haYom shiv’a v’arba’im yom, sh’heim shisha shavuot vachamisha yomim, laOmer: hod she b’malchut

“who seeks more than he needs hinders himself from enjoying what he has”

“the more possessions, the more worries”

r’ shlomo ibn gabirol urges us to consider the foolishness of consuming beyond one’s needs: instead of enjoying what he has, such a one enjoys only the comsuming moment. we find a parallel statement in Avot 2:7. both rabbis urge us to get real about what we truly need, anything beyond that leads to less appreciation in joy, and to worry over loss. neither is very attractive for the soul.

the sense of “completeness” that comes with knowing what you need (and not want) and the quality of simplicity that comes with stripping down to gratitude for what you need being supplied leads to the spirit trait of temimut (‘sincerity’, simplicity’ & ‘completeness’), which associates with hod.

hod in malchut is the way of making simplicity/wholeness sovereign. as we mentioned yesterday, bringing one’s desires into line with G’d’s is a great thing, and temimut haratzon, (simple will to do G’d’s Will) is the natural response. temimut halev is the simplicity/completeness of devoted effort to do G’d’s way. and temimut hama’aseh is the very hodlike attention to even the most minute detail of doing G’d’s mitzvot.

all 3 together make for the noble splendor of malchut well realized in the lower worlds. the nobility of the simple can make the most minimal into the majestic…just ask Sir-Sir jonathan ives, master designer of Apple’s minimal aesthetic.

in the world of spirit traits also…..

“less is more”

for even gratitude is made more sovereign when needs–and not mere wants–are met. being grateful for receipt of a want is for kids.

kabbalistically, in the joining of the ” lower union” of tiferet and malchut, the bride Shechinah/malchut, enters into hod, and the groom tiferet enters into netzach….the twin pillars of the Temple. bride Shechinah is the fullest expression of G’d’s Presence in the lower spirit worlds, and brings the thankfulness component of menuchah (‘contentment’) to the keeping of Shabbat….

“sanctuary of the King, city royal, arise, go out from amidst the turmoil”

as we sing in l’cha dodi to welcome the Shabbat Bride. the simple joy of a deliberately de-complicated day, a sincere time, a wholeness of way.

hod in malchut….simple majesty.

mussar for hod she b’malchut

with another….bein adam l’chaveiro when giving tzedakah today, be thankful to the recipient for letting you share in the doing of the mitzvah “loving your neighbor as yourself”.

with yourself….bein adam l’atzmo reduce your consumption of some nonessential in at least 1 area today. this, of course, will work some degree of tikkun in the entire olam.

kabbalah for hod she b’malchut

in assiyah….the world of doing/completion enjoy the intensity of the simple wonders in your life and surroundings. the scent of fruit, spices, candles……the spice of life is found in the small, sincerely enjoyed. find your favorite simple prayer…perhaps shema ….what is the scent in it that calls to you?

in yetzirah….the world of feeling/formation what is the simplest dish that you cook? is it one to which you attach contentment? joy? memories of the preparer when you were a child? what simple food brings you back to a time when you knew easy contentment? THAT was a time when you were sovereign of your realm. what’s changed?

in b’riyah….the world of thought/creation if i write e=mc2, do you think of the entire universe? now, how simple is that?

in atzilut….the world of nearness to G’d/intuition sexuality in marriage is an evocation of the rejoining of tiferet and malchut….of Shechinah with haKodesh baruch hu. is sex hard? or is it really like riding a bicycle? and is it better when you need it or when you merely want it?

kinyan 47 of 48 ways to acquire Torah

Ha’mech’aven et Sh’mu’ato….Think Over What You’ve Heard. when you think something over, you make richer sense of it. you may dwell on details of what you’ve heard (learnt), which is hod. or you may consider a broader context into which to place the learning, which is malchut. either way , the thinking over affixes the material in your mind….consider Talmud Yerushalmi B’rakot 5:1:

“who understands his/her lesson will not readily forget it”

haYom arba’im yom, sh’heim chamisha shavuot v’chamisha yomim, laOmer: hod she b’yesod

“surely it could have been created with a single utterance!”

but the world was created in 10 utterances. Mishnah (Avot 5:1) asks why. we should first remember that 10 is the number of completion, but also the number of “minimum sufficient” from the time of Sodom….Avraham stopped bargaining down the number of righteous whose presence could save the city from utter destruction at 10. not 11, not 9.

just like the sefirot….10, not 11, not 9. not surprising as the sefirot mirror the stops through which the creating of Creation happens. they are sometimes called the 10 building blocks. and the Zohar (III:2b) tells us that the Torah itself is 10-dimensional. and there are those commandments numbering….

