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קידוש החמה

Rav Dr. L. Yosef Breuer ZTL

קידוש החמה[1]

Wednesday, the 23rd of Nissan[2], we will observe .קידוש החמה When the sun becomes visible, the following Berachah will be said: עושה מעשה בראשית. It is best to recite this Berachah after תפילת שחרית, in the presence of the Kehilla, considering that the event is not a daily occurrence, for the opportunity to recite this Berachah presents itself only every 28 years.

The sun was created by God on the fourth day of Creation, to be the largest carrier of light. Every 28 years the Nissan (spring) תקופה of the sun comes in at nightfall of the fourth day – as at the time of Creation (see Berachos 59b); this according to the calculation of Mar Shmuel[3] (Eruvin 56a). It will be well to contemplate what motivated our Chachomim – the great teachers of our people – to see in this event a cause for reciting a Berachah.

If, with this Berachah, we are to praise God as the Master of the world and Creation, we should not have to wait 28 years to do so. The fact that God is Creator and Master of the world is an indisputable reality for the Jew.

It may well be – as published recently in a popular magazine – that there will always be attempts made to give people a beautiful set of pictures, describing a nebular theory of cosmic gases that circle around the poles, shedding “worlds” which “eventually” develop organic life. But they owe us an answer as to how these gases came about, how they circle around, and how organic life developed; how these theories are tenable without a Lawgiver; and how one can accept the idea of life if such a life harks back to a senseless primeval cloud.

Without such answers these overwhelming facets of nature will always be for us a reason to offer homage to God, “the Creator of light and darkness, Who renews His work of Creation with every new day.” The continued presence of the world with its innate laws is for us an ongoing revelation of the wonders of Creation.

The foremost bearer of light is only a “servant” (Shammes) of God’s created sanctuary. But we would not indulge in the illusion to worship the sun, which is indeed essential for life. In our prayers every morning, and in the Psalms that precede our prayers, we declare a daily homage to God.

But if this homage is said daily, what led our Chachomim to enact a rule to say a Berachah every 28 years, in order to strengthen our awareness of the fourth Day of Creation?

We permit ourselves to state: In our daily morning Tefillah we greet the sunlight as, by the will of God, it replaces night to bring us a new morning. Then we hear the Kedushah of all God-serving elements, and our Tefillah speaks of the light that God has brought us from Zion. A terrestrial sun could never overshadow the darkness of night if God had not given us, with His mercy, the light of Torah to guide us through life. We owe Him thanks that our lives are not dimmed and desolate – for He “enlightens our eyes through His Torah.” It is well to acknowledge God for His Creation, but we must be ready to seek the light of His Torah and thereby serve the ultimate intentions of God’s Creation.

And as we acknowledge daily the realization of the ongoing presence of God in His Creation, so the event after 28 years is a further, modest but impressive, manifestation of this knowledge. When the sun is in the same place that God had assigned to it, our thoughts are also to go back to the Days of Creation. We are to bring to mind: עושה מעשה בראשית – God continues His Creation and calls us to His service to perfect His Creation. As the Prophet Yeshayahu (60:19) declares: We are not to see light only from the sun, but also the אור עולם, the eternal Light for our lives, which – according to our Chachomim (Bereshis Rabbah 3:5) – God placed into His Creation “five times” (חמש פעמים כתיב כאן אורה כנגד חמישה חומשי תורה).

We are to wage the battle against a godless, Amalek-like world and come out victoriousעד בא השמש (Shemos 17:12), when some day Moshiach will light the way for an erring mankind. The life of the observant is served by the sun, as it says in Shoftim 5:31:ואהביו כצאת השמש בגבורתו “those that love Him will be like the sun when it rises in its might.”

ברוך עושה מעשה בראשית “Blessed be You, O God our God, King of the world – we want to serve Your holy Will with our lives and further Your Creation which You continue to maintain.” Indeed the Berachah that we say once every 28 years is recited every day, but it has special significance at this hour. It is called קדוש החמה, similar to קדוש לבנה at the sight of the new moon, as this occasion, too, calls us to renewed “sanctification” of our lives.