Omer Count

Tonight begins the 43nd Day of the Omer (May 25-26, 2006), which is six weeks and one day of the omer. May that part of me that is broken in Hesed in Malkhut be healed on this day.

 

Baby at Five Minutes Old
Held by the Supportive, Gloved Hand of a Pediatric Nurse
 

Malkhut is the gateway between that which is above and our life here on earth. Hesed is committed love.

A baby is the product of this world: the desire by a person or a couple for a child; the physical act of conception or insemination; the complicated logistics of adoption; and the sexual act itself; are all testimony to how much becoming a parent is a result of this-worldly efforts.

And yet, the fresh touch of the angel on the baby's upper lip reminds us of the baby's proximity to holiness. The parents' desire to love and teach this child overflow as they bear witness to a most precious gift, surely not of their own making.

On this day of Hesed in Malkhut, the new baby also serves as a metaphor for other aspects of our lives. What are the new ideas, projects, relationships, and improvements that seem like gifts but are also the product of our hard work and desire?

Tonight begins the 33rd Day of the Omer (May 15-16, 2006), Lag Ba'omer, which is four weeks and five days of the omer. May that part of me that is broken in Hod in Hod begin to heal on this day.

 

Waterfront at Habonim Camp TavorThree Rivers, MI, September 1983 by Shai
 

Vision and reflection. Teaching and learning. Comfort with self. Leading by example.

In parenting it's that moment when you are about to yell at your child but manage to get a clear image of yourself. A deep breath leads to a short retreat as you pull together a different strategy.

For Moses this occurred after the death of Aaron's eldest sons Nadav and Avihu (Leviticus 10:16-20). Moses got angry when Aaron changed the sacrificial procedure.

Aaron said, "You want me to carry on as normal on a day when such has befallen me?!" Moses heard Aaron, really heard him. And it was good in Moses' eyes.

The gematria for Hod is 30 which is equivalent to the Hebrew letter lamed. lamed stands for both lilmod, learning, and lilamed, teaching.

This day of self containment is actually quite ideal to light a bonfire and shoot arrows, cut hair, and have weddings. The danger of revelry is mitigated when the forces of rootedness are being purified.

Tonight begins the 27th Day of the Omer (May 9-10, 2006), which is three weeks and six days of the omer. May that part of me that is broken in Yesod in Netzach begin to heal on this day.

 

"Sam" at Age 17
 

Each of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet have numerical equivalents. Here is a list of each letter's numerical association:

 

Todays combination of sefirot, Yesod she'b'Netzach can be given a numerical equivalent by adding up their letter values. They total 530.

One way I can find associations for today's sefira is to discover Hebrew words or combinations of words which add up to the same number. There are endless possibilities. I have a book that gives common Kabbalistic associations for numbers 1 - 1000. It's kind of cheating, though; it's more fun to find them yourself. I will admit that the phrase below came from the book:

 

Petach libi, Open my heart. I'm more and more aware of the power of memory in the service of psychological resilience. In facing self doubt, fear, anxiety, overwhelm, I turn to memories of myself strong and free to know that I have been in and out of these states many times before. The teen in the photo above is but one of those memories.

I'm grateful to the Source of Life that helps my heart to open, again and again.

Can you discover any other Hebrew phrases that total 530 for today's sefirot combination? Or 27 in honor of today's count? Share via the comment button, please.

Tonight begins the 25th Day of the Omer (May 7-8, 2006), which is three weeks and four days of the omer. May that part of me that is broken in Netzach in Netzach begin to heal on this day.

 

Micro
Wissahickon Creek, Winter 2004 by Shai Gluskin
 

Macro
Africa and Antarctica, Planet Earth
 

Netzach means forever. It is also associated with prophecy.

It would be a shame to destroy the beautiful gift we've been given because of our selfishness and lack of humility.

