[Avodah] Birkas haChama

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Zev Sero asked:
> So why not do it every year at the March Equinox, when the
> sun returns to its initial position?  There's nothing
> objective to distinguish next year's March Equinox from
> any other year's.

We need to define our terms. It seems that you are defining "March Equinox" and/or "returns to its initial position" differently than Chazal did.

You seem to think that "March Equinox" is period of time 24 hours long, being the calendar day during which the day and night are of equal length. Since every year does have such a day, we should say the bracha every year.

I think that Chazal defined it differently, in at least two aspects, both based on the idea that this bracha is not merely said on the Equinox, but it is said on the anniversary of the sun's creation. First, just as the sun was created on Yom Revii, so too it is not truly an anniverary except when it falls on Yom Revii. That knocks out 6 years of each 7.

> Or if once a year is too frequent, why not do it whenever
> the March Equinox falls on a Wednesday?

Because the equinox is not 24 hours long. It is a specific point in time. [The rest of this post is based on my recollection that that the bracha must be said in the morning, and not the afternoon. If I'm wrong on that, I'll have to retract the rest of this post.]

Let's do some math. Each year is 52 weeks and 1.25 days in length. If an event occurs on a Monday morning, its first anniversary will be a year later, on Tuesday afternoon. Then Wednesday evening, very early Friday morning, Saturday late-morning, Sunday afternoon, Monday evening, and so on. Keep going, and you'll find that it wont be until 28 years have passed, that both the day of the week, and time of the day, match up.

In other words, if the anniversary of the sun's creation is celebrated only when it occurs both on that same day and the same time as when it was created, it will be only once every 28 years.

This entire post is based on what I remember from reading ArtScroll's "Bircas Hachamah". To those who have not read it, I heartily recommend it.

Akiva Miller

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