40 Days of the Omer. That is 5 Weeks and 5 Days.
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Hod shebe Yesod
Humility and Splendor in Foundation and Bonding
Saturday evening June 1 and Sunday June 2
Shavua Tov
40 are the days of night and day rain in Noah’s generation.
40 are the days Moses was on Mount Sinai before he returned with the stone tablets.
40 are the days we waited for him under the mountain.
40 are the days between the first day of Elul until Yom Kippur.
40 are the four sides of the world according to the Kabbalah, each containing ten Sefirot.
40 are the se’ahs (a measure of water) of a mikveh - a ritual bath.
40 are the years in the wilderness.
40 are the years at which - according to the Talmud (Avot 5:26) - a person transitions from one level of wisdom to the next.
40 are the days the spies scouted the Land.
There are twelve of them.
Well, really, there are ten and two of them.
Walking in one group are Shammua, son of Zaccur, from the tribe of Reuben; Shaphat, son of Hori, from the tribe of Simeon; Igal, son of Joseph, from the tribe of Issachar; Palti, son of Raphu, from the tribe of Benjamin; Gaddiel, son of Sodi, from the tribe of Zebulun; Gaddi, son of Susi, from the tribe of Manasseh; Ammiel, son of Gemalli, from the tribe of Dan; Sethur, son of Michael, from the tribe of Asher; Nahbi, son of Vophsi, from the tribe of Naphtali; and Geuel, son of Maki, from the tribe of Gad.
I see them all.
Walking together, separately from the others are Caleb, son of Jephunneh, from the tribe of Judah and Joshua, son of Nun, from the tribe of Ephraim.
“Forty days isn’t so long,” says Caleb.
“Hardly any time at all compared with the 14,610 days that make up forty years,” agrees Joshua.
I ask, “How was it that you saw things so differently from the other ten?”
“The covenant with Abraham included a Promised Land,” says Caleb. “We, our people, had been in that Land before. We were of that Land. We were returning to that Land. I knew we had a place in that Land.”
“We were strong,” says Joshua. “Moses sent us, he told us to have a positive outlook and to bring back samples of the Land’s fruits. We assessed the geographic features, the dwelling places of the people who lived there, the agricultural potential, and the trees. We brought back samples of the fruits. This was the place of our ancestors, and I believed there was a place for us in it.”
“Ten didn’t feel as you did, though,” I say. “Ten returned and told Moses and Aaron, in front of all of the people, that the people of the Land were powerful, many, and supernaturally large. ‘We will be destroyed,” they said. And the people believed them. They wailed night and day. Other than the two of you, that whole generation of men died in the wilderness.”
Joshua and Caleb look at each other.
Joshua nods.
Caleb shrugs.
“We believe that it can be possible to do what seems impossible,” says Caleb.
“In our time, the impossible almost always meant winning military battles, surviving violent attacks, and being victorious in wars both defensive and offensive,” says Joshua.
“We believed with God on our side, we would win,” adds Caleb.
“For good reason we believed that,” put in Joshua. “The Amalekites attacked us, unprovoked, soon after our escape from Egypt. They intended to destroy us. God told us we would defeat them, and we did.”
“Of course, that was only the first of several battles between us and the Amalekites over the next several hundred years,” points out Caleb.
“Yes,” says Joshua. “Moses urged everyone to fight and placed them under my leadership and told us we would eliminate the Amalekites, erase them from history,” he pounds one fist into the other hand. Then he opens both hands to the sky in a gesture of resignation. “However, that was not the last battle with them.”
I say, “We are taught that Haman was a descendant of Amalek, and so was Hitler. Either genetically, which seems unlikely to me, or ideologically. It doesn’t sound like ‘erasing them from history’ worked.”
“The Amalekites attacked us to destroy us,” says Joshua. “They disguised themselves as Canaanites, they pursued the most vulnerable first, their violence and brutality was without measure. We had to defend ourselves.”
“Okay,” I say. I don’t think Joshua has disproved my point.
“It might be,” considers Caleb, “that it is the idea of the Amalekites that has descendants.”
Joshua considers this, “The idea of destroying and eliminating the Jewish people is alive and well, it seems.”
Caleb breathes a heavy sigh, “And also the idea of destroying and eliminating any people.”
I say, “It seems like in the Torah eliminating people is often the proffered solution to humans doing human things - wrong things, but still very human things. The Flood, Sodom, these Amalekites. It doesn’t ever seem to actually work,” I say. “Not if the goal is ridding the world of hatred or violence or gossip or cruelty or scarcity. You said in your time the impossible almost always meant winning military battles and surviving violent attacks?”
“Yes, I did,” says Joshua. “I’ve always thought that military victory is beneficial for peace. Peace by victory.”
“But Joshua,” says Caleb, “that ignores the ongoing belligerence between those involved. What is peace, after all? It is not only the end of a current conflict.”
“You make a good point, peace, after all, is about wholeness,” concedes Joshua.
“I’ve often wondered if in a different time we could have returned to the Land in a different way,” says Caleb.
“What time?” asks Joshua. “There has never been a time we would have been welcomed home with banners and songs.” He sighs and turns to me, “He has always been more idealistic than I am,” he says. “Naive.”
“You and your wife Rahab are like-minded in that, I think,” says Caleb.
“And you? Are you more like-minded with Batya or Miriam?” asks Joshua. Caleb smiles, but doesn’t answer.
“It seems to me that in a long conflict there are too many victims and divisions and physical destruction for a military victory to end in peace,” I say.
“Now you sound like Zipporah,” says Joshua.
“And her father,” adds Caleb.
“The world has only ever been a world of war. We need an army to defend ourselves in such a world,” says Joshua.
Joshua’s words hang in the air of this 40th day, a day of transition, of turning, of new possibilities.
I think of the countries I know of around the world that do not have a standing army, and those that don’t even have a limited military. There aren’t many of them, but they do exist. In some places, the idea is possible.
I think about how this is not at all where I anticipated my conversation with Caleb and Joshua would go, but of course their whole story is in one way or another about going back to the Land and about war. At this moment, right now, thinking about and rereading their story . . . of course this is our conversation. Ten spies would rather stay in the wilderness and argue and worry and complain and fight because they have no vision for how to do anything else. Joshua is a military leader and strategist, a man of attacks and counter attacks has a vision for peace through victory, a military answer to the conflict. He is the link between Moses and the Judges. He passed the Torah on to those who came after him. According to Midrash, he and Rahab, a woman originally of Jericho, had several daughters together. Caleb is a spy and a warrior and father of sons Iru, Elah, Naam and daughter Ahsah. Some commentaries have him married to Miriam and others to Batya.
The ten are well ahead of us now.
Joshua, a descendant of Joseph, and Caleb, a descendant of Judah, turn from me and continue their journey together.
I’m here walking in the 40th day, Hod shebe Yesod, a day for humility within bonding, wondering if we could have gone home through a different door.
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 אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם
שֶׁהֵם חֲמִשָּׁה שָׁבוּעוֹת
וַחֲמִשָּׁה יָמִים לָעוֹמֶר.
Hayom arba’im yom
shehem chamishah shavuot
v’chamishah yamim la’omer
Today is forty days.
That is five weeks and five days of the Omer.
Sefirat HaOmer Blessing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8hCiPI1tMQ