Chaldea

Several months ago, I posted about an upcoming rare event in Judaism — that is, the blessing of the sun, or Birkat Ha-Hammah, that takes place once every twenty-eight years, and is based primarily on the Babylonian Talmud, tractate Brakhot 59b.

The event takes place this year on April 8th, in the early morning. Because Passover happens to begin on the evening of April 8th (a truly rare convergence indeed), many morning celebrations will combine the burning of leaven (chametz) and the blessing of the sun.

For those who may be interested, here are a number of relevant links, spanning several perspectives, both confessional and non:

http://www.ujc.org/page.aspx?id=197451

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?letter=S&artid=1165

http://www.blessthesun.org/

http://www.jrf.org/birkat-hahammah

http://www.jewfaq.org/chamah.htm

http://mobile.aish.com/literacy/mitzvahs/Here_Comes_the_Sun.asp

http://www.forward.com/articles/104024/

To quote the immortal bards Gerome Ragni and James Rado, “Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in, the sunshine in.”