“let the honor of your friend be as dear to you as your own”

so teaches r’ Eliezer (Avot 2:10), and when we consider tiferet (compassion, empathy, balance) in  yesod (foundation, connection, communication, bonding), this teaching is a touchstone for balanced bonding, for empathic communication and for compassionate connection. r’ Eliezer might just as well have been teaching this day of the counting of the Omer’s kabbalistic interinclusion!

we have interinclusion entirely within the middle way in this case, no sway to right or left. 2 sefirot that are in the straight connection from keter above in the supernal worlds to malchut, the most grounded sefirah.

and we have interinclusion of heart and genitalia…of the seat of spiritual truth and of the seat of creational truth. perhaps it is no longer any wonder why the mark of the brit is on the penis, signifying the level of yesod, and the symbolization of the yichud (‘rejoining as one’) of the Holy One, blessed be with the Shechinah when the rectification of the world comes to be.

in every marriage, there is by definition kiddushin (‘of holiness’) made by joining tiferet truth with yesod truth, binding that bonding ultimately with malchut (as we will see in the final week of Omer). every kiddushin is messianic in that way….or at least has the potential to be. there is redemption of each for the other in an earthy spiritual way, for each is the help meet created for the other….it simply is not good for a human to be alone, so any relationships that avert that no-good aloneness (different from solitude, mind you) is itself a redemption to a better state.

but only in a relationship where each holds the honor of the other as dearly as his/her own can real holy interinclusion of spouses occur. it is in the physical, sensual act of sex that each opens channels for powerful flows of divine energy from above. through heart and the organs of coupling the channels open, and we forget so much of the everdayness of ourselves, opening widely to the mystery of what is much more than the sum of the couplers. sex can lead lovers into the realm of the no-thing…can give humans a powerful  approximation of the ein sof…..all through this harmony of foundation. the mutuality of give and take, active and passive, extension and reception.

and it is by way of this truth in truth that the new world that is a new life can come into being as well.

in another set of kabbalistic correspondences, the east wind is associated with yesod as “support”. yesod harmonizes the north wind (netzach) and the south wind (hod) to create the east wind, or kedem, which literally means “beginning”.  interinclude the divine gifting of balance twixt justice and loving-kindness into the ruach level of the winds of Creation and you have a trait-touch of G’d in the whirlwind….and the potential energy of new life….beginning.

this movement in the mainline of the seferotic tree evokes the primeval expression of the Will of G’d toward existence…everythingness…from out of nothingness. so, you see, there is enormous power in tiferet in yesod, and enormous power in relationships of mutual dignity, respect, honor and love….both in and out of lust.

mussar for tiferet she b’yesod

with another….bein adam l’chaveiro    welcoming guests is the mitzvah that comes to mind. when you treat a guest well, you are honoring the guest as yourself, literally giving of yourself through your holdings and your joie de vivre. this puts a new relationship on a strong foundation and lends support to the foundation already in place for an old relationship.  welcome some guests and treat them with honor.

with yourself….bein adam l’atzmo    you can, of course, treat yourself as a guest by being one….not by barging into another’s home, ch’v, but by having a little spa time…or a private day out….or perhaps a meditation retreat…or even a little shopping excursion. find the self-as-guest mode that best suits you and go get you some.

kabbalah for tiferet she b’yesod

in assiyah….the world of doing/completion    it is easiest to remain balanced when you are standing/sitting on a broad, solid, supportive foundation….like, say, a floor. with your religious practice…whether in community or in your individual way…you also will have a broad, solid, supportive foundation on which your spirit can balance best. work on developing your most fundamental and beautiful practices (and, yes, sex counts as a religious practice for you marrieds as well).

“get up offa that thing, and try to release that pressure!

 get up off! good G’d!”

in yetzirah….the world of feeling/formation    being balanced and strong yourself allows you to help those off their center, those at less than full strength, to recover their own sense of harmony in Creation. your bitachon (‘confidence’) and steadfast faith can inspire those in need.  do you know how to identify those who may benefit from your beautiful foundation?

“sometimes in our lives, we all have pain, we all have sorrow,

but, if we are wise, we know that there’s always tomorrow”

b’ezrat haShem….with the help of G’d is to lean on the Most Strong…whence we each draw a part of our strength….go ahead, lean on me when you’re not strong.

in b’riyah….the world of thought/creation    regardless of how real is the rock that i kick, there is always the fact that some part of the rock and the kick are real only in my perception. what i see will not be what another sees exactly. but we are also able to envision things and share those visions with others. envision a rectified world, do one of the acts that will sustain that world, and share it with one you love.

“i’m a dreamer, but i’m not the only one…i hope some day you’ll join us

and the world will live as one” 

(actually, it isn’t easy if you try, but, well, so what?)

in atzilut….the world of nearness to G’d/intuition    we all pray for strength now and then…more now if you follow traditional jewish prayer and again then, daily….but do we hold G’d so near that we feel the Power that established the heavens in everything we do daily? meditate on how that would be….G’d so near that  G’d touches before our very eyes everything we do….

“at work i just take time…and all through my coffee break-time

i say a little prayer for You…”

kinyan 38 of 48 ways to acquire Torah

Machrio l’Kaf Zechut….Judging Others Favorably.  literally “l’kaf zechut” means ‘to/for/toward the hand of merit’, which is something that most of us are willing to do for ourselves (even though none but G’d can possibly know better than we how wide of that mark we really are). it is harder, somehow, to give another the same easy benefit of the doubt nonetheless, that is a positive spiritual trait that Torah would have us all master. it is easier to do than you think if you simply remember that you never know as much as you think you do….so why impugn motives? and when you do this with those in the community, you will find it will contribute also in a parallel way to your study of Torah. you can choice to scoff at Torah, or you can choose to hear the Voice.