Source of The Practice
The primary source for the institution of Birkat Hachama is a Beraita mentioned in the Talmud:
- "תנו רבנן הרואה חמה בתקופתה...אומר ברוך עושה מעשה בראשית"
- "Our rabbis taught: 'One who sees the sun at its turning point...recites the blessing of 'the maker of works of creation."
The middle of this clause in the beraita (elided here) speaks of other astronomical phenomena, the interpretation of which is ambiguous. The Gemara clarifies when the 'turning point' (תקופה) mentioned in the beraita occurs:
- "ואימת הוי אמר אביי כל כ״ח שנין"
- "And when does this happen? Abaye answers: every 28 years..."
Next, the gemara explains the basis of the 28 years:
- "והדר מחזור ונפלה תקופת ניסן בשבתאי באורתא דתלת נגהי ארבע"
- "...when the cycle renews and the 'season of Nisan' (i.e. vernal equinox) falls in Saturn, on the evening of Tuesday going into Wednesday."
This explanation provided by Abaye is based on a ruling of Shmuel also mentioned in the Talmud:
- "Shmuel stated: The vernal equinox occurs only at the beginning of one of the four quarters of the day, either at the beginning of the day or at the beginning of the night, or midday or midnight. The summer solstice only occurs at either at the end of 1.5 or at the end of 7.5 hours of the day or the night. The autumnal equinox only occurs at the end of 3 or 9 hours of the day or the night. The winter solstice only occurs at the end of 4.5 or 10.5 hours of the day or the night. The duration of a season of the year is no longer than 91 days and 7.5 hours."
Shmuel's calculations, however, are imprecise because the earth does not travel around the sun with a constant speed. His imprecision, according to Abraham ibn Ezra, was a function of the desire of the time to avoid the necessity of manipulating fractions.
Read more about this topic: Birkat Hachama
Famous quotes containing the words source of, source and/or practice:
“Being the dependents of the general government, and looking to its treasury as the source of all their emoluments, the state officers, under whatever names they might pass and by whatever forms their duties might be prescribed, would in effect be the mere stipendiaries and instruments of the central power.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“Because relationships are a primary source of self-esteem for girls and women, daughters need to know they will not lose our love if they speak up for what they want to tell us how they feel about things. . . . Teaching girls to make specific requests, rather than being indirect and agreeable, will help them avoid the pitfalls of having to be manipulative and calculating to get what they want.”
—Jeanne Elium (20th century)
“Certainly, young children can begin to practice making letters and numbers and solving problems, but this should be done without workbooks. Young children need to learn initiative, autonomy, industry, and competence before they learn that answers can be right or wrong.”
—David Elkind (20th century)