Moed Tov!!! Hope everyone had beautiful Pesach Seders.
On the second night of Passover we began counting the Omer. The Omer was a measurement of barley (approx 2 liters) that the Jews used to bring as an offering on the second day of Passover in the afternoon, to the Temple. To this it would continue with the counting of the Omer in which the Jews counted each day during seven weeks (49 in total) until Shavuot in which we celebrate the giving of the Torah.
Each week represents one of the seven sefiros or emotional attributes of H”S: Chesed (Kindness), Gevurah (Justice), Tiferet (beauty, harmony), Netzach (Endurance), Hod (Humility), Yesod (Bonding), and Malchut (Kingship).
This week for example we are working our Chesed (Kindness) aspect and each day of the week we combine it with another Sefira. Tuesday night was Chesed In Chesed, Wednesday night and today are Gevurah in Chesed and so on until we rectify our character traits the next seven weeks.
What is Chesed? Chesed means Kindness-however where the standard definition of kindness ends the Jewish concept of kindness begins.
Chesed is represented by the right arm and hand (or dominant one). Pure Chesed is complete selflessness, it means giving without expecting anything in return and without looking at who.
Today we are counting Gevurah Shebe Chesed (Justice in Kindness). Too much Chesed can be counter productive for both the giver and receiver, giving without limits can destroy a person. In life we need to set boundaries to keep healthy relationships in which we practice respect towards others. It is the discipline in our lives that give us that balance.
Try to help others in their terms… not in yours and you will see how the discipline allows the true kindness to flow from you.
Experts taken from”Sefiros” by Rabbi Yaakov Haber and “Counting the Omer” by Rabbi Simon Jacobson
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