Tonight begins the 24th Day of the Omer (May 6-7, 2006), which is three weeks and three days of the omer. May that part of me that is broken in Tiferet in Netzach begin to heal on this day.

 

Laguna Niguel, CA 4/8/2004 by Shai Gluskin
 

In the Spring of 1979 I participated in a 10-week course in biology and geology that was held completely in the Arizona and Utah deserts. The title of the course was Desert Sojourn.

I remember sitting along a creek bed with cold fresh water running off the slopes of Navajo mountain into a desert canyon with 200 foot red walls and lush greenery surrounding the stream. I thought of the water melting off of the slopes of the 10,000 ft. mountain, I thought of the lizards, desert rats, and cliff swallows I had come to know. I felt that it was all working. Each part was playing its role.

The key human role in this context was to bear witness and listen. It felt so good to know and feel that this ecosystem was functioning very well without human beings creative powers being engaged. I felt at peace.

In the photo above my son is building a sand castle. The waves are crashing. Each of these aspects of the scene portray elements doing exactly what they were meant to do.

So often we are aware of the world out-of-order. It is powerful and life-giving to be able to see and notice the world in order.

Tonight begins the 23rd Day of the Omer (May 5-6, 2006), which is three weeks and two days of the omer. May that part of me that is broken in Gevura in Netzach begin to heal on this day.

1990 Utah Desert. Sarah and I moving from San Francisco to Philadelphia.
Photo by Shai
 

Shabbat is coming. It is time to get off the road. With a street name like that, could we not follow that ramp. Shabbat doesn't do a sales pitch each week. There is no advertising campaign for it. "ZZYZX" is just as good any other sign post for it.

Go, go, go, all week. It's hard to stop. I've noticed since I got a faster computer I work faster. Don't know if I get more done, though.

It takes Gevurah, strength, limit-setting, to call a halt to all this movement. Shabbat endures and repeats each week. The structure for reflection is all there. All I need is to submit.

Tonight begins the 22nd Day of the Omer (May 4-5, 2006), which is three weeks and one day of the omer. May that part of me that is broken in Hesed in Netzach be healed on this day.

 

Boaz Gets a Bath
 

Boaz After Bath
 

Yesterday while I'm cooking a late dinner on a school night, my eleven year-old daughter informs me that Boaz, our four year-old Cocker Spaniel has been rolling around in some poop in the back yard and he smells terrible.

A part of me wants to scream. I breathe, find some equanimity, continue to cut the celery and say to her in a matter-of-fact way, "Keep him outside. Take a rag, wet it, and try to wipe it off."

She follows my instructions. A few minutes later she reports back, "He still smells terrible."

"Keep him outside," I say hurriedly with an edge of overwhelm in my voice. I breathe. "Looks like we are going to have to give him a bath" I say retrieving the matter-of-fact tone again.

The problem here is that our rescued Cocker (we've had him for one year now) is afraid of water. We've never bathed him. We take him to the groomer every five weeks. We don't witness what happens and don't ask questions.

There has to be a first time. This is it. My daughter continues the pragmatic tone, "I'm changing into my bathing suit, I'll get in the tub with him."

I add, "I'll get some treats."

When we let Boaz into the house he has a look on his face like, "I've finally put on my best perfume, just for you. Don't I smell nice?" We're in different worlds.

We get him into the bathroom. We've filled the bath with water we imagine to be the perfect temperature. I lift his 43-lbs. into the tub. We give him some treats. Amazing, he's not freaking out.

I call my son to get the camera. He takes some shots. We're having fun. The bath water is getting very dark (mostly from dirt we convice ourselves). We give him the smell test. We rinse him off. We get a bunch of towels which he joyously rubs his whole body against in his special dance. I use my camera's video feature to capture 40 seconds of his bliss.

My son takes my camera back to my office. I later discover he has put the camera away the way I like it with the lens cap on and the camera case zipped closed.

Sophia proclaims, "I'm going to take a shower now."

I am so proud of my kids. I tell them so.

