OMER WEEK 1- DAY 7

Omer Journal

With the mitzvah of counting the 49 days, known as Sefirat Ha'Omer, the Torah invites us on a journey into the human psyche, into the soul. There are seven basic emotions that make up the spectrum of human experience. At the root of all forms of enslavement, is a distortion of these emotions. Each of the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot is dedicated to examining and refining one of them.

The seven emotional attributes are:

Chesed ― Loving-kindness

Gevurah ― Justice and discipline

Tiferet ― Harmony, compassion

Netzach ― Endurance

Hod ― Humility

Yesod ― Bonding

Malchut ― Sovereignty, leadership

The seven weeks, which represent these emotional attributes, further divide into seven days making up the 49 days of the counting. Since a fully functional emotion is multidimensional, it includes within itself a blend of all seven attributes. Thus, the counting of the first week, which begins on the second night of Pesach, as well as consisting of the actual counting ("Today is day one of the Omer...") would consist of the following structure with suggested meditations:

Upon conclusion of the 49 days we arrive at the 50th day ― Mattan Torah. After we have achieved all we can accomplish through our own initiative, traversing and refining every emotional corner of our psyche, we then receive a gift ('mattan' in Hebrew) from above. We receive that which we could not achieve with our own limited faculties. We receive the gift of true freedom ― the ability to transcend our human limitations and touch the divine.

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WEEK 1 ― CHESED: LOVING-KINDNESS

Day 7 ― Malchut of Chesed: Nobility in Loving-kindness

Mature love comes with ― and brings ― personal dignity. An intimate feeling of nobility and regality. Knowing your special place and contribution in this world. Any love that is debilitating and breaks the human spirit is no love at all. For love to be complete it must have the dimension of personal sovereignty.

Exercise for the day: Highlight an aspect of your love that has bolstered your spirit and enriched your life...and celebrate.

ז ZAYIN

49 Remember the word to Your servant,

Upon which You have caused me to hope.

50 This is my comfort in my affliction,

For Your word has given me life.

51 The proud have me in great derision,

Yet I do not turn aside from Your law.

52 I remembered Your judgments of old, O Lord,

And have comforted myself.

53 Indignation has taken hold of me

Because of the wicked, who forsake Your law.

54 Your statutes have been my songs

In the house of my pilgrimage.

55 I remember Your name in the night, O Lord,

And I keep Your law.

56 This has become mine,

Because I kept Your precepts.