10 is also just 1 with nothing next to it…yet it represents the entirety of the made world. 1 is a mirror image of the ein sof (‘without end’), and the world was intended to be other than G’d. what is other than the explicit nature of G’d? well, simply put: many. and 10, as the minimum sufficient for a completion, is the representative of many. but it need be written with only a single numeral-character other than 1, but not a multiple of 1, so to speak. 2 would not do….but 1 next to nothing would. all of Creation amounts to nothing beside the All of G’d. and sadly, the number 10 also represents how G’d is, from the point of view of Creation…in the view of so many humans…. “next to nothing”. that is what hiddenness will getcha.

and yet this particular nothing of 0 is distinct. and this is where hod she b’yesod comes in. for humility in foundation is like the 0 next to the All of 1. and the world is further humbled, if you will, by its brokenness. yet the multiplicity of Creation is also its wonder and splendor. hod is splendor, after all.

bit the Mishnah goes on to explain that there are 2 primary ways of understanding this:

“to exact payment from transgressors who destroy a world of 10 utterances”

notice that it is not to punish transgressors of the 10 commandments, as so many will blithely tell you, but to “exact payment” from them. and what is the payment? t’shuvah, which itself is G’d’s reaction to the broken multiplicity of the world. t’shuvah is return to the oneness that is G’d. that is the payment….a drawing down of multiplicity (the dark side of left) back through adherence to the 10, with a powerful spiritual movement toward cleaving to G’d….becoming 1 with The One.

and the second reason?

“to better reward the righteous who sustain a world of 10 utterances”

and the reward for the tzaddikim? it is being tzaddik at all, for the tzaddik has made hod a yesod, humility and hiddenness is foundational for those who have perfected all 10 attributes and the 10 attributes of their interactions with the Creation around them. hod in yesod. from nothingness in multiplicity to oneness in hiddenness.

a paradoxical world indeed, this world of 10. and we are mindful of it on this 40th day of sefirat haOmer. this is the last set of 10 in the count, after all…..we’ve only 9 days left. for those who like NASA….it’s countdown time in the final couting up.

a paradoxical world of 10 utterances. and we are all in it together. ultimately in shalom, a wholeness of 1….no chaser.

mussar for hod she b’yesod

with another….bein adam l’chaveiro lower your expectations with folks around you…not to think less of them, but simply to require nothing more than what is whole in them. everything beyond that is a multiplicity, and neither of you need that….nor does the world need more man-made fragmenting.

with yourself….bein adam l’atzmo examine your stuff. consider the Morris ideal: have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful or find to be beautiful. as stuff goes, peace comes….small really is splendid.

kabbalah for hod she b’yesod

in assiyah….the world of doing/completion in hod we see the small details…all of them. in yesod we see foundations and systems. does the highest level of soul comprose all the details of the lower levels of soul? or does it transcend them, forgetting all that is more earthly. consider the paradox of doing both. the birchat haShachar prayers give thanks for the great and the small. extend them in your prayers today.

in yetzirah….the world of feeling/foundation systems are built of small connections interlinked. a household runs through the work of the mom, the work of the dad, and work now and then by whoever else is in the house. they don’t all do it all….to each a particular. take on a new responsibility in your household (or if you are a mom, give one up). consider what better use of your time you might now make in building new connections in a broader community.

in b’riyah….the world of thought/creation examine the small interlocking pieces of the world…open up a device and see how the processor connects to the storage device connects to the ports, etc. meditate on what sort of cog in the wheel you are. could you be better as a different piece?

in atzilut….the world of nearness to G’d/intuition Moshe had to wear a veil to enable people to look upon him without being dazzled by the splendid light G’d’s presence had left there. there were 2 sides to that veil…Moshe’s view was not perfectly clear….neither was the view of Moshe from outside the veil. meditate on how we all erect a veil before us, protecting what is private, not seeing what we care not to see. what is proper hiddenness?

kinyan 40 of 48 ways to acquire Torah

Ma’amido al haShalom….Setting Up Others for Peace. Hillel says it very well, pointing to Aharon as the symbol of hod and saying to make his way your foundation. remember that wholeness is 1, not even the roundest of zeroes.

