Birkat ha-Hammah (ברכת החמה, also: ha-Chamah, Hahammah, Hachammah), is Hebrew for "The Blessing of the Sun." “Hebrew” redirects here. ... “Sol” redirects here. ...

It is a special Jewish prayer recited once every twenty-eight years, the period of the solar cycle. Jewish law stipulates that the Blessing be said every 10,227 (28 times 365.25) days. The next date set is April 8 2009 (Hebrew year 5769). This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Jewish services are the prayers recited as part of observance of Judaism. ... The solar cycle is a 28-year cycle of the Julian calendar with respect to the week. ... 5769 (Hebrew: התשסט , abbr. ...

According to the Babylonian Talmud (tractate Berachot 59b), at these times the Sun returns to the position that it had when the universe was first created. The explanation is that if the year would be exactly 365.25 days, the Sun's equinox times would be at the same time in the week every 28 years (28 times 0.25 day equals 7 days). The tradition is that the Sun was created in its Spring equinox position, at the first hour of the night before the fourth day of Creation. Whenever the equinox is thought to occur at that same time of the week, the Sun is said to have returned to its original position. The first page of the Talmud, in the standard Vilna edition. ... Berakhot (Hebrew: ברכות, Benedictions) is the first masekhet (tractate) of Seder Zeraim (Order of Seeds) of the Mishnah, the first major text of Jewish law. ... “Sol” redirects here. ... Creation (theology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

The prayer is traditionally recited outdoors at sunrise.

Order of the service

No set service existed until the Shulkhan Arukh; since then various similar religious services have been offered by Rabbi Moses Sofer, the Mishnah Berurah, and (for Conservative Jews) Lasker and Lasker. The service generally includes: The Shulkhan Arukh (Hebrew: Prepared Table), by Rabbi Yosef Karo is considered the most authoritative compilation of Jewish law since the Talmud. ... Rabbi Moses ben Samuel Sofer or Schreiber, also known by his main work Hatam Sofer or the Chasam Soifer (שות חתם סופר - Responsa the Seal of the Scribe), was one of the leading rabbis of European Jewry in the first half of the nineteenth century. ... Mishnah Berurah (Hebrew: Clarified Teaching) is a work of halakha (Jewish law) by Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, better known as The Chofetz Chaim (Poland, 1838 - 1933). ... Conservative Judaism, (also known as Masorti Judaism in Israel predominantly), is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s. ...

• Quotations about the sun from the Tanakh
• Four verses from the Tanakh which spell out the Tetragrammaton
• Some of Talmud Berachot 59b
• Parts of Psalms 148 and 90
• The Blessing of the Sun (Barukh Atah...maaseh vereishit)
• Psalms 121, 8 and 19
• The hymm El Adon al kol hama'asim (normally part of the Shabbat services).
• Aleinu
• The mourner's kaddish

Tanakh (‎) (also Tanach, IPA: or , or Tenak) is an acronym that identifies the Hebrew Bible. ... It has been suggested that Yahweh be merged into this article or section. ... The first page of the Talmud, in the standard Vilna edition. ... Berakhot (Hebrew: ברכות, Benedictions) is the first masekhet (tractate) of Seder Zeraim (Order of Seeds) of the Mishnah, the first major text of Jewish law. ... Psalms (from the Greek: Psalmoi (songs sung to a harp, originally from psallein play on a stringed instrument), Ψαλμοί; Hebrew: Tehilim, תהילים) is a book of the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh or Old Testament. ... This article or section cites very few or no references or sources. ... Jewish services (Hebrew: tefillah/תפלה, plural tefilloth/תפלות) are the communal prayer recitations which form part of the observance of Judaism. ... Aleinu (Hebrew: ‎, our duty) is a Jewish prayer found in the siddur, the classical Jewish prayerbook. ... Kaddish (קדיש Aramaic: holy) refers to an important and central blessing in the Jewish prayer service. ...

Occurrences

Occurrences in the last 120 years:

• Wednesday, April 7, 1897
• Wednesday, April 1, 1925
• Wednesday, April 8, 1953
• Wednesday, April 8, 1981
• and will happen on
  Wednesday, April 8, 2009

April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). ... 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ... 2009 (MMIX) will be a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Lerman's theory

Moshe Lerman suggested a background to Birkat HaHammah by pointing out a possible connection between the traditional Hebrew dating and the two Mahzorim (cycles) that are observed in Jewish tradition - the "small" 19-year cycle which is the basis of the Jewish calendar, and the "big" 28-year cycle which determines the year in which Birkat HaHammah is recited. Mathematically, if one knows the position of a certain year in both cycles, one can compute the number associated to the year modulo 532 (19 times 28), given that the starting point of both cycles is year 1.

Because the astronomical year is slightly shorter than 365.25 days, the date of the Blessing shifts away from the Spring equinox as history proceeds. A simple astronomical calculation shows that 84 cycles of 28 years before 5769, in the Jewish year 3417, the Spring equinox was in the beginning of the night before the fourth day of the week as stipulated by the Talmud. Lerman takes this as a hint that the astronomically astute Jewish sages of the time concluded that the Jewish year 3417 was a first year in the cycle of 28 years. Moreover, Lerman suggests that these same Jewish sages would have reasoned that year 3421 was a first year in the 19-year cycle, in accordance with an ancient tradition that the world was created in the first week of the month of Nissan. They would have concluded this from the Spring equinox occurring early in the night leading to the fourth day of the Jewish month of Nissan in the Jewish year 3421.

Lerman surmises that the Jewish sages at the time could argue for a determination of the position of their years in both cycles and could therefore compute the absolute year-count modulo 532 years. They were left with a number of options, 532 years apart from each other, and Lerman suggests that they chose the dating closest to what seemed to be the truth according to a literal interpretation of biblical accounts. The sages legally defined future equinox times by instituting the 28-year cycle, to protect the Hebrew dating against future change, and to leave a remembrance to what they had done.

Books

• Rabbi J. David Bleich. Bircas Hachammah, Blessing of the Sun: Renewal of the Creation: a Halachic Analysis and Anthology. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Mesorah Publications ltd, 1981. ISBN 0-89906-176-1.

Rabbi Dr. J. (Judah) David Bleich (pronounced Blikhe) is an authority on Jewish law and ethics and bioethics. ... ArtScroll is an imprint of translations, books and commentaries from an Orthodox Jewish perspective published by Mesorah Publications, Ltd. ...

Reference

• Lasker, AA and Lasker DJ. Birkat Hahammah: The Blessing of the Sun. Conservative Judaism 1981;34:17-28.
• Why Do We Live in the Year 5765? by Moshe Lerman - theory about the origins of the Hebrew dating