This is an amazing time lapse clip of Cherry Blossoms complied from over 3,000 digital photos, one taken every 3 minutes from April 18 to April 26, 2008, on Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s famed Cherry Walk.
This should get you in the perfect mood for Birckas HaIlan. The blessing over trees is mentioned in the Talmud (Brachos 43b) and can be found in most siddurim in the section of brochos listed after Birkas HaMazon (Grace after Meals). It is a blessing that is made only once a year and the optimum time to make the blessing is in the month of Nissan, so hurry! The blessing is only made on fruit bearing trees and can only be made after the tree has begun to blossom, preferably before the fruit has begun to grow. The Blessing loosely translates as: Blessed are You, Hashem, Our G-d, King of the world, for nothing is lacking in His world, and in it He created good creatures and good trees, in order for mankind to take pleasure in them.
You can read my piece, Nothing Missing In His World, from two years ago on Beyond Teshuva.
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