Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Chamat hatekufah - Heat, sun and fire


On the 14th of Nisan 5769, just before sunrise, the Jewish believers will recite the special prayer and blessing of the Sun, of the "Heat(ing source)\ברכת החמה". This only happen once every 28 years when the sun is supposedly passing by the same sidereal point where it was created at the beginning of creation, on the fourth day ("Tuesday to Wednesday"). The blessing is famous: "Blessed are You Lord of the universe / Who makes (realizes) the actions of the creation". This blessing tracks back to the renown verses of the Book of Bereishit - בראשית/Genesis: "God said: let be lights in the firmaments of heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons and for days and years
ויאמר אלהים יהי מארת ברקיע השמים להבדיל בין היום ובין הלילה ויהו לאתת ולמועדים ולימים ושנים:
And let them be for lights in the firmaments of heavens to give light on the earth", and it was so. Then, God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.
ויהו למאורות ברקיע השמים להאיר על-הארץ ויהו כן: ויעש אלהים שני המאורות הגדלים את המאור הגדול לממשלת היום ואת המאור הקטן לממשלת הלילה ואת הכוכבים:
God set them in the firmament of heavens to give light on the earth and to rule over the day and over the night and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day. (Bereishit/Genesis 1:14-19).
ויתן אתם אלהים ברקיע השמים להאיר על-הארץ: למשל ביום ובלילה ולהבדיל בין האור ובין החשך ויאר אלהים כי טוב ויהי ערב ויהי בקריום רביעי: (בראשית א, יד-יט(

God continuously and without ceasing renews the works of creation and brings them to fulfillment. This is a clear action that also oversteps the Shabbat as said at the end of the sixth day of creation: "... Sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were accomplished. And on the seventh day God ended (brought to fulfillment - "took as a bride [cf. kallah - כלה]" all His work that He has been doing (= dynamic for "had done"), and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which God has been creating in continuing realizing it = asher osseh (present tense) le'assot)\יום ששי: ויכלו השמים והארץ וכל-צבאם: ויכל אלהים ביום השביעי מכל-מלאכתו אשר עשה: ... אשר ברא אלהים לעשות. (Bereishit/Genesis 1:31-2:3. This means that, even on Shabbat when He rests, God does project the extension of the work of creation over the time of the Shabbat. This is comparable to a "marriage" in so far this acount shows the "history = toledot\תולדות = generations" that allowed turning periods or "tekufot" to switch ahead into the future, still unveiled times. The Sun is "shemesh\שמש = also a server "shamash - שמש) to rule the day, the heat and a sign of manhood while the Moon trustworthily appears and seems to disappear and shows up again, which witnesses to the faithfulness of the Divine Providence. It should be noted that it is very similar to Jesus words in the Gospel of the Evangelist John: "I am the Father are always at work".

The blessings is thus: "Blessed are You Lord of the universe/Who is doing (realizing) the works of creation - ב' א' ה' א' מ' ה' אשר עושה מעשי בראשית" which echoes the usual Hebrew blessing: "/Who renews the works of the creation\ אשר מחדש מעשי בראשית".

As a consequence, it is not surprising that this "creation and wedding atmosphere" is compared to women's machzor or recurrent menstrual cycle which precisely is composed of 28 days - the Jewish month 29 days and based on the lunar calendar - it was not the case in the Antiquity before the adoption of a new calendar system by the Jews. This also means that there is a "generational, birth-developing process" and the "blessing of the chamah\חמה - birkat hachamah\ברכת החמה - " is a solar vernal equinox that refers to the first New Year day of Nisan, for the Feast of Release and Freedom. The Talmud (Berachot 59b and Eruvin 56a).

The Birkat hachamah\ברכת החמה memorizes us back and forth into the most ancient times of human history and ahead of the full plerome/expanding work of humankind in the face of God. This is somehow related to the celebration of the fire in the Zaratushtrian/Mazdean tradition and maybe reminded in the celebration of the Holy Fire on the Shabbat HaOr -Sabbath al-Nur (Hagion Phos). The Latin Church has kept it in the lighting of the "fire of the Resurrection at midnight in the Roman Latin churches). Interestingly, the Birkat HaChamah should be said in concordance with the Julian day of March 25 that is the Feast of the Annunciation in the Old Calendar traditions, as we are in the Church of Jerusalem. This creates a very peculiar and ancient connection with the faith of the early Church of Jerusalem. This may be related to the fact that "Passkha" has been determined in the first centuries with the Jewish Pesach. This Pesach has a sort of "priority" over the "Christian Church Easter dates". This is why from Pesach till the end of the eighth day of the Eastern Orthodox feast of the Resurrection (April 26/13, 2009).

av aleksandr [Winogradsky Frenkel]

April 8/26, 2009 - 14 deNisan 5769 - י"ד דניסן תשס"ט

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