Pesach greetings from Moishe House London!
I was up, with the rest of the house, at 5:30am today, as we led a merry troop of about 12 Moisheniks to the local park to say the once-every-28-years Birkat HaChamah, a blessing over the sun which marks (apparently) the coincidence of the sun's original position at the time of creation with the time of the week (Wednesday, in the first hour) of its creation.
We had to break into the park because it wasn't open yet - this was guerilla Judaism, on a mission to do something utterly bizarre on what was in fact a very damp and windy early morning. Cloud covered the sky and we shivered through some yoga and renewal-style chants hoping that by the time we got to the end of our personal meditations the sun would shine through and we could say the blessing.
You see, you're only supposed to say the blessing if you can actually see the sun.
As we approached the end of the ceremony a tiny hole of blue had opened up in the grey firmament.
"Put on your tefillin," one of the other devotees urged me, "that'll do it."
So I unwrapped my jacket and wrapped on my tefillin and... could it be... well, we could see the reflection of the sun's light on the cloud. It would do. We said the blessing.
But no. Now the we could just about see the outline of the sun through the clouds. Quick! Cancel the last blessing ("Baruch shem kavod malchuto l'olam va'ed" is the traditional formula to annul a blessing said in vain) and say the blessing again!
OK done. But... wait. Suddenly the sun emerged and shone through in all its glory.
A second annulment quickly followed and we proceeded to recite the blessing for the third time.
Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha'olam, oseh ma'asei b'reishit.
Blessed are you Lord our God, ruling principle of the universe, who fashions the original creation.
Meet you back there in another 28 years (and happy Pesach everybody)!
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