Heard atop City Hall: a blessing

Shoshana Bricklin, a legislative aide to City Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., was atop City Hall this morning at 7:30 a.m. with three members of her synagogue to bless the sun.

The blessing, known as Birkat Hachama, is a Jewish ritual that takes place every 28 years. By sheer coincidence, the blessing this cycle falls on the day before Passover.

Bricklin, who has been studying to become a Hebrew priestess, said her party had only four people in it because that is all the city allows in the observation deck, which is just below the statue of William Penn, 548 feet above ground.

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