Halakhah su Ecclesiaste 1:9

"There is nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9). The world in which the sun began its 207^th 28-year cycle is not new, but it is certainly vastly different from the world as it was at the beginning of earlier cycles within both human memory and recorded history. Heretofore, Birkat ha-Hammah was a little-noted event, marked by the otherwise observant but of only passing curiosity—if that—to others, and of no interest at all beyond the Jewish community. This time the event was celebrated in communities throughout the world by large assemblies of Jews and, in many locales, by throngs numbering in the thousands. Unlike former occasions, the media, including wire services, conducted interviews and published articles heralding the event.¹See, for example, JTA Condensed Edition, February 20, 2009, p. 3; Jewish Week, March 20, 2009, p. 3 and March 27, 2009, pp. 1 and 18-20; “Love the Earth? Bless the Sun,” Wall Street Journal, April 3, 2009, p. W11; and “A Jewish Holiday, Once Every 28 Years,” New York Times, April 3, 2009, p. A12, and “For Jews, Another 28 Years, Another Blessing of the Sun,” New York Times, April 7, 2009, p. A26. In preparation for the last such event in 1981 more Hebrew-language publications dealing with Birkat ha-Hammah appeared than in all of prior Jewish literary history. This time, in addition to expanded and enhanced editions of many of those works, a host of compendia and monographs were published well in advance of the event. Clearly, both interest in, and observance of, Jewish ritual in general, and of Birkat ha-Hammah in particular, are far more intense than in years gone by.

There are those who err in thinking that examination of the nose is indicative of cessation of brain activity and, on the basis of this, wish to establish that life is contingent upon the brain …. In truth this is an absolute error and contradicts that which our Sages, of blessed memory, have established on our behalf … "And there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9). There have already been many among those who are great in wisdom who were inclined to think that way, i.e., that life is contingent upon the brain, but greater persons came and disproved these notions as is recorded in Teshuvot Hakham Ẓevi….