Hesed is the kind of committed love a parent shows for his child. Netzach affirms that the commitment needs to be enduring, it's not casual, it's not ephemeral.

I think the experience of having Boaz is giving my daughter the feeling of being a parent and her Hesed just flowed right out of her. That flowing Hesed was infectious. My son's putting my beloved camera away appropriately without being asked four times was not a usual behavior.

So the "trauma" of our dog rolling in poop and turning himself into a disgusting thing turned out to be an opportunity for us all to be resiliant together. Just doing the right thing brought us all closer. See BoazDogBlog.

Tonight begins the 21st Day of the Omer (May 3-4, 2006), which is three complete weeks of the omer. May that part of me that is broken in Malkhut in Tiferet be healed on this day.

 

West Lake, Hangzhou, China, 1984 by Shai Gluskin
 

In the recent movie Take the Lead Antonio Banderas plays a ballroom dance teacher who wants to help out troubled ghetto kids by instilling them with the rigor and values of ballroom. His commitment to the language of respect, "Please," "Thank you," etc... begins to seep in because he truly likes the kids, he is committed to them, and supports them in using their own hip-hop moves in the creation of a fusion dance form.

The most powerful scene in the movie was when two of the kids, sworn enemies based upon their dead brothers' hatred, have been paired together as partners. After a couple tense sessions, Banderas puts the 6'3" 200 lb. boy with the 5'5" 110 lb. girl together in a room. Banderas then blindfolds the girl. He leaves them alone with a one-word instruction, "Dance."

The reality of the greater male physical strength over the female in this scene is accentuated by the teacher's assignment. By adding the blindfold he's painting a big sign over the girl—you are vulnerable. Ironically, by making that physical power dynamic clear, its charge is diminished. It wouldn't prove the male's strength to take advantage of that power dynamic. Rather it would prove his cowardice and weakness. The physical power dynamic discharged, the two face each other in equal emotional states of vulnerability. The two successfully pass the test on the dance floor. The courage they displayed in that encounter helps them to address the problems in their lives.

But doesn't this smack of a defunct chivalry, one in which men may, at times of their choosing, contain their power, while at other times abuse it? And isn't the whole ballroom dance thing based on assumptions that the culture affirms heterosexual unions while rejecting same-sex ones?

The difference here is that the accentuation of the power differential led to an equality of emotional vulnerability. Ballroom dance functions symbolically in the movie to show how roles and structures can support growth, change, and intimacy.

The Kabbalah talks about the union of Tiferet, the male God as depicted in the Hebrew Bible, with Malkhut, the feminine divineShekhina who represents God's immanence, serving as an intermediary between our world and the nine other sefirot (emmanations/aspects of God) that inhabit the "upper worlds."

Israel (the Jewish people) are sometimes collectively seen in the role of Malkhut and join in union with Tiferet. This is where the custom of couples making love on Shabbat Eve comes from. The husband, representing God, and the wife, representing Israel, mirror/promote the cosmic union of Tiferet with Malkhut.

Here too I don't want to deny the troubling nature of some of this imagery. In this powerful suggestion of cosmic forces being reflected, even healed, through human sexual behaviors, how do we understand the heterosexual nature of this imagery and what affect these symbols might have on gay and lesbian people?

Two responses:

1. I think the Chinese Yin/Yang system is helpful. In that system it is explicit that Yin ("female") and Yang ("male") exist in both males and females. The reference to Yin and Yang by their gender is a language short-cut that is meant to explain something universal, not to describe or predict the behaviors of male or female human beings.
2. The Kabbalistic imagery also lends itself to describing same-sex truths. Yesterday, for instance, was Yesod in Tiferet which is the joining of two male forces. What are the lessons that can be learned when contemplating same-sex unions that have universal application and relevance?

On this day of Malkhut in Tiferet may I come to understand how the acknowledgement of differences can lead to greater intimacy and equality.