The Sun is especially important this year. The United Nations and the International Astronomical Union have already proclaimed 2009 "The International Year of Astronomy" to honor Galileo's astronomical use of the telescope. The Sun will also add to the special nature of this year in several ways. For example, a new solar sunspot cycle is now beginning and midyear brings the longest total solar eclipse of our lifetime. However, calendrical reckoning will similarly mark 2009 as a special year to praise the Sun! A rare coincidence brings together two events this spring - a celebration of the spiritual birth of our Sun, last observed twenty-eight years ago, and an annual spring festival memorializing the exodus of slaves from ancient Egypt. The simultaneity of these two events, both representing rebirth, is a once in a lifetime occurrence.

However, events that happen but once, or only a few times in one's life, are prized like no other. If you missed the last close approach of Comet Halley, the next is still more than a half century away. The last transit of Venus across the Sun was in 2004, an event no one alive had ever seen since the previous was in 1882, more than a lifetime ago. Fortunately, transits of Venus now occur in pairs separated by eight year intervals. The next, in 2012, will be the last for anyone living today.

This year, after a lapse of twenty-eight years, Jews wishing to reaffirm the Sun's radiance, strength and hope for renewal, will rise early on the morning of Wednesday, April 8, 2009. As the Sun rises we will gather outside in the morning dawn to recite Birkat HaChamah prayers and special psalms to bless the Sun. Since 2009 is the year 5769 in the Jewish Calendar, this day will signify the 206th birthday of the Sun.

We will also dance in circles and sing joyous songs such as "Here Comes the Sun," and "Morning Has Broken." This ceremony of prayers and songs will not be said again for another twenty-eight years when people again gather to praise the creation of the Sun.

Finally, this year Birkat HaChamah has special significance. For, on the very evening of this day that honors the "Sun's birth," begins one of the most important and oldest religious holidays and festivals, Passover (Pesach), a remembrance of our slave ancestors from Egypt. Passover always occurs on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nisan near the time of Full Moon. The simultaneous occurrence of Birkat HaChamah and Passover is truly a rare event in one's lifetime. The last time both Birkat HaChamah and Passover occurred together was eighty-four years ago, in 1925!

Indeed, Birkat HaChamah and its coincidence with Passover have only previously occurred ten times in Biblical history. So, 2009 marks an especially auspicious year for the Sun - the simultaneous celebration of both the birth of the Sun and the spring festival that celebrates the renewal of life. These are once in a lifetime experiences. Celebrating events as these that only happen once every generation or less forces us to take a deeper view of both ourselves and the light and life of the Sun - where we all came from, what are we now, and where will we be in the future. The Rabbi and I invite you to gather with family and friends early on the morning of April 8 at 6:45 am with your B'nai Moshe family to view the Sun and celebrate, even if only symbolically, the birthday of the Sun.