31 Days of the Omer. That is 4 Weeks and 3 Days.
Tiferet shebe Hod
Harmony in Splendor/Gratitude
Thursday evening May 23 and Friday May 24
Boaz is beautiful the way a saguaro cactus is beautiful.
He is beautiful the way Palo Duro canyon is beautiful.
His eyes are dark brown, the desert sand at night . . . but one is brown with a hint of green and the other is brown with a hint of gold . . . if you look closely enough.
Other than brown, I don’t actually know what color his eyes are, but look at him. Shouldn’t that man there have eyes two slightly, but just slightly different colors?
You know, when people told him Naomi had returned it wasn’t to gossip. The people who knew him knew he would want to know, because he is the sort who looks for people and not only after them. When he saw a woman he didn’t know gleaning in his fields and asked about her his curiosity wasn’t idle. When Ruth confirmed her identity including her foreign status he shifted her social position by responding and calling her “my daughter” - “biti”. A man of his stature can do that, if he will - shift a vulnerable person’s social position from ‘one of them’ to ‘one of us.’ The word Ruth uses in response is chein which translates to something like grace, one of three pillars of existence for all of Creation. Chein, chesed, and rachamim - grace, lovingkindness, and mercy/compassion. She can see grace in his eyes.
Boaz’s story in Megillat Ruth begins in his field. He has come out to his field to check on the people there . . . possibly specifically to check on Ruth. Ruth is a Moabite, the widow of Naomi’s deceased son. Boaz has heard that Naomi has lost so much: her husband and sons have died, one of her daughters-in-law has - at her insistence - returned to her mother’s house and her own gods, and her life is bitter. He has also heard that this Moabite woman clung to Naomi, would not leave her, would not turn back . . . followed her. Ruth, a person who cares so much, he thinks, should also be cared for. He encourages her to glean in his fields. He encourages those working his harvest to intentionally pull stalks out of the harvest and leave them for her.
I wonder if he knows that before Ruth told Naomi his name Naomi blessed him saying, “Blessed be he who took such generous notice of you!” In other words, blessed be he who gave you his attention. I wonder if he knows the look that was on Ruth’s face when she said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.”
I know he knows the way his name sounds in Ruth’s voice.
Boaz is beautiful the way a saguaro cactus is beautiful.
He is beautiful the way Palo Duro canyon is beautiful.
His dark brown have in one a hint of green and in the other a hint of gold . . . if you look closely enough.
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 אֶחָד וּשְׁלֹשִׁים יוֹם
שֶׁהֵם אַרְבָּעָה שָׁבוּעוֹת וּשְׁלֹשָׁה יָמִים לָעוֹמֶר.
Hayom echad u’shloshim yom
shehem arba’ah shavuot u’shlosha yamim la’omer
Today is thirty-one days.
That is four weeks and three days of the Omer.
Sefirat HaOmer Blessing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8hCiPI1tMQ