Reply To: yom huledet

To answer the question about birthday celebrations, I know rabbanim who said that birthday cakes with blowing out candles were not proper (they have their reasons for feeling this way). But to be b’simcha that we have reached yet another year, i.e. the gezaira from the previous year allowed us another year of life,seems to be a show of hakoras hatov to Hashem for that. It’s practically a seudas hodaah (l’havdil, but maybe not so muvdal).