Blessing The Sun

Early-morning worshippers celebrate rare event.

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The sun peeps over the eastern horizon as worshippers gather to

recite the blessing for the sun.

t sunrise on April 8, a hundred
or so worshippers gathered
at the entrance to the Jewish
Community Center in West Bloomfield
to take part in one of the rarest events in
Jewish practice: Birkat HaChamah, the
once-in-28-year blessing for the sun.
Rabbi Chaim Bergstein of Bais Chabad of Farmington
The blessing, which praises God for
Hills speaks to those gathered for Birkat HaChamah. To
the works of Creation, is pronounced
the right is Rabbi Elimelech Silberberg of Sara and Morris
when the sun — and the planets and
Tugman Bais Chabad Torah Center in West Bloomfield.
constellations — return to the same
time and place they were in when the
world began.
In the biblical account of Creation (Genesis 1:14-19), the luminaries were set into action on the fourth
day. Birkat HaChamah occurs when the vernal equinox (the day in springtime when the daylight and
dark hours are equal) falls on a Wednesday. Quite atypically, the event coincided this year with erev
Pesach, the daytime before the first Passover seder.
The Council of Orthodox Rabbis of Greater Detroit hosted this gathering as well as one in Oak Park at
the Beth Jacob School. Congregation Beth Ahm of West Bloomfield also held a Birkat HaChamah gath-
,__i
ering. The assemblies included a morning prayer service and Talmud study ---

Stepping Out

Birmingham Temple school joins children's march.

Diana Lieberman
Special to the Jewish News

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n April 26, no classes will be
held at the Birmingham Temple
Sunday school in Farmington
Hills. Instead, a group of students and their
families will gather at Birmingham's Shain
Park for a fundraising walk on behalf of
Southeast Michigan's less fortunate chil-
dren.
"Kids Helping Kids, One Step At A
Time" will benefit the Children's Charities
Coalition, a non-profit organization that
includes Care House, the Birmingham
Community House, Orchards Children's
Services and Variety, the Children's
Charity.
Although this is only the second Kids
Helping Kids walk, the four organizations
have been working together for a dozen
years, said Pam Rosen, executive director
of Care House, home of the Child Abuse
and Neglect Council of Oakland County
"Our missions are very compatible
Rosen said. "Together, we serve more than
10,000 children a year in the tri-county
area."
Care House provides advocacy, preven-
tion, intervention and treatment services

to child victims of abuse and their fami-
lies. Orchards Children's Services is the
largest foster care and adoption agency in
Michigan. Variety, the Children's Charity,
focuses on financial aid and services for
children and organizations that serve chil-
dren with special needs. The Birmingham
Community House offers more than 900
free and low-cost educational, social and
cultural programs for children and fami-
lies each year.
The Birmingham Temple walkers will
be joined by local schools and community
groups. Participants will walk for one,
two or three miles and are asked to raise
funds from family and friends. The event is
designed to appeal to children and families,
with entertainment, games and refresh-
ments.
The Birmingham Temple group will
include children from pre-school through
seventh grade. They will be marching
under a homemade banner, along with
teachers, parents and Rabbi Tamara
Kolton.
"What our kids really like about this
event is that they are really helping other
kids, not just by giving money but effort
as weir said Rebecca Smith, the temple's
education director.

Among the Birmingham Temple walk-
ers will be 12-year-old Eli Simons of
Southfield. Participating in Kids Helping
Kids is only one of the community service
activities he has undertaken as he pre-
pares for his bar mitzvah next September.
For his bar mitzvah speech, Eli has cho-
sen to research Bob Geldof, focusing on
the performer's skill and dedication as a
champion of the world's poorest inhabit-
ants, especially children.
"I'm going to talk about generosity, giv-
ing your time and energy to help others:'
Eli said. "We have so much and others
have so little."

❑

Kids Helping Kids, One Step At
A Time takes place Sunday, April
26, beginning at Shain Park in
Birmingham. Registration is at 9
a.m. Walkers will start at 10 a.m.
For more information and to
pre-register: www.kidshelpingkids.
dojiggy.com . For information about
the Children's Charities Coalition:
ww.childrenscharitiescoalition.org .

Eli Simons, 12, of Southfield helps out

at an April 5 Kids Against Hunger event
to send nutritional food to children in

Haiti.

April 16 0 2009

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