Here Comes The Sun

But is Birkat Hahama all right?

Seems not:

…According to the Babylonian Talmud, the Sun was created on the fourth day of creation. Because Jewish law considers a day to span from evening to evening, the beginning of the halachic fourth day occurs at sundown Tuesday evening. The 28-year-cycle therefore begins and ends at the exact point in time when the sun was created, and the sun only returns to this position once every 28 years.

Does this tradition receive any support from modern astronomical knowledge? Prof. Ariel Cohen of the Hebrew University's Department of Atmospheric Sciences said, "If the length of the year was as they thought it was 2,000 years ago - that is, 365 and a quarter days - then 28 years would indeed be an accurate cycle. But based on knowledge of the year's length gained in the past few hundred years, 'Birkat Hachama' is an embarrassing tradition, testifying to a complete, blatant and intentional disconnect from modern science."

Cohen also took issue with the Scriptural decree to recite the prayer at the beginning of spring, saying that because the calendar in use today is vastly different from the one used in the past, the "tradition contradicts every astronomical principle today, and even the Hebrew calendar, as it is now used."

All this avoids the main point – the universe was not created 5769 years ago. It is billions of years old, as is the sun, as is the earth.

God may have "performed the works of Creation." But he did not do so just under 6000 years ago. And he did not do so as the Bible describes.

Birkat Hahama may be all right, but it is not all true.