Counting the Omer-Week 7/KINGDOM-Day 5/SPLENDOR

Seven days of creation with a page of art for each.

Week 7-/(Malchut) KINGDOM-Day 5/(Hod) SPLENDOR

If one believes in the creation of the world as said in the Torah then God is the first leader. Making the worlds and all that is in them tells me that God had a clear vision of what was desired. So then I wonder did we live up to God's expectations in the beginning? After a full week of making mountains, molehills mammals and mayim was the beauty of it all overwhelming? Did God feel a sense of humble awe at the splendor? When the human beings used their gift of free will was God proud or annoyed? Those of us who have been given the gift of leadership even for a short time can't ever know what God might have done differently if there was a do over. Even though with the flood there is that second chance it isn't the same as a total new beginning. Of course this assumes we were the first try. As I look at the seven pages of artwork each of my students did over the course of the year for their Torah I am awed and humbled by their talent. Magnificent. 

After nightfall on Saturday:

BA-RUCH A-TAH ADO-NAI E-LO-HE-NU ME-LECH HA-OLAM 

ASHER KID-E-SHA-NU BE-MITZ-VO-TAV VETZI-VA-NU AL SEFI-RAT HA-OMER.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the counting of the Omer.

Today is forty-seven days which is six weeks and five days of the omer.

Counting the Omer-Week 7/KINGDOM-Day 4/ENDURANCE

Everyone happily asked for a clover necklace.

Week 7-/(Malchut) KINGDOM-Day 4/(Netzach) ENDURANCE

It seems funny to speak of endurance as we get to closer to the end of counting the omer. One of the things I like to do is watch/look/listen to the children I teach and imagine how they will grow. What will happen to them? What are the possibilities? Who will continue to keep their sense of humor? Which one of them will still be thought of as funny by their peers? Will they all do the right thing or will something happen to send them down a wrong path? Their light and laughter is what always endures for me and keeps me doing what I do. This week as we start to wind down all of us lay out on the hill covered with clover flowers. The children picked them and then I made them necklaces. One or two tried to copy what I did and so make a necklace too. One tried to show another the tips I had shown her. This too is endurance. Our bodies may fail and die but still we may be remembered and thus endure. I looked at them with their necklaces, so sweet. Amen.

After nightfall on Friday:

BA-RUCH A-TAH ADO-NAI E-LO-HE-NU ME-LECH HA-OLAM 

ASHER KID-E-SHA-NU BE-MITZ-VO-TAV VETZI-VA-NU AL SEFI-RAT HA-OMER.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the counting of the Omer.

Today is forty-six days which is six weeks and four days of the omer.

Counting the Omer-Week 7/KINGDOM-Day 3/COMPASSION

All the chamsas the children and teachers made.

Week 7-/(Malchut) KINGDOM-Day 3/(Tiferet) COMPASSION

A leader needs the capacity for compassion but also to lead their followers to compassionate thinking and acting. Today I did that with my class after we received a letter from the husband of a co-worker. He has been very sick and for seven months we included his Hebrew name in our daily mishaberach prayer for those who are ill. The note said "Your prayers have been a blessing to me and for that I thank you. They comforted me each day because I knew I was not alone. Your prayers reached G-d. He has helped me recover and heal. All of you, each and everyone of you, will always be in my heart. May G-d bless you as he has blessed me." The class was so moved when I read the letter out loud they wanted to write back. When I told them Shalom David is blind they wanted to make something he could feel so everyone made a combo chamsa prayer flag glueing small jewels onto their outlined hand shape. At the bottom of their hands I wrote a positive word they picked. When it was Judah's turn he said "Shalom David will never be able to see? That is so sad." Then he picked the word "compassion." Tomorrow I will string the hands together and present it to my co-worker to take home for her husband

After nightfall on Thursday:

BA-RUCH A-TAH ADO-NAI E-LO-HE-NU ME-LECH HA-OLAM 

ASHER KID-E-SHA-NU BE-MITZ-VO-TAV VETZI-VA-NU AL SEFI-RAT HA-OMER.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the counting of the Omer.

Today is forty-five days which is six weeks and three days of the omer.