1 Week of the Omer
Pixabay Eukalyptus
Malchut of Chesed
Sovereignty of Lovingkindness
Monday evening and Tuesday
Evening April 29 and Day of April 30
On this journey to Sinai, we are walking with all of the Jews who have ever been and who will ever be. That means we are also walking together, you and me and everyone alive and here now.
I’m feeling especially grateful today to be walking with Rabbi Sharon Brous and am listening to what she has to say. It’s true that I don’t always fully agree with what I hear, but it is also true that a lot of the time what I hear is an echo of what has been spinning about in my own mind. Sometimes it’s a more articulate version of what I’ve spoken with my own mouth. The times that her words guide me are a gift.
Malchut, sovereignty, is a maturity. It’s an intimate feeling of nobility, of a deep understanding of one’s place and contribution to the world. The Malchut of Chesed is a love that bolsters the human spirit and would never break it. Rabbi Brous talks about love a lot. A whole lot. I’ve experienced her impatience with the translation of chesed as “loving-kindness”, which I believe she has said is a confusing non-word, rather than just LOVE. I like the word loving-kindness. I need more words for love. I feel like I need as many different words for love as I can get. I do take her point, though. What’s the difference between love and loving-kindness and does it matter? So, I think it matters. But I also see how it doesn’t have to.
Regardless, Rabbi Sharon Brous is also walking with us. Well, sometimes she’s walking. Sometimes she’s running. Sometimes she’s climbing up onto a nearby boulder to get a better view.
This is what she had to say on Shabbat April 27th. It’s 22 minutes very much worth our time.
Our task on this day of Malchut shebe Chesed is to realize our own loving-kindness, or just straight up love, in the world. How do we make it real? How do we make it real from a place of solid foundation, knowing the place from which our love comes, with determination, and balance, with strength and boundaries? How do we gracefully and nobly choose loving-kindness even with all of the water under all of the bridges?
Maybe one way is we pay attention to the people around us who are doing it so well.
We’ve been walking for a whole week. We’ve put some miles on our feet and our wheels and our crutches and all of the ways we move through the world. 42 days, that is 6 weeks, left to go.
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 שִׁבְעָה יָמִים לָעֹֽמֶר.
שֶׁהֵם שָׁבוּעַ אֶחָד לָעוֹמֶר.
Hayom shivah yamim la-omer.
Today is seven days of the Omer.
That is 1 week of the Omer!
Sefirat HaOmer Blessing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8hCiPI1tMQ