“be among the followers of Aharon, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving people and bringing them closer to the Torah”

haYom arba’a u’sh’loshim yom, sh’heim arba’a shavuot v’shisha yomim, laOmer: yesod she b’hod

“we are the clay and You the potter. we are all the work of Your hands”

so the prophet Isaiah reminds us (64:7). when we wonder about whether we have within us the “plasticity” to change, we might want to recall this verse. we are clay in the good hands, but the potter gives shape to a vessel without ever, perhaps, using it for any specific purpose. it is up to another to fill it, or display it, or sound it, or whatever.

yesod (foundation) in hod (splendor, humility) comes to focus us on our inner splendor. what are the blessings in our G’d-given shape? how has it been used by us? how else might we use it? when we find the right utility, we somehow designate the vessel….that is the foundational moment.

the great question is: when does the potter finish the shaping? maybe not yet, in which case we are as plastic and formable as raw clay….and also capable of collapse. when finally kilned, we lose plasticity and become hard….perhaps brittle. i am always reminded of this passage from Isaiah when performing the ablutions on the dead….among the last acts taken is the placement of shards over eyes and mouth of the deceased. what sort of pot is lost to us? destined to return to earth.

hod in hod was withdrawal hard into stillness of a sort that simply does not work out in the world…only within us with G’d. one needs solitude for it. how fine, then, that yesod comes the very next day to take us to center, in the mainline of the flow from G’d and away from solitude.

hod is the sefirah of temimut (‘sincerity’). we’ve been through temimut haratzon (‘of will’ to do G’d’s will), and temimut halev (‘of heart’ in seriousness of devotion); now yesod in hod comes to drive our temimut hama’aseh (‘sincerity of doing’ the details of G’d’s mitzvot). herein the vessel shows its purpose, its best utility here on earth.

and mitzvot should operate most powerfully in the middle way, where all is aligned in balance. the balance between G’d-given gifts of spirit, and the use-making we bring to it. between the effects of our G’d-given gifts on the people around us, and the effects of having them help us with our efforts. we all give and all receive in the middle way.

hod is the celebration of the infinitesimal detail in everything around us. our hod will bring our own detail honing to the mitzvot we do. with the steadiness of yesod we anchor our own way in the universal way. our sincere doing of the mitzvot through our gifts and expressions becomes splendor, a gleaming present beauty even beyond the passing moment.

oh, and did i mention the connection of yesod to the penis in men and the womb in women? no? well, maybe next week. but perhaps this haiku will point toward how yesod makes the in the moment detail more permanent:

“perfume–

that night, that time,

that place”

mussar for yesod she b’hod

with another….bein adam l’chaveiro consider the utility of food as fuel. so why is it so colorful? so fragrant? so lovely in shape and texture? now look at a friend. do you see the same complexity? some of it perhaps seeming superfluous? if it is sincere it is not passing fancy, but splendor. see people for their splendor.

with yourself….bein adam l’atzmo we have tzitzit to keep us from following our eyes after others. but what do we have to help us not stray after distracting currents within ourselves? find such a practice and make it foundational for yourself.

kabbalah for yesod she b’hod

in assiyah….the world of doing/completion are you comfortable being one bold flower amidst Flanders fields of bold poppies? or do you need to be a single hybrid tea rose? see the field of flowers around you….at work, at home, at synagogue.

in yetzirah….the world of feeling/formation is your beauty only skin deep? or do you have the splendor of the deeply folded, furled moonflower, offering texture and twist–and scent– from the depths of your soul? try to open your soul to others like such a flower today.

in b’riyah….the world of thought/creation we are all works in progress, though some have hardened more than others. consider the work you are doing in yourself during this season of counting….what has formed better moral/spiritual structure within your own temimut during the sefirat haOmer?

