8 Days of the Omer. That is 1 Week and 1 Day.
Chesed of Gevurah
Lovingkindness of Discipline/Justice/Boundaries
Tuesday evening and Monday
Evening April 30 and Day of May 1
Somehow I’m caught in the midst of a bustle of bodies in intense conversation.
Levites and Kohanim engaged in that kind of delighted argument that an outsider might see as an angry fight. It’s not that they never fight, but they aren’t fighting now. The Kedushet Levi, also known as Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, has put forth his interpretive leap about the Korach rebellion.
See, there is a short phrase in Numbers 19:19, “It is an eternal covenant of salt.” Rabbi Levi Yitzchak just explained this was said after Korach’s disastrously failed rebellion. Korach wanted to be a Kohen, a higher-level priest, and not a Levite, which was his own ancestral tribe. He wanted everyone to be kohanim - priests of the highest order. He took issue with Moses not because of anything in particular in his leadership, but with the fact of it.
‘The kohanim,’ said Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, ‘represent the divine attribute of chesed, whereas the Levites represent the divine attribute of justice. This is the problem with the Korachite rebellion,’ he went on, ‘Korach leaves no room for boundaries, no room for justice. With him it’s all chesed, and that might seem like a good thing, but in truth our world needs judgment and justice and boundaries, too. We need strength. We need strong containers.’
In the crush of priests, two voices rise over the others. One brings up Ramban, Nachmanides, and says, ‘We are taught by the Ramban that justice and lovingkindness are a combination of fire and water, which is to say, salt. And salt, as we know, sustains all the worlds.’ ‘But this is false!’ His walking companion disagrees amicably. ‘The main purpose of God, the main purpose of the world is Chesed! The foundation block of the world is Chesed and only after it came Gevurah!’ ‘That may be so, but isn’t it also so that Chesed is the dominant hand and Gevurah its opposite?’ counters a third. ‘This is what I’m saying!’ cries the first in delight. ‘Imagine the tasks of hands in many tasks, one pushes while the other pulls. With Chesed and Gevurah, one hand gives and the other holds.’ ‘Ah!’ shouts another, ‘Because if a person lives always as the beneficiary as another’s Chesed they lose their own identity!’ ‘And,’ someone interjects, ‘Not only does the one become only the vessel of the benefactor, the giver’s entire identity becomes benefactor.’ ‘It is as if,’ I recognize the first voice I heard again, ‘Korach had no respect for those he professed to love.’
In the wave of bodies I can smell the salt on our skin.
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 שְׁמוֹנָה יָמִים לָעֹֽמֶר.
שָׁבוּעַ אֶחָד ויוֹם אֶחָד לָעוֹמֶר.
Hayom shmonah yamim la-omer.
Today is eight days of the Omer.
One week and one day of the Omer.
Sefirat HaOmer Blessing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8hCiPI1tMQ