Devar/5769/Shemini
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One who sees the sun on the day it completes its cycle in Nissan… makes the blessing, "… Who creates all Creation." (Mishne Torah, Laws of Blessings 10:20)
This week we had a rare opportunity - to make a blessing over the returning of the sun to the place in the sky where according to our tradition it was at the time it was created. This opportunity recurs only every twenty-eight years.
The halachah in the Rambam takes up just one line. In the Talmud, even less. The Shulchan Aruch draws it out a little longer, but nevertheless whatever needs to be said is said in less than a paragraph. Very surprisingly, there have been entire books published lately on the topic of this blessing, and long pamphlets and countless shiurim given, in excessive detail.
And likewise, at the time of the blessing itself, on Wednesday of this past week -- special prayer services were held all over Israel and the world, where multitudes gathered to perform the blessing "with many people". And it is difficult to understand: where did they see in our sources that this blessing has such importance? In the Talmud it is only one of many blessings over natural phenomena (among them thunder and lightning, etc).
And in fact, I saw comments to a newspaper article which did not explain the blessing very well, Gentiles ( and Jews ) thought the Jews were praying to the sun, Heaven forbid, and commented that nothing has changed since ancient times, when our forefathers really prostrated themselves to the sun and the moon.
All this was not necessary -- since this blessing isn't directed at the sun, Heaven forbid, and not to anything else but rather to the Master of the world -- praise to God Who created the universe and runs the world. And if the Rabbis had explained that all the blessings of praise are to God, may He be blessed and not Heaven forbid to anything else, we would have prevented a defamation of His name when others think we are worshipping the hosts of Heaven, God preserve us. And of this it is stated, "whoever adds, detracts".
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