 Media Credit: photopublic.com The rare event of Birkat Hachamah happens only every 29 years.
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On Wednesday, April 8 a rare event happened for Jews around the world, one that happens only once every 29 years. It is known as "Birkat Hachamah", or the blessing of the sun, and it occurs when the sun reaches the exact place in the sky where, tradition explains, it was when it was first created. Of course, not all Jews believe the sun was created 6,000 years ago, but the blessing was a wonderful opportunity for Jews to remind themselves just how lucky all living things on Earth are for having a sun. The technical aspects of the blessing involved reciting various Psalms, thanking God for creating the world, as well as prayers of thanksgiving for granting life. The blessing was to occur quickly following the sunrise, and some communities were out along Lake Michigan in the early hours of the morning to fulfill this unique mitzvah, or "commandment."
Furthermore, the Birkat Hachamah of 2009 was made even rarer because it occurred on the eve of Passover, which only happens once every 1,300 years, according to www.chabad.org. Tradition holds that having Birkat Hachamah fall on the day before Passover preludes a great redemption in Jewish history. It supposedly happened before the exodus from Egypt, as well as before the events retold during the holiday of Purim, where the Jewish populations of the Persian empire were saved from annihilation.
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