‘The Sun’s Special Blessing’ comes to life

Local students, Chabad to bury time capsules after Bircat HaChama

By Yaffi Spodek

Issue of April 3, 2009 / 9 Nissan 5769

Chabad of Mineola is preparing to celebrate the mitzvah of Bircat HaChama on April 8 by burying a time capsule to be opened 28 years from now in 2037, the next time the blessing on the sun will be recited.

“It’s good to think about what you have today and appreciate it and write it down,” said Rabbi Anchelle Perl of Cong. Beth Sholom Chabad of Mineola, the organizer of the project. “People can place things in it that have meaning in Jewish life today and be able to reflect.”

Rabbi Perl explained that the idea to create a time capsule in conjunction with Bircat HaChama came from “The Sun’s Special Blessing,” (Pitspopany Press, 2009) a children’s book written by Sandy Wasserman of Plainview and illustrated by Ann Koffsky of West Hempstead.

The book –– Wasserman’s first –– tells the story of a third grade class learning about Bircat HaChama with their teacher, Mr. Jacobs, who buried a time capsule with his classmates in 1981, the last time that the blessing was recited. After digging to uncover his capsule, the students bury a new one of their own.

“She [Wasserman] called me about the book and I thought it would be appropriate to encourage people today when the world is so ‘tumuldik’ (chaotic) to capture it as it is today,” Rabbi Perl said. “We have the children of our Hebrew school writing how they would like to see themselves 28 years from now ... The approach of making the mitzvah acceptable to young people is very beautiful.”

The story is based on the author’s personal experience, since in 1981, Wasserman’s third grade students at Solomon Schechter Day School in Jericho buried their time capsule for the 2009 Bircat HaChama.

On Tuesday, March 24, Wasserman visited the school to read her book, deliver a lesson on Bircat HaChama, and supervise the students as they each created a personal time capsule. This year’s third graders, joined by some of their 1981 counterparts, also buried a time capsule on behalf of the school, simulating what was done in the book.

“When I first did the Bircat HaChama lesson in 1981, I had not thought about it beyond then, and I wasn’t planning to write a story about it,” said Wasserman, who is now retired from teaching but aspires to write more children’s book. “It was a very serendipitous, exciting thing.”

“I was so proud and honored that Rabbi Perl saw merit in the idea of the time capsule to also do it at Chabad,” she continued. “To me, the greatest tribute is that the book has been accepted across the denominations ... I think a time capsule is a tool for representing a period in our lives that shows that G-d allowed us to live this moment at this Bircat HaChama and hopefully on to the next.”

Chabad’s capsule –– a 16” x 16” stainless steel container –– will be buried at a cornerstone of the synagogue, following the recitation of the blessing at 7:45 a.m. The names of those present will be documented and buried with the other items. Special envelopes, guaranteed to preserve papers for many years, should prevent deterioration of the capsule’s contents.

Rabbi Perl has already begun to receive letters and pictures for inclusion. One person wanted to bury a CD of pictures, which prompted the question of whether or not a disc from 2009 would be obsolete and unreadable in 2037.

The project is being called a “Sunshine Time Capsule” in the hope that it will bring about positive change in these times. “Even though right now it looks pretty cloudy out, and I’m not talking about the weather, the fact that we’re focusing on the sunshine is a siman bracha, a positive sign that the sun will shine on America and Israel and we will come out of this,” said Rabbi Perl.

“We are also looking forward to having some officials join us from the government, to witness this event and add to the simcha (joy),” he continued. “It’s a simcha shel mitzvah and it really speaks to the day. There is a much bigger interest in the mitzvah this year than there was in 1981, which says a lot about Jewish life in general.”

Rabbi Perl is going to write a submission of his own as well, and hopes that when the capsule is opened in 2037, “we will read what was in there, not in Mineola, but at a ceremony in a beautiful location in Jerusalem.”

All are invited to submit a memory, which must be mailed in by April 5, to Cong. Beth Sholom Chabad, 261 Willis Ave, Mineola, NY, 11501. Entries can also be e-mailed to rabbi [at] rabbiperl.com. Rabbi Perl can be reached at (516) 739-3636.