They say that New York is the city that never sleeps, but at 5:30 this morning the streets of Jerusalem were more active than I've ever seen Manhattan at that hour. Jerusalemites tend to be early-risers, since many religious Jews make sure to leave enough time to say their morning prayers before they head to work. But this morning's prayers were so special that even I managed to drag my tired self of bed while it was still dark outside. However, I must admit that the only thing that kept me from crawling back under my covers was the fact that I was surprised to hear swarms of people chattering away outside my window...
The rabbis of the Talmud tell us that once every 28 years, the sun returns to the same place, time, and day of the week that it occupied during the moment of its creation. In commemoration of this day, a special blessing for the sun -- called Birkat HaChama -- is said:
Blessed are You, Adonai, our God and God of all the universe, who makes all things in creation.
Birkat HaChama is considered the rarest prayer in Judaism. Today marked only the third time that the prayer was recited in the history of the State of Israel (the other occasions were in 1953 and 1981). Because of this, thousands of people flocked to the beautiful Haas Promenade to celebrate and pay their respects to the center of the universe as we know it. There were also services going on at Masada and at the Kotel (apparently there were over 50,000 people there!) -- not to mention various other places around the globe. It helped that modern technology makes it very easy to broadcast obscure events such as this to a large population. Indeed, the last time Birkat HaChama was recited in 1981 was long before the internet was even thought of -- and many of the religious Jews I spoke to had never even heard of the ritual until this year!
I arrived by cab with Jessica and Chad. We were worried that there wouldn't be any cabs on the road at such an early hour but it turned out that the opposite was true. There were many cabs, but they were all full of people who were also heading down to the tayelet. Fortunately, we eventually managed to find one. Our original goal was to join a group from the liberal yeshiva Pardes, who were hosting an egalitarian service. We thought they'd be easy to spot, since they were likely one of the few groups in which the men and the women would be praying together. However, there must have been thousands of people along the promenade, spread out amongst dozens of different congregations.
Blessed are You, Adonai, our God and God of all the universe, who makes all things in creation.
Birkat HaChama is considered the rarest prayer in Judaism. Today marked only the third time that the prayer was recited in the history of the State of Israel (the other occasions were in 1953 and 1981). Because of this, thousands of people flocked to the beautiful Haas Promenade to celebrate and pay their respects to the center of the universe as we know it. There were also services going on at Masada and at the Kotel (apparently there were over 50,000 people there!) -- not to mention various other places around the globe. It helped that modern technology makes it very easy to broadcast obscure events such as this to a large population. Indeed, the last time Birkat HaChama was recited in 1981 was long before the internet was even thought of -- and many of the religious Jews I spoke to had never even heard of the ritual until this year!
I arrived by cab with Jessica and Chad. We were worried that there wouldn't be any cabs on the road at such an early hour but it turned out that the opposite was true. There were many cabs, but they were all full of people who were also heading down to the tayelet. Fortunately, we eventually managed to find one. Our original goal was to join a group from the liberal yeshiva Pardes, who were hosting an egalitarian service. We thought they'd be easy to spot, since they were likely one of the few groups in which the men and the women would be praying together. However, there must have been thousands of people along the promenade, spread out amongst dozens of different congregations. 
We eventually abandoned our search for Pardes and joined up with Shira Hadasha, the "halakhic" egalitarian minyan that permits women to sing and lead prayers, even though they sit separately from the men. This morning's service featured not only beautiful singing, but also a violinist and several other musicians. The melodies were intertwined with the murmur of prayer coming from the other groups that surrounded us -- not to mention the backdrop of the sun rising behind absolutely breath-taking scenery. We ran into many familiar faces and picked up several friends along the way -- a sure sign of the fact that we're all really becoming part of the Jerusalem community. It's too bad that we'll all be heading home in just two short months -- time has really flown by!
Once the sun came up and we recited the blessing, a group of us decided to grab one last carbohydrate-laden meal before saying goodbye to bread for the next week. We were certainly not the only ones with this idea. We headed to Tal Bagels on Emek Refaim, which was jam-packed -- but we were lucky enough to snag a table outside. We all jokingly vowed to meet up again in the same place 28 years from now. I don't even want to think about how old I'll be then, but the cool thing is that I will (hopefully) have a pulpit by then and will be able to tell my congregnts all about how I participated in this rare blessing of the sun ceremony in Jerusalem.You can read more about the once-every-28-year opportunity of Birkat HaChama in several publications, including CNN, the Jerusalem Post and the New York Times.
Wishing you all a Chag Sameach -- enjoy your Passover and Easter celebrations! :)
1 comment:
in 28 years you will be my age! love, mom
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