier in the early 19th century suggested that in our modern reality we are exposed to a whole gamut of images, and hence we have become desensitized to wonderful scenes, pictures and spectacles that a blessing is no longer warranted (Rabbi Avraham Danzig, 18th-19th centuries, Vilna). If this could be said about the early 19th century, it is all the more true in our day and age when technology has brought untold vistas into our homes.
--- End quote ---

I can understand saying Birchat HaChama because it happens only every 28 years, and I can understand saying the blessing on seeing the passing of venus over the sun {as it will only happen again in 200 years}... But the summer solstice happens every year....

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.
--- End quote ---

muman613:
Although there may be an argument to make about summer solstice, apparently there is mention of blessing the winter solstice:

http://www.globalyeshiva.com/forum/topics/on-the-talmud-dialectics

ON THE TALMUD & DIALECTICS:
 
The early prophets and Sages made it compulsory to bless G-d over many different occasions (e.g. when seeing comets, or experiencing earthquakes; when seeing lightning or hearing thunder, etc.). These blessings are mentioned in the compendium of Oral Laws compiled by Rabbi Judah the Prince in 189 CE and known as the Mishna. Likewise, in the Tosefta (Berakhoth 7:6), a sequel to the Mishna compiled by Rabbi Hiyya, a disciple of Judah the Prince, we find the following teaching:
 
“He that sees the sun and the moon, as also the stars and the signs of the zodiac, he is required to say: ‘Blessed [art thou, O Lo-rd our G-d, King of the universe] who maketh genesis.’ “
 
This teaching was explained later by Rabbi Yohanan Napaha (the blacksmith), a disciple of Rabbi Judah the Prince, who also compiled a major work known as the Palestinian Talmud. His work is intended to explain the difficult matters found in our collection of Oral Laws. Wherefore, he writes in Tractate Berakhoth 9:2 in the Palestinian Talmud:
 
“He that sees the sun DURING ITS SEASON (Heb. der. “tekufah”), and the moon [in its fullness] and the firmament in its purity, he is required to say ‘Blessed [art Thou, O Lo-rd our G-d, King of the universe], who maketh genesis.’
 
Still, even with this explanation, it wasn’t clear what was meant by the words “during its season.” Another disciple of Rabbi Yohanan, named Rabbi Huna, explained it to mean the “seasonal changes caused by the earth’s rotation around the sun every 365 days.” As it is known, the seasonal changes are the result of the sun and its proximity to the earth, which are four seasons – Spring equinox, Summer solstice, Autumnal equinox and Winter solstice – each of which seasons repeat themselves with exact precision at the same time each solar year.
 
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.

edu:

שו"ת משנה הלכות חלק ז סימן קפד

 וכן מצאתי בשנות חיים להגרש"ק הל' מזוזה תשובה ג' שכתב בפשיטות שאם נטל המזוזה ע"מ להחזירה תלוי במחלוקת בא"ח הל' ציצית והל' תפילין וקיי"ל דאין לברך
The Hebrew source that I brought above deals with the question, what happens if one temporarily takes down his mezuza to have it checked. If the parchment and the letters remained valid, a question is raised does one make a new blessing when he puts the mezuza back on his doorpost. There is a difference of opinion among the Rabbis on this issue, but the accepted opinion is that we would not make a blessing, when we put the mezuza back.
That is not to say that those Rabbis who were in favor of making a blessing, "made it up". Rather, they had an interpretation of the halacha, which was not accepted by the mainstream.
I write this in response to the following quote from Kahane-Was-Right BT

--- Quote ---I don't believe Rabenu Bahye invented the bracha, and you also know that is not the case, yet it seems as if your comment is giving that impression.
--- End quote ---

If it wasn't clear from my introduction Rabenu Bahye, had a particular interpretation of the halacha, which seemingly was not accepted by the mainstream. 

edu:
Another example. It says in Mishna Brura, there was a disagreement among the rabbis, if night time in theory is a time for tefillin and only because of a rabbinic decree do we generally not wear tefillin at night, while some Rabbis in the land of Israel thought, that it is a Torah law, not to wear Tefillin at night.
Mishna Brura notes that according to the 2nd viewpoint one would say a special blessing when removing one's Tefillin. (I have to research the issue more, if this is only said by someone who wears Tefillin all day or even just part of the day). In any case, the mainstream Orthodox world holds like the first opinion and does not say a blessing when removing Tefillin.
If someone was completely convinced that the 2nd viewpoint about Tefillin is correct, would he be inventing a new blessing? No!
But he would be following an interpretation not generally accepted by Orthodox Jews today.
Here's the quote in Hebrew about Tefillin
משנה ברורה סימן כט

(א) אין לברך - פירוש לאפוקי ממאי דאמרינן [בנדה נ"א ע"ב] דבני מערבא היו מברכין אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו לשמור חוקיו בתר דמסלקי תפילין בלילה [א] שהם היו סוברים דלילה לאו זמן תפילין הוא ונפקא להו זה מקרא דושמרת את החוקה הזאת למועדה מימים ימימה ימים ולא לילות אבל לדידן דס"ל דהאי קרא אתי לענין אחר כדאיתא בגמרא ולילה קי"ל דזמן תפילין הוא אך אין להניחם לכתחילה דגזרו שמא יישן בהם ויפיח הילכך אין לברך:

Tag-MehirTzedek:

--- Quote from: muman613 on June 20, 2012, 02:18:06 AM ---
The summer solstice happens every year, thus it is not an occasion like Birchat HaChama which happens every 28 years. I said Birkat Hachama last time we had the opportunity to say it {was it about 2 years ago?}.

--- End quote ---

 The "Bircat HaChama" was incorrect according to Rav Bar-Hayim and his Beit Din. If your interested you can read on it why soo. In the links above perhaps some other things on the site as well.

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