Comments on: Solar Prayers

Solar Prayers

ericbop — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:41:09 -0800

Once every month, Jews bless the moon. Once every 28 years, they bless the sun! This custom dates back to the Talmud, but is also found in other sacred Jewish texts, such as The New York Times. Sometimes, there are misunderstandings. [pdf] Previously reserved to a pious handful of observant Jews, it's on the mainstream media radar this time around, possibly because of its environmental implications. Here's an interesting depiction of the ritual in modern American history, which explicitly deals with its connection to solar power.

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:50:52 -0800

Keep it up.

By: desjardins

desjardins — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:20:27 -0800

What do Seattle Jews do?

By: Artw

Artw — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:22:46 -0800

Hey, there's sun outside! right now! don't mock it or we'll go back to having snow like we did last week.

By: tommasz

tommasz — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:26:53 -0800

But they do it at night, right? What do mean, wrong joke?

By: languagehat

languagehat — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:27:25 -0800

Nice story! I'm not even Jewish, but what the hell, I may celebrate tomorrow morning anyway. How can you resist a holiday that comes around this rarely?

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:36:41 -0800

Jesus. I completely got confused by this and have been mooning people all week. Happy pesach. Here's my ass.

By: Divine_Wino

Divine_Wino — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:54:37 -0800

Good yontef, ogle my tuchus if you please.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:07:51 -0800

Mit der oygn!

By: catlet

catlet — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:10:14 -0800

Here's an article with picture from the Boston Globe.

By: LarryC

LarryC — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:32:33 -0800

other sacred Jewish texts, such as The New York Times Awesome.

By: rand

rand — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:58:26 -0800

...because of its environmental implications. What? Are they going to burn the sun or something?

By: milestogo

milestogo — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:05:28 -0800

woo hoo! did this on the beach at sunrise this morning! Glad to see it on the blue.

By: Joe Beese

Joe Beese — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:15:11 -0800

It was a Jew who wrote "Who Loves the Sun".

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:02:20 -0800

Obviously, the moon is colder. It gets sick more so it sneezes more often than the su...what?

By: 1adam12

1adam12 — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 02:01:19 -0800

My rabbi emailed the entire congregation to invite us to attend this ceremony. Because this ceremony is completely alien to me and has nothing to do with anything other than some rabbis making shit up, I decided not to attend.

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 07:58:03 -0800

Would have been nicer had this been posted yesterday. I never heard of it, and personally, find a bit of reverence towards the sun to be worth while. It is doubtful I'll be around when this comes up next, in 28 years.