[Avodah] Birkat HaHammah

[Zev Sero]

Joseph Mosseri wrote:
> I clearly remember Birkat HaHammah in 1981 and at the time we were 
> taught that this berakhah is recited once every 28 years when the sun is 
> in the exact position it was in when it was created at the time of 
> Ma'aseh Bereshit.

In theory, yes.  Well, it comes back to the same position every year,
of course, but every 28 years it comes back to that position at the
same time of the day and day of the week.  At least, it would if years
were exactly 365.25 days long, and that's the assumption we use for this.


> As we know from Bereshit 1:14-19 this happened on the 4th day. According 
> to tradition Bereshit began on Rosh Hodesh Nisan

No, it didn't.  I don't know where you got that one.  According to the
view that the world was created in Nissan, the first day was the 27th of
Adar, and Rosh Chodesh was the fourth day.  Molad Nissan in the year 1
was on Wednesday at about 3:35 AM.  According to the view that the world
was created in Tishri, the first day was the 25th of Elul, and Adam was
created on the sixth day, 1 Tishri of the year 2.  The molad of that
Tishri was on Friday at exactly 8:00 AM.


> hence the 4th day 
> (Wednesday) of Ma'aseh Bereshit when the sun was created had to be on 
> the 4th of Nisan.

See above.  It was the 1st of Nissan.

> This berakhah must be recited on the 4th of Nisan.

No, it is recited whenever the 26th of March falls on a Wednesday, in
the year after a leap year.  On the Julian calendar, that is.  To convert
from Julian to Gregorian this century, add 13 days, so 26 March = 8 April.
There is no particular date on the Hebrew calendar on which it must fall;
in 1953 it was on the 23rd of Nissan, and in 1925 it was again on Erev
Pesach.


-- 
Zev Sero                    A mathemetician is a device for turning coffee
zev at sero.name               into theorems.                   - Paul Erdos