Three Days of the Omer
Pixabay, Javad Esmaeili
Tiferet of Chesed
Written in Honor of Liddy’s Birthday.
Happy Birthday, My Love!
An older woman has joined us. She has joined us only for this day; she is walking beside Sarah. The weight of their story seems to cling like pendants along their spines. There isn’t ease between them, they have history. They have bitterness and insult and jealousy and harshness and enslavement. Their gaits are a little stiff, but most of all not rushed as they walk together.
I wish I could hear what they are saying.
My heart breaks for Sarah. Decades of wanting children, of waiting for children, of despairing that there would ever be children in a social and spiritual and economic system that required children of her and then Hagar conceived in a blink. My heart breaks for Hagar. Captive in a social and economic system of oppression that has her taken by Sarah and given to Abraham with Rashi explaining that Hagar was ‘won over’ by being told she was lucky to have the ‘privilege to consort’ with Abraham. Finally Sarah births a child only to have Abraham take him . . . him and all of his laughter . . . putting her in a grave. Meanwhile Hagar’s supposed consolation for the injustice done to her is that her son will hate and his numerous descendents will be reviled. So much for listening and being heard.
How are they still standing?
How are they still walking?
How are they still walking together?
Even if just for this one day.
I strain to hear them, but the wind is catching their voices and by the time they reach me the words are unintelligible.
Watching them, I think of other mothers, Rabbi Tamar Elad Applebaum and Sheikha Ibtisam Mahamid who wrote, “May it be your will to hear the prayer of mothers. For you did not create us to kill each other, nor to live in fear, anger or hatred in your world, but rather you have created us so we can grant permission to one another to sanctify Your name of Life, your name of Peace in this world. For these things I weep, my eye, my eye runs down with water, For our children crying at nights, For parents holding their children with despair and darkness in their hearts, For a gate that is closing and who will open it while day has not yet dawned.”
I look out to the horizon.
Tiferet is balance. It is harmonizing and blending together our competing values. Tiferet thrives in both/and. Tiferet invites building relationships that do not prioritize one person or one value over another. We know we live life in a swirl and a blur and a muddy, messy compromise . . . all the time . . . and tiferet is saying so and doing our best to ellevate and make that beautiful. To have meaningful relationships we have to hold space for ourselves and others in overlapping spaces. Tiferet urges us to commit to finding a way forward together.
Looking back to Sarah and Hagar I see they aren’t talking anymore. The sun is just coming up, and I wonder if they’ve already said all there is to say. What more could there be to say? Then I notice that while I wasn’t looking they grasped one another’s bent, arthritic, veined, and painful hands.
See you at Sinai.
How to say the blessing:
Choose the language that resonates with you the most.
Non-gendered Hebrew based on grammar system built by Lior Gross and Eyal Rivlin,
available at www.nonbinaryhebrew.com
Gender Expansive:
הִנְנִי מוּכָנֶה וּמְזֻמֶּנֶה …
Hineni muchaneh um’zumeneh …
Here I am, ready and prepared …
Feminine:
הִנְנִי מוּכָנָה וּמְזֻמֶּנֶת …
Hineni muchanah um’zumenet …
Here I am, ready and prepared …
Masculine:
הִנְנִי מוּכָן וּמְזֻמַן …
Hineni muchan um’zuman …
Here I am, ready and prepared …
All Continue:
… לְקַיֵּם מִצְוַת עֲשֵׂה שֶׁל סְפִירַת הָעֹמֶר כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב בַּתּוֹרָה וּסְפַרְתֶּם לָכֶם מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת
מִיּוֹם הַבִיאֳכֶם אֶת עֹמֶר הַתְּנוּפָה שֶׁבַע שַׁבָּתוֹת תְּמִימוֹת תִּהְיֶנָה. עַד מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת
הַשְּׁבִיעִית תִּסְפְּרוּ חֲמִשִּׁים יוֹם וְהִקְרַבְתֶם מִנְחָה חֲדָשָה לַיי
… lekayyem mitzvat aseh shel sefirat ha-omer, kemo shekatuv batorah: us’fartem lakhem mimacharat hashabbat, miyom havi’akhem et omer hat’nufah, sheva shabbatot temimot tih’yena, ad mimacharat hashabbat hash’vi’it tis’peru khamishim yom, vehikravtem minkha khadasha l’adonai.
… to fulfill the mitzvah of counting the Omer, as it is written in the Torah: And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Shabbat, from the day on which you bring the sheaf of the wave-offering, you shall count seven full weeks. Until the day after the seventh Shabbat, you shall count fifty days, until you bring a new gift to the Eternal.
Gender-Expansive Language for God
בְּרוּכֶה אַתֶּה יי אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ חֵי הָעוֹלָמִים אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשֶׁנוּ בְּמִצַוְּתֶהּ וְצִוֶּנוּ עַל סְפִירַת הָעֹמֶר
Brucheh ateh Adonai, Eloheinu khei ha’olamim, asher kidshenu bemitzvoteh v’tzivenu al sefirat ha’omer.
Blessed are You, Eternal, Life of all worlds who has made us holy with Their commandments, and commanded us to count the Omer.
Feminine Language for God
בְּרוּכָה אַתְּ יָ-הּ אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ רוּחַ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוְּתָהּ וְצִוָּנוּ עַל סְפִירַת הָעֹמֶר
Bruchah at Yah, ru’akh ha’olam asher kidshanu bemitzvotah v’tzivanu al sefirat ha’omer
Blessed are You, Yah, our God, Spirit of the universe who has made us holy with Her commandments, and commanded us to count the Omer.
Masculine Language for God
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ עַל סְפִירַת הָעֹמֶר
Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melekh ha’olam asher kidshanu bemitzvotav v’tzivanu al sefirat ha’omer.
Blessed are You, LORD, our God, ruler of the universe who has made us holy with His commandments, and commanded us to count the Omer.
Count the day and week
Today is the _________ day, which is _________ weeks and _________ days of the Omer.
Today:
הַיּוֹם שְׁלֹשָׁה יָמִים לָעֹֽמֶר.
Hayom shlosha yamim la-omer.
Today is three days of the Omer.
Sefirat HaOmer Blessing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8hCiPI1tMQ