Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Israel News

Stephen Colbert Misses The Sunrise

‘You know, I have been waiting my entire life to witness an event of biblical proportions,” Stephen Colbert said on the April 8 episode of his Comedy Central show, “The Colbert Report,” referring to the recitation of Birkat Hachamah, the Blessing of the Sun. The event, which occurs every 28 years, was observed this year on the morning of April 8, which was also the Eve of Passover. It celebrates the sun’s return to its original place in the cosmos as when the world was created, according to tradition.

Image by GETTY IMAGES

Colbert, along with many Jewish bloggers and journalists, was under the impression, thanks to a wide-spread rumor, that the sun has returned to this location on the Eve of Passover, the 14th of Nisan, only twice before, both times preceding events of biblical importance: the Exodus from Egypt and the original miracle of Purim.

But as Ben Dreyfus, a comedian and blogger on jewschool.com points out, the last time the event occurred on this date was in 1925, only three cycles ago. The rumor, according to Dreyfus, has been spreading on the Internet for the past few years. “I read that this [rumor] first appeared in 1925. It wasn’t true then, either!” Dreyfus told The Shmooze. Well, Mr. Colbert, sorry to disappoint, but it looks like you’ll just have to keep waiting with the rest of us for an event of truly biblical proportions.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.