The Blessing of the Sun

By Shira Novack
KOC Editor
Binghamton University

The morning I left school to drive to the KOACH Kallah this past February I walked into my common room to find sunlight streaming though the window. This may not sound like a very strange occurrence, but it had been an especially snowy and gray winter and it seemed like the sun had not come out once since we had arrived back to school in January. Looking at the golden rays of light I had an interesting thought. I realized that maybe this is why pagan people would worship the sun (the ancient Egyptians had a sun god named Ra). In the winter (especially imagine life without all of our modern conveniences) the sun disappears for a while, and one miraculous day it reappears and it seems like an amazing event.

While I am not promoting sun worship, I am using this story to draw attention to the importance of the natural world in our lives, even with artificial light (powered by electricity). Judaism has its own way of intertwining nature and the natural world into our prayers. Nature and its cycle are important, but it all relates back to the one who created everything.

There is a little known Jewish custom called Birkat Hahamah where we celebrate the importance of the sun. This literally means "blessing of the sun." It occurs once every 28 years, because that is how long it takes the sun to complete its cycle. Birkat HaHamah celebrates the point in the cycle that is considered to be the position the sun was in when the world was created. I learned about this when I found myself standing on a beach not too far from my home early in the morning on Wednesday, April 8^th, 2009 (which was also Erev Pesah) participating in it. Davening on the beach felt different than a usual service; it seemed more connected because we were out in nature.

While we celebrated the sun's return to its original position, there is a constant and necessary reminder of God's existence and that God is the one who made all of this possible. The blessing that is said about the sun is, "Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who affects the work of creation." There is no mention of the sun, only of God and his wondrous creation. Through the marking of the sun's return we are reminding ourselves of the presence of God in our lives.

[Posted 10/7/10]