Sun gets birthday blessing
BY KELLY BURNS
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Wellington
LATEST: Kiwi Jews were the first in the world to give the Sun a birthday blessing in a one-in-28-year ceremony this morning.
As daylight broke, Jews around the country recited prayers to celebrate their belief that Earth was created 5769 years ago.
Wellington Rabbi Chaim Dovrat said it was a ''restaging of the heavens as they were at the beginning of time''.
According to the Talmud, the central book of laws and traditions of Judaism, once every 28 years the Sun returns to its precise position in the sky - at the same time and day of the week as the moment of its creation.
The Sun rose at 6.24am today, but Rabbi Dovrat led the rare blessing from the Webb St synagogue at 7.45am.
About 40 people, ranging in age from 5 to 77 and including non-Jews, were at the synagogue for the celebration.
''It was surprisingly beautiful morning. My wife said I must surely have a good connection with God, because it was suppose to be cloudy and rainy but at 7.45am the sun was so clear.''
He said it was a special celebration as the 7500 Jews in New Zealand would be the first in the world to give the blessing of the Sun.
''It's a rare occasion, something you only get to do once or twice in your life.''
After the blessing in Hebrew and English there was wine; ''Then it was, see you in 28 years,'' Rabbi Dovrat joked.
For only the third time in history, the blessing falls on the eve of Passover, Pesach, a celebrated holiday in the Jewish calendar.
SOLAR SALUTE
Birkat Hachama - or blessing of the Sun - happens every 28 years as Judaism believes the Sun returns to its time and place at creation.
Today is the 206th cycle of the Sun aligning with its position when created by God.
Jews believe the Earth was created 5769 years ago and the Sun was made on Wednesday, the fourth day of creation.
Today, at the first rays of sunshine, Jews went outside, faced east and recited prayers in Hebrew and English and psalms.
- © Fairfax NZ News
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I agree with today's weather page 8.4.2009 and ... casio forrester watch. Sunrise Wellington is 643 am not 624 nzst as reported in this article. also bishop ussher says creation october 4004 bc, margin king james version. so 20.. octob 1997 don advertised adam and eve wedding anniversary 6000 years. 2 peter ch 3.. a day is as a thousand years. end of world is nigh.
It is not the case that Jews full-stop believe the world is so new. Even amongst orthodox Jews there is no uniform consensus, no obligatory dogma. This piece gives a misleading impression of the nature of contemporary Judaism, where the concentration tends to be on actions, including rituals, and their moral meaning, not on something like a profession of belief. Even secular societies need an accurate understanding of its religions (and the world's). Still, it's a welcome piece on a kiwi minority.
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If anyone wants to know an Orthodox Jewish opinion to blessing of the sun that is different to the one mentioned here, check out: http://machonshilo.org/en/eng/askrav/46-tphilla-and-brakhoth/289-birkath-hahamma