37 Days of the Omer. That is 5 Weeks and 2 Days.
Pixabay WOKANDAPIX
Gevurah shebe Yesod
Strength and Boundaries in Foundation and Bonding
Wednesday evening May 29 and Thursday May 30
אני הולכת הביתה. | ani holekhet ha'bayita. | I am going home
“Na’eem m’od,” says the donkey kindly, blinking as she tilts her head this way and that, sizing me up. “Who are you?” she asks. “Where are you going?”
“You know who I am,” I respond, because of course she does.
“Well I don’t have to tell you that it’s been a while,” she huffs.
“No,” I agree. “You don’t.” Not that it’s been that long.
“It has been that long,” she says. “Hours, days, weeks . . . more than a month.”
She’s right.
“You do know where you are going?” she asks.
“It’s just, I’ve been feeling stuck,” I say.
“Stuck?” she doesn’t understand.
“Overwhelmed,” I add.
“Overwhelmed,” she repeats, blinking.
I sigh.
I’ve been working on a middle-grade book about two Jewish kids from today who end up in this very donkey’s story. It’s written and rewritten. It’s had adult readers who’ve given me feedback. It’s had kid readers who have given me feedback. I set it aside for a month in April, but I’d intended to get back to working on it about a week ago and haven’t. The writing has been fun, but I am currently feeling stuck and overwhelmed about the final rewrite before whatever comes next. An agent? A professional editor? Self-publishing? I wasn’t anticipating this donkey would show up as we walked, but I really shouldn’t be surprised. She was bound to.
“You know, when Gavriel the Angel greets me, they bow,” she remarks pointedly, eyeing me.
“I’m aware. I wrote that scene,” I eye her in return.
“Perida,” I start.
“How did you know my name? One of them, anyway.” she demands to know.
“I just . . . listened.”
Blowing a raspberry Perida snorts, “Listened. Whatever you say.”
“Do you like the name Perida?” I ask.
She considers, “I do,” she says.
“Okay, then,” I say.
“Indeed.”
Perida’s story is in Parshat Balak, named after a King. It’s Balaam the Magician, though, world famous as he was, who forces her to work for him no matter his ill-advised scheme. In the Torah, King Balak hires Balaam to curse the Israelites. He has his reasons. An unnamed angel, that some sources say was Gavriel, blocks the way with a fiery sword. Perida refuses to take another step, refuses to bring Balaam to the place where the cursing is to take place. She can see the angel; Balaam cannot. In an effort to force her to continue forward, Balaam beats her and the angel becomes visible to him and makes it possible for him to understand Perida’s words. She gives him a talking to and the angel informs him of the new plan - blessings not curses. We get the prayer “Ma tovu” from this story, the curse turned into blessing, “How beautiful are your tents” and your dwelling places, children of Jacob, people of Israel.
“You didn’t say where you are going,” Perida reminds me.
“Neither did you,” I say.
“You didn’t ask.”
“I’m asking.”
“Ani holekhet ha’bayita,” she says.
“You are going home? Where is home?” I ask.
“Do you really need to ask?” she laughs. “Your year begins at Rosh HaShanah,” she says. “Mine begins at Sinai.”
“But that doesn’t make sense,” I say. “And what does that have to do with going home?”
“It makes every sense,” she says. “You all saw the thunder and heard the lightning, after all.”
“Okay,” I shrug. “But . . . .”
“You’ll figure it out,” she says.
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 וּשְׁלֹשִׁים יוֹם
שֶׁהֵם חֲמִשָּׁה שָׁבוּעוֹת וּשְׁנֵי יָמִים לָעוֹמֶר.
Hayom shivah u’shloshim yom
shehem chamishah shavuot u’shnei yamim la’omer
Today is thirty-seven days.
That is five weeks and two days of the Omer.
Sefirat HaOmer Blessing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8hCiPI1tMQ