in atzilut….the world of nearness to G’d/intuition if you know how the vessel is used, do you know its shape? how does holiness settle within you? what is the opening like through which you pour it out when needed? meditate on form and function. and can you still feel the potter’s hands working you?

kinyan 34 of 48 ways to acquire Torah

Mitrachayk min haKavod….Keeping Far From Honor. this does not mean that you should decline an aliyah to the Torah! ch’v. what it means is that the simple kvod habriyut that each owes the other is sufficient. more heapings on will only distract you from the humility of hod in which you are to walk with G’d. there is simpley no honor greater than that of having the chance to simply (with temimut…simplicity and sincerity) walk in the Way of G’d. ben Zoma teaches in Avot 4:1:

“who is honored? who gives honor to others”

haYom sh’losha u’sh’loshim yom, sh’heim arba’a shavuot v’chamisha yomim, laOmer: hod she b’hod

“vayidom aharon…..Aharon was silent/still”

“dom” (‘still, stillness’) is an unusual word in Torah. it is used, as in Aharon’s reaction to the death of his sons Nadav and Abihu, to indicate a deep-seated, almost paralyzed state of nonreaction. Aharon’s sons died offering “strange fire” before G’d, offering the ketoret (‘incense’) that was the special offering for atonement, and for joy. why did they die?

Moshe tried to urge Aharon to consider their deaths as holy-proofs of the nearness of the Cohanim to G’d. they were so dear to him that they were “called home” as folks like to say. Aharon’s response to Moshe’s urgings was “dom”, utter stillness.

we see the same phrase used in the book of Joshua:

“vayidom shemesh…the Sun was still/silent”

where it is usually translated as “stood still”. the point is the stillness, utter stillness in the heavens (the moon stood still too later after the sun “revived”. of course, this is exactly what Joshua had told the celestial bodies to do.

we see it used in an opposite fashion in Psalm 22:3:

“i call out by day, there is no answer; by night, but there is no respite for me”

“there is no respite for me” is ‘lo dumiyah li’, another form of “dom” meaning stillness.

there are times when one needs stillness, a silence beyond simple noise suppression, and the spirit trait involved therein is hod in hod. this interinclusion is sometimes called “passive” but that is too light a wordsense….we are talking about “dom” here. a stillness that examines only its own silence….actively passive, if you will. even receiving is shut down. it is the state of being unreachable at all. so why do we call it a character trait that we want to cultivate? well, it is the stillness that is needed for true hitbodedut (‘solitude or meditation’). solitude is a positive state in judaism, just as valid as minyan and kahal, but only for selective use. in your prayers, you may strive for solitude that drives your words only through your soul without even speaking them…ultimately moving into a meditative state wherein words are not even the medium of communication.

solitude, silence, stillness are a trio increasingly difficult to come by in our overcommunicative, overentertaining world. we should look at the chace to put away clutter in time as well as in space….else we will never hear the still small voice of G’d. hod in hod is the root of patience, of tolerance, even of moderation, for it is the key to banishing “fullness” and embracing “emptiness”.

mussar for hod she b’hod

with another….bein adam l’chaveiro learn patience in silence. when you run into a difficulty today, instead of replying, just be still.don’t even count to 10.

with yourself….bein adam l’atzmo dress down today. no ostentatious clothing…if you adorn at all, just get your hair cut (it is lag b’Omer, after all), but nothing else. be visually still.

kabbalah for hod she b’hod

in assiyah….the world of doing/completion find a silent mitzvah to do today. Bava Batra 8b suggests that “to ransom prisoners is a splendid act of piety”. contribute to a legal defense fund that assists prisoners in getting DNA testing to demonstrate their innocence…DNA is silent until it is listened to.

in yetzirah….the world of feeling/formation silence is first, but listening is second. trim yourself back today. if you have known mourning, recall that time, and reassess the value of stillness to let you hear what may be said to you in such a time.

in b’riyah….the world of thought/creation take Psalm 22 to heart and create some stillness today. turn off the radio, the tv, the internet, and whatever other entertainment appliances you are accustomed to consuming from give yourself a space and time of stillness. what comes to mind in the space liberated from the din?

