R Selig Starr zt”l often told his talmidim that “you should know what you know and know what you don’t know”. I have heard this from several of his former talmidim from HTC and my son has heard it his current rebbe, who was one of R Starr’s students.
Until about 9 months ago, I had no clue what Bircas HaChama was. I became Torah observant when I was 16, in 1987 and, of course, that last time we said this tefillah was in 1981. I did get a copy of R Bleich’s original sefer on this event thanks to someone who was giving away their late father’s Judaica library, so I was able to read up and a fairly good understanding of the event. This year I will, like my 9 yr old son, experience this for the first time.
All too often there are so many “routine” things in Torah observant life. For me, it’s nice to learn about a not so common event and still feel that I’m part of a “global happening”.
nice blog! i like the way you expressed your upbringing to your son.