Early this morning, dozens of Jews gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. celebrating the "Blessing of the Sun," marking the completion of a sacred 28 year cycle, when "seeing the sun fully risen on the morning after a tekufat Nissan that occurs at the beginning of the fourth day of the week (that is, at 6 PM on a Tuesday)"
However, since the 3rd Century astronomer Shmuel miscalculated the length of the solar year by 11 minutes, Birkat Hachamah is now celebrated 18 days after the tekufat Nissan, or Vernal Equinox. This 11 minute error was itself celebrated in the completion of the previous cycle in 1981, when a Birkat HaChanah ritual occurred atop what was then the world's largest representation of the number eleven...
The last time this special blessing was recited, April 8,1981, special gatherings were held in various locations for the public recital of the prayer – including atop one of the Twin Towers of the no-longer-extant World Trade Center in New York.
The error of an ancient Hebrew astronomer notwithstanding, the timing and location of this particular celebration carries some symbolic interest. For on this occasion the Moon had conjuncted with Saturn the evening before, then to pass into the sign of Virgo on the morning of April the 8th. Meanwhile, Barack Hussein Obama had completed his first journey to the Old World as President, including a surprise final stop in Baghdad, Iraq. Thus did he return to Washington with the Sun of this Birkat HaChamah in tow, leading it into Virgo, the astrological sign with which this city has been bound ever since the Black Man, Benjamin Banneker, observed a solar eclipse from the banks of the Potomac on April the 3rd, 1791. (See pages 6 & 7 of David Ovason's The Secret Architecture of Our Nation's Capitol)
April 27
Nineteen days after Birkat HaChamah, Air Force One flies over lower Manhattan, igniting memories of 9/11/01 and inciting mass panic. POTUS was not on board, since this was only a photo-op, or an exercise of benign state-sponsered terrorism.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
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