in atzilut….the world of nearness to G’d/intuition Heschel teaches “to have faith is to perceive the wonder that is here”. faith itself is a stillness in space and time….what does faith hear?

kinyan 33 of 48 ways to acquire Torah

Ohev et haTochachot….Loving Reproof. it is a mitzvah to gently point out to someone that they are wrong, or have done wrong. it takes netzach in hod to do it often, but sometimes silence itself is a reproof. but care must be taken to ensure that the silence is not misunderstood. it is also important to consider whether the person you are trying to guide will have the space within which to hear….else the mitzvah cannot be accomplished—

“don’t reprove a scoffer, for they will hate…..

reprove instead a wise man, and he will love you”

haYom sh’naim u’sh’loshim yom, sh’heim arba’a shavuot v’arba’a yomim, laOmer: netzach she b’hod

“and i, with stubborn boldness, have promised that i will increase tenderness in this world”

r’ Nachman of Breslov was always very direct in his prayers, especially when he was uncertain about his success. this prayer reveals the energy of netzach in a hod promise. it is a good combination, but have you, any of you, ever labored at “increasing tenderness” in the world?

we all try with our children. and often succeed. but inevitably some sterner justice/discipline will have to be meted out, no matter how carefully and tenderly, and something of a “spell” is broken, yes? but we are immediately flooded with netzach to push ahead again with the tenderness we want all people to grow up with that it may spread far and wide and help to redeem the world.

well, sometimes it is guilt first and then netzach. but the same hod that brings reserve and tenderness also judges your feelings and actions more guardedly thereafter. this is good in that severity is shunted, but bad in that you are not so naturally tender for a while. compassionate, yes, but probably netzach in tiferet pushing a little to the right-side extreme, overcompensating due to the pain brought by the discipline. but it is not so gentle as knowing hod tenderness.

netzach in hod is probably the dominant jewish combination…it is no wonder that they give their names to the pillars at either side of the opening to the Holy in the Bet haMidash. most of spiritual practice is based on fine differentiation, organizational clarity and record keeping in time and space, and prompts to continuously focus our energies. a painfully good example is sefirat haOmer….calling upon you to do a small thing that requires attention to detail–counting not only days but also complete weeks and also weeks and days–each day for a period of time. but all leading up the a closer, purer, stronger cleaving to G’d by the holy day of Shavuot. persistent, enduring expenditure of thought energy in rectifying your spirit traits of character each day, sharing in the splendor of each day’s unique count.

the Omer practice is itself something of a rectification for those who find their days passing each like the next, just like the previous. hod comes to teach that each day has it’s own number, and counting up elimiates the idea of genuine end. we don’t count down to a change of state….subtrait building into better overall traits accumulates. we grow richer in time, not poorer.

netzach in hod is also a good time to assess where you are in your count. what have you gained? know it, and press ahead.

mussar for netzach she b’hod

with another….bein adam l’chaveiro are you ever puzzled that so many people answer their home phone with a question, “hello?” people seem to do it today even though we know who is on the other side of the line as often as not….why is that? try changing your phone greeting. make it more beautiful, more engaging….have it suggest from the start that you care about the person on the other end of the line.

with yourself….bein adam l’atzmo apply the same principle to yourself. what do you know, or do people suggest to you, is your greatest beauty of spirit? once you’ve parsed that out, build it further…..for yourself (though beauty is bound to spill over onto others).

kabbalah for netzach she b’hod

in assiyah….the world of doing/completion hod is about recognizing splendor in the world and also becoming splendor in the world. look about you at the things you take for granted. where is the splendor in them? the beauty? the beautiful utility? think about how to share that splendor with someone else….then do so with persistence til they get it!

in yetzirah….the world of feeling/formation preparation requires a combination of looking ahead and looking at where you are. but we are taught to live fully in the moment. meditate on this. does the disparity cause your stress? if you adjusted a little more toward the moment, would it help?

in b’riyah….the world of thought/creation sometimes when we map out something, we see the end and the way there with immediate clarity. other times we will tread down a wrong path and have to make a change midcourse. consider such times when you had to adjust…perhaps drastically. what in you made you ready for the change and what made you able to push home a change? do you see other ways to approach similar situations today?

