24 Days of the Omer. That is 3 Weeks and 3 Days.
Pixabay Ben_Kerckx
Tiferet shebe Netzach
Compassion within Endurance
Thursday evening May 16 and Friday May 17
Thanks for your patience!
וְאִשָּׁ֣ה אַחַ֣ת מִנְּשֵׁ֣י בְנֵֽי־הַ֠נְּבִיאִ֠ים צָעֲקָ֨ה אֶל־אֱלִישָׁ֜ע לֵאמֹ֗ר עַבְדְּךָ֤ אִישִׁי֙ מֵ֔ת וְאַתָּ֣ה יָדַ֔עְתָּ כִּ֣י עַבְדְּךָ֔ הָיָ֥ה יָרֵ֖א אֶת־יְהֹוָ֑ה וְהַ֨נֹּשֶׁ֔ה בָּ֗א לָקַ֜חַת אֶת־שְׁנֵ֧י יְלָדַ֛י ל֖וֹ לַעֲבָדִֽים׃
A certain woman, the wife of one of the disciples of the prophets, cried out to Elisha: “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know how your servant revered GOD. And now a creditor is coming to seize my two children as slaves.” II Kings 4:17
Tzivia turns to me and asks, “Did I ever tell you about the vessels?”
“No,” I say. “Tell me?”
She grins and gestures to the people near us. “They were all part of it,” she says.
“All of them?” I ask.
“Every one,” she nods. “It was like this. My husband, Obadiah, had died. My children and I were really suffering. Of course, we missed their father, but also we were so poor and so hungry. A creditor came to our house and threatened me. ‘Pay your debts, woman!’ He scolded me. ‘Pay them or next time I come I will seize your children as slaves.’”
I sigh, “What did you do?”
“Well,” says Tzivia, “of course I couldn't pay. We had nothing. But, Obadiah had saved the lives of many prophets, so I went to Elisha and told him of our situation. You know Elisha?”
“Remind me?” I ask.
“Sure, sure. He is a student of Elijah’s and he was the prophet advisor of kings, let’s see, he must be nearby. Yes, yes! There he is.”
I look to where she inclines her head and see an unassuming man in a blue robe walking quietly among Tzivia’s neighbors.
Tzivia leans in close to me and whispers, “Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind, but Elisha performed twice as many miracles.”
I look over at him again. “What did he say? Did he help?” I want to know.
Waving at me to be patient, she continues. “He asked me, ‘What do you have in the house?’ I think to myself, nearly nothing. What do I have? I’m a poor widow. ‘I have a jug with some oil in it,’ I say. ‘Not a lot of oil, but some oil.’ ‘Good, very good,’ he says. ‘Borrow many vessels from your neighbors. Go house to house and ask for their help and borrow all of the vessels they will share with you.”
“What did he want you to do with the vessels?” I ask.
“I should know?” she responds. It isn’t really a question. “But I have no other options, so I say I will. Then he says, ‘Once you have all of the vessels you can borrow, shut yourself and your children in your home and pour the oil into the vessels until all of them are filled.’ I would think he wasn’t listening, that he didn’t know I had only some oil, and not a lot. But okay. A prophet says, we do, right? Right.”
“So you did it?”
“So I did it. I went home and I went to my neighbors. They didn’t know how bad it had gotten for me and my children. They didn’t know I’d been suffering. I told them, and they generously shared their vessels with me. So many vessels. Once I had all my neighbors could give I shut myself into my home with my children and began to pour.”
Tzivia stops walking. Tzivia stops talking. She looks at me.
“And?” I prompt.
“And what?” she shrugs and begins walking again.
“What happened?”
“What happened?” Tzivia smiles. “I poured into the first jug and the oil filled it to the top. The very top. I poured into the second jug and the same thing happened. Third, forth, fifth, tenth, and I kept pouring. I poured into every jug my neighbors gave me. I poured into the small ones and the big ones and the funny shaped ones. I poured into the plain ones and the beautifully decorated ones. My own jug had become heavy, so heavy I could barely hold it, but I kept pouring until the very last jug my neighbors had given me was full, and when it was and I sat my jug back down it was also full.”
“That’s a lot of oil,” I say. “What did you do with it all?”
“What else?” she laughs. “I sold it, I paid my bills! And my children and I? We lived on the rest of the money.”
“Wow!” I exclaim.
“I could have danced like a gazelle!” she says. “Maybe I did, I don’t remember.”
Tzivia looks around at her neighbors talking and laughing with one another as we all walk together.
“Elisha’s oil miracle was wonderful,” she says. “He really saw me and heard me when my heart was broken and my children were in danger. I am forever grateful to him.” I nod and she continues, “He isn’t the one who gave me the vessels, though. That’s the thing about miracles.”
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 אַרְבָּעָה וְעֶשְׂריִם יוֹם
שֶׁהֵם שְׁלֹשָׁה שָׁבוּעוֹת וּשְׁלֹשָׁה יָמִים לָעוֹמֶר.
Hayom shlosha v‘esrim yom
shehem shlosha shavuot u’shnei yamim la’omer
Today is twenty-four days of the Omer.
That is three weeks and three days of the Omer.
Sefirat HaOmer Blessing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8hCiPI1tMQ