Waiting for the Sun

About 28 years ago our school went to the school backyard to make a blessing on the sun. As youngsters we did not know what to make of this occurrence. We were just happy to get a break; albeit a short one during the school day. A couple of weeks later, my father showed the family a collection of new pictures on his Kodak Carousel Slide Projector. There it was in all of its glory. Various pictures of the sun rising. My father told us all about the Birchas Hachamah (the blessing of the sun), how it commemorates the creation of the sun, moon, and the stars, and how we only celebrate this only once in 28 years. Of course, being a child this all went over my head. Having said that, I did think the pictures of the sun were cool.

Last year, I noticed a couple of my Facebook friends were planning on attending Birchas Hachamah. In an instant I was 9 years old again reminiscing about the pictures from my youth and remembered vaguely going to a backyard to bless the sun. Naturally, I clicked on the "Yes, I will attend" button. In the past few weeks, there has been a significant increase in the availability of articles, audio lectures, and video presentations explaining the phenomena of Birchas Hachama. Additionally our shul (synagogue) offered a lecture on this topic and a number of articles discussing this topics were available in print. As I poured through these articles and media sources I kept wondering how I should share this unique event with my 7 year old son? How do I make sure he will remember this event and look on it fondly in 28 years from now. I continued to read articles about this topic. However, no advice on how to share this with children was available.

This past Shabbos (Saturday) I was in synagogue listening to the rabbi's views on Birchas Hachamah. He closed the speech with a quick discussion on how the shul will celebrate the event. He said they would start with morning services, march over to Marine Park, and make the blessing. As the logistics were being discussed, it occurred to me that my child will not sit through a lengthily extended service. This would undoubtedly ruin the experience for him. At the same time, I felt that my child should celebrate Birchas Hachamah with a group as that will add meaning to the event.

What to do? What to do? I was still struggling with the "how do I make this special for my child" question. As I was pondering through this question, I started reminiscing (again) about my experiences from 1981. At that age, the blessing did not make any impact as it sounded similar to other blessings we recite. However, the pictures were a big deal to me. This made me realize, my son needs to experience this event visually. With this in mind, on April 8th I will take my son on a walk to the park and let him see the sun rise, take pictures of this event, and of course make the blessing. Later on, we will meet up with the synagogue (assuming he has the patience) and the say the blessing with them as well.

Will this grand plan work? Who knows? let's hope it doesn't rain on this day. I am cautiously optimistic that this will be meaningful as he has never had the opportunity to use a digital camera before. Anyhow... if anyone has other ideas for this "once in 28 years" event, please let me know. I'm all ears.

For more details, please visit;
Birchas Hachamah Guide
Time for Birchas Hachamah
Bless the Sun
Here Comes the Sun
Torah Tots for Kids