in atzilut….the world of nearness to G’d/intuition communication is built on the focusing of energy in transmission and in receipt. this too is a netzach in hod relationship. contemplate your communications with G’d, through, prayer, through practice, through learning, whatever, and consider which is more difficult for you: sending your message to G’d? or hearing G’d’s message to you?

kinyan 32 of 48 ways to acquire Torah

Ohev et haMesharim o haTzadakot. so why do we come back to this one, just flipping the order from yesterday? well, each of them can either mean the way of uprighteousness or righteous persons. yesterday we treated brevity in the way of righteousness. today we will urge the love of righteous persons. they are guides on the path and can set one straight always. and a maggid mesharim (‘a righteous preacher’) can teach Torah outside of the box. and since that is where the use of Torah will prove most difficult and pressing in life, baruch haShem for the maggid mesharim.

haYom echad u’sh’loshim yom, sh’heim arba’a shavuot, u’sh’losha yomim, laOmer: tiferet she b’hod

“before you ask G’d for something, first thank G’d for what you already have”

simple, quiet wisdom from Talmud, Brachot 30b. when you pile on compassion on top of empathy, something may well be prone to go all mavericky, and well-intentioned unwisely. all empathy and compassion of tiferet (compassion) in hod (empathy) may turn out a bit like Aharon’s disastrous effort to keep the erev rav (‘mixed multitude’ that wanted the golden calf) from going ballistic and leading to a bloodbath.

and if you pile beauty (tiferet) into splendor (hod) you may well find again that you will be prone to error like Shimshon’s, turning his nazirite status into a matter of outlandish shows of the strength he derived from the restraints of the nazirite way. of course, it turned out that he had an achilles hair…..

but bring truth and compassion (tiferet) into gratitude (hod) and you have a harmonious winning combination…and a sense of how much gratitude is right in any given situation. a sense that simply reminds you of a duty (thanks for what you have) before you go off extending that compassion further still. a making sure that you see the trees and not just the forest. going in and then out.

“praise G’d in his sanctuary; praise G’d in the firmament of G’d’s power”

from the small detail to the greater, from the concealed interior to the exposed exterior, as here in Psalm 150 is instructive, moving from the private to the universal. when G’d was in the Holy of Holies, only Aharon could encounter his force directly, and then only to give thanks and praise in the light and the incense. but in the firmament….loose in Creation….G’d’s power is available to all to sense and respond to. quiet beauty; public splendor….hod and tiferet spinning around each other.

and the psalm continues with a review of many different instruments and musical forms that can be used and harmonized for praise (hod), yet in the end, the universal comes to rule:

“let the voice of every neshamah (‘breathing soul’) praise G’d”

when tiferet interincludes in hod we see that everything contributes to the sustenance of each individual Creation. the whole is diminished with the loss of any one. and no one can survive without the life of the whole. once you understand this harmonious truth, is it really so difficult to love all neighbors? or to respect habitat for the sake of a small minnow living within it?

we are all quiet, more harmonious ‘musketeers’ it seems:

all for one and one for all

who knew?

mussar for tiferet she b’hod

with another….bein adam l’chaveiro this would be a really good day to celebrate some other person’s simcha. reminding yourself of the gratitude you feel for all your own accumulated simchas should put you in a good frame of mind to celebrate another’s.

with oneself….bein adam l’atzmo is your home–inside and out–a suitable place for G’d’s Presence? spruce it up with THAT special guest in mind. and resolve to have the parchments in your mezuzot checked THIS spring…they mediate between the inside and the outside, after all, brining Torah to comings and goings.

kabbalah for tiferet she b’hod

in assiyah….the world of doing/completion sing out Psalm 150 today, then do a harmony to the melody line. consider how your mood changes. can you pull some nefesh and ruach into the hallelujah to join your neshamah?

in yetzirah….the world of feeling/formation “all for one and one for all” can operate in time as well. contemplate your personal history. which details have contributed most to making you as you see yourself to be. how many are way old? how many are recent? can you find a way to add more recents?

in b’riyah….the world of thought/creation catalog your most beautiful, creative thoughts. now, do you feel humble? do you feel beautiful?

in atzilut….the world of nearness to G’d/intuition Heschel speaks clearly of tiferet in hod often. where do you hear it herein:

