32 Days of the Omer. That is 4 Weeks and 4 Days.
Nahal Sorek Nature Reserve https://www.alltrails.com/parks/israel/jerusalem/nahal-sorek-nature-reserve
Netzach shebe Hod
Endurance in Splendor/Gratitude
Friday evening May 24 and Saturday May 25
Shabbat Shalom
As I was walking today I got to thinking about Samson.
I was, although even I can’t quite believe it now that I’ve read more, already thinking of him when I heard that the 7th Armored Brigade had discovered the tunnel shaft and Shin Bet had retrieved the bodies of three more hostages.
Orión Hernandez Radoux (30), was the boyfriend of Shani Louk (z”l) whose body was recovered last week. He, Shani, and Hanan Yablonka (42) were at the Nova Music Festival on October 7th. Michel Nisenbaum (59) was from Sderot and drove to the Gaza Division base that morning to rescue his 4-year-old granddaughter whose father was stationed there.
125 Israeli hostages remain in the Gaza Strip, and of them 40 have been declared deceased by Israeli authorities.
I don’t know much about Samson, really.
I know he was in some ways a human golem with super strength.
I know he had beautiful hair and was betrayed by a woman named Delilah.
Not much, really, what I know.
But I was thinking about endurance, splendor and the commitment his mother made. I know a little more about his mother, Zleleponit. She made a vow before he was born. As the story goes, struggling with infertility, his mother prayed for a child and was visited by an angel - twice. Once in the field and once in the city. Maybe three times, according to some. The angel told her that her son was to be a life-long Nazirite, dedicated to the special service of God. He was to vow abstinence from strong drink, shaving or cutting his hair, and having contact with a dead body.
I didn’t know his mother was from the tribe of Judah.
The root, the shoresh, the foundation of the name Judah is hod - gratitude.
I didn’t know that his father’s name was Manoah and he was from the tribe of Dan.
Dan means judge.
I didn’t know he had a sister, Nashyan.
I didn’t know that actually he seems to have not kept any of the Nazirite vows. He didn’t avoid wine. He threw a mishteh - a wine feast. You may recognize that word from Purim. Not only was he around the dead but he brought death to animals and to people. A lot of them. But then . . . I don’t think I’m walking with the Samson of Judges because, well . . . it’s like this. Legend records that Samson’s shoulders were sixty cubits broad. That’s about 90 feet. Some commentaries explain his size isn’t literal, because a person that size couldn’t possibly live in normal society. Rather, the Marahal and others clarify, he could carry a burden that wide on his shoulders. I see. Okay, then. Sure. That’s plausible. The tall tales go on. He could step with one stride from Zorah to Eshtol, about 14 miles. He was so strong he could lift two mountains and rub them together like two clods of earth.
I’m with those who explain he was an Israelite folk hero like the Sumerian Gilgamesh or the Greek Heracles.
When the Philistine men captured Samson in the story they blinded and chained him and took him down to the city of Gaza and forced him to grind grain. (Judges 16:21) He died in Gaza demolishing a temple and destroying both his captors and himself. (Judges 16:4-30)
Historically, the Philistines occupied a small area within Palestine, which was originally a designation of an area of land in southern Canaan. The Canaanites, Canaanite-Phoenicians, and the Israelites, among others, had been established there much earlier. The Philistines were invaders from the sea, most likely from Cyprus. It was a real place with real people. Maybe there was a real Samson. Maybe he was one of the last leaders of the Israelites before the monarchy - mythologized. Maybe the real Samson was a violent and terribly flawed, but ordinary human leader. Maybe he was a warrior in a time of war and confusion whose story became messy and complicated and overblown. We don’t know.
We do also have another story of Samson, though.
Samson was the child of Manoah and Zleleponit who had prayed for him. He was the brother of Nashyan. He had a family who cared about him. According to the original text, which I read for the first time today, they were able to find his body in the rubble of Gaza and bring it home to Israel and bury it in the tomb of Manoah.
I’m not drawing direct parallels between Samson’s story and our story today.
I couldn’t.
I don’t want to.
I was thinking about him while I walked, though. I looked up Samson’s story in Judges and read it in its entirety for the first time, and then read about it for the first time. I wrestled with the contradiction of his mother’s Nazirite vows and his life as described in the story. I considered that the endurance of Netzach is meant to be the victory over fears like nitzachon. I did think about the way Netzach is nitzchiut, eternity. I did read about the Kabbalah’s teaching of Netzach as leadership and the ability to motivate others and rally them to a cause. The determination to complete a goal. Taking responsibility seriously.
I wondered about the endurance of gratitude when . . . if . . . one’s child becomes so unlike what one imagined and prayed for. His mother made a vow, but he didn’t.
I tried to accept that this story is a story, and myth and legend make things of people they never were. Or, at least, might not have been. I know people aren’t perfect. I know a lot of people are horrible. Including some of our ancestors. Including us sometimes. Including me sometimes.
I looked more closely at the brief verse:
“His brothers and all his father’s household came down and carried him up and buried him in the tomb of his father Manoah, between Zorah and Eshtaol. He had led Israel for twenty years.” (Judges 16:31)
I set it all aside. I helped a friend. I worked on invoices for summer programs I’m running. I got our kitchen ready for a plumber. I wrote a quick post about our Honduras project because Lila broke her ankle and people need groceries. I made calls to set up doctor appointments. I did more work. I did laundry.
It was during this day, after I set Samson aside, that I read that Orión (z”l), Hanan (z”l), and Michel’s (z”l) bodies had been found in the rubble of Gaza and brought back to their families in Israel.
Hasidic Judaism connects Hod with Jewish prayer, and prayer is seen as a form of subduing oneself to one's obstacles.
Maybe it isn’t Samson I’m walking with today.
Maybe it is these three men.
Or maybe . . .
Maybe it’s the enduring Land itself.
The Land and the rubble.
And all of the bloods crying out from it.
See you at Sinai.
A Note of Gratitude:
Thank you for being on this journey with me.
I knew I was taking on a big project, writing and posting every day for 49 days.
I did not know what it would be like to actually do it and it has been really extraordinary and really hard so far.
Everyone who has texted, commented, emailed . . . bonus thank you!
In no small way, you’ve kept me going.
Tomorrow night we will count 32+1 days - and that will be Lag B’Omer. Lag B’Omer is a break from the semi-mourning of the Omer. It is the one day during the Omer when Jewish law permits weddings. Folks also light bonfires, have field days, and get haircuts. (Liddy and I will be cutting each other’s hair!)
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 שְׁנַיִם וּשְׁלֹשִׁים יוֹם
שֶׁהֵם אַרְבָּעָה שָׁבוּעוֹת וְאַרְבָּעָה יָמִים לָעוֹמֶר.
Hayom shnayim u’shloshim yom
shehem arba’ah shavuot v’arba’ah yamim la’omer
Today is thirty-two days.
That is four weeks and four days of the Omer.
Sefirat HaOmer Blessing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8hCiPI1tMQ