Malchut shebe Malchut
Nobility/Sovereignty within Nobility/Sovereignty
Tuesday evening June 11 and Wednesday June 12
Who am I walking with today?
You.
“What is the legacy of Ruth and Boaz?” I ask. “If not King David?”
Chesed shebe Malchut
Lovingkindness within Nobility/Sovereignty
Tuesday evening June 4 and Wednesday June 5
I don’t think she hears me. Her steps have quickened and as she approaches the back of a man about her height who has crossed in front of us she reaches out her arm and rests her hand on his shoulder. When the man stops and turns I see his green and brown eyes light up. They embrace, holding one another close. The throng moves like a river around them.
Yesod shebe Yesod
Foundation within Foundation
Sunday evening June 2 and Monday June 3
I look up to a sky full of clouds and think about that one - the first cloud to hold a rainbow. I think about the cloud Moses entered when he went up the mountain. I think about what Rabbi Strausberg offers us, that the rainbow itself said to Moses, “Take me with you. When you go up on the mountain, when you are before God, you are going to need all of this color.”
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.
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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?
Nine Days of the Omer
Gevurah of Gevurah
Discipline/Justice/Boundaries of Discipline/Justice/Boundaries
Gevurah is also Strength
Wednesday evening and Tuesday
Evening May 1 and Day of May 2
I’ve secretly always wondered what Rebecca saw in him.
In Isaac.
Well, it was a secret.
Now you know.
I am both obligated by tradition and personally dedicated to the work of justice; it is work without end. I remember that Shabbat is coming, and this day is an omer. It is enough – exactly enough – to accomplish the work that is my job to do in this one day. And then I bless. And then I count.
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