“only grant me strong bright senses to bring happiness, to help, to hear the needs of even a pulse-beat. the call of any person!”

kinyan 31 of 48 ways to acquire Torah

Ohev et haTzedakot o haMeisharim…..Loving the Righteous Way. a teacher of mine once urged that every rabbi should learn brevity. divrei Torah should be only a few minutes….maybe 7 minutes for natural teachings and an additional minute for a more difficult supernatural idea. any longer is a meandering path, some will follow you into the woods, over streams, up and down hills, but most would prefer that the path be simple, more-or-less straight, and on a level plain. truth and righteousness are their own beauty….the simple explication is the splendor of Torah.

haYom sh’loshim yom, sh’heim arba’a shavuot ush’nei yomim, laOmer: gevurah she b’hod

“while i live my songs will be for You, while i am i’ll speak my gratefulness”

not so far from Psalm 104 to a love song, yes? ok, so maybe ‘gratefulness’ is a bit less sung in love songs, perhaps because they are largely focused on the next tryst….but that itself points to gevurah in hod….a love song born of more maturity suits this 30th day of the sefirat haOmer. 30 days from the onset of shiva is the normal end of strictest mourning, sh’loshim. 30 days reflects the mourning period recorded in Torah for Aharon and then later for Moshe. during the 23-day period after shiva and before sh’loshim, traditionalists return to many aspects of life, but still reserve a few particular things: they avoid festive outings that involve music (usually including films, if they attend films normally), and they continue to avoid perfume and scents until the 30th day.

music and scent are the 2 things that most viscerally bring a loved one back and renew pain in loss. it is a very precisely targeted reserving, and that is what gevurah brings to a more general humility. the care of attitude in hod is targeted with the judgment and discernment of gevurah. but it also works the other way, in the attitude of hod, you can tend to miss larger issues for the sake of focusing on the splendor of the very, very small….literally miss the forest due to gratitude for the splendid bark of the trees. gevurah/judgement informs the reserve/focus of ‘unbridled’ hod/splendor.

but we are at 30 days, and only 3 days from lag b’Omer, the day on which all mourning customs associated with the sefirat haOmer are tossed aside….for bonfires, archery, kosher marshmallows/s’mores, haircuts (i know i need one), etc. so let’s consider a love song in proximity to Psalm 104:

“you are here, so am i….maybe millions of people go by…but they all disappear from view…

and i only have eyes for you….”

and, of course, that would be the purpose of tzitzit…to make sure that we don’t go about straying after the distractions of the eyes. but when it comes to Israel and G’d, is this pop lyric so far from a psalm that teaches out of gevurah in hod, discernment in reserving ourselves for the walk with G’d? Psalm 104 again….

“refreshing the face of the earth, Your Glory endures forever

Your work is an endless rejoicing”

ok. i find i have a showing of gevurah in hod today in my bride over which i can’t help but rejoice. she is prepping for an upcoming metal clay class she is teaching. and on the bedroom floor are spread out notecards with simple instructions, and an apportionment of just the right amount of supplies/materials for the doing in the class. she has been doing this since early this morning, stopping now and then for coffee and chat, or to watch the storm roll in. i see it and am overwhelmed with gratitude for the love of a woman who brings such care and discernment to every thing she touches. gevurah in hod is this quiet work in the world, paying close attention to the particulars, considering the needs of others and preparing with wisdom gained from experience, seeing both the forest and the trees. baruch haShem yom yom for this love.

“my soul is for Your blessing”

Psalm 104 starts and ends in this refrain…..it absolutely rocks hod.

mussar for gevurah she b’hod

with another….bein adam l’chaveiro appreciate the beauty in your spouse, your kids, your parents, your friends, your rabbi, your cantor. we all have a sheet of charges to level against others now and then. just rip it up today. why? just for the sake of the splendor that you KNOW is in each of them somewhere, even if not in the place you would prefer it to be. be grateful that you have the beauty and suitability of the people you have.

with yourself….bein adam l’atzmo this is a tough exercise, i fear….just don’t complain today. not even to yourself. not even once….not even in the background. to everyone you speak to today be nothing but thankful…show off that attitude of gratitude.

kabbalah for gevurah she b’hod

in assiyah….the world of doing