ChaBaD Jewish Calendar Thursday, 29 Nissan, 5783 April 20, 2023
ChaBaD Jewish Calendar Thursday, 29 Nissan, 5783 April 20, 2023
Tomorrow is the fifteenth day of the Omer Count. Since, on the Jewish calendar, the day begins at nightfall of the previous evening, we count the omer for tomorrow's date tonight, after nightfall: "Today is fifteen days, which are two weeks and one day, to the Omer." (If you miss the count tonight, you can count the omer all day tomorrow, but without the preceding blessing).
The 49-day "Counting of the Omer" retraces our ancestors' seven-week spiritual journey from the Exodus to Sinai. Each evening we recite a special blessing and count the days and weeks that have passed since the Omer; the 50th day is Shavuot, the festival celebrating the Giving of the Torah at Sinai.
Tonight's Sefirah: Chessed sheb'Tifferet -- "Kindness in Harmony"
The teachings of Kabbalah explain that there are seven "Divine Attributes" -- Sefirot -- that G-d assumes through which to relate to our existence: Chessed, Gevurah, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malchut ("Love", "Strength", "Beauty", "Victory", "Splendor", "Foundation" and "Sovereignty"). In the human being, created in the "image of G-d," the seven sefirot are mirrored in the seven "emotional attributes" of the human soul: Kindness, Restraint, Harmony, Ambition, Humility, Connection and Receptiveness. Each of the seven attributes contain elements of all seven--i.e., "Kindness in Kindness", "Restraint in Kindness", "Harmony in Kindness", etc.--making for a total of forty-nine traits. The 49-day Omer Count is thus a 49-step process of self-refinement, with each day devoted to the "rectification" and perfection of one the forty-nine "sefirot."
Links:
How to count the Omer
The deeper significance of the Omer Count
Tonight begins the first day of Rosh Chodesh Iyar.
If you had made yourself, you would be toast.
But you didn’t.
The One who made you—He knew every challenge you would meet, your faults and weaknesses. He was the one who put them there.
And for each brick wall you would hit, He provided you a ladder. For every chasm of your soul, a bridge to walk over. For each mountain you would have to climb, a reservoir of strength to surprise even your own self.
When a challenge arises, you need only imagine what it must take to overcome—and you can be confident that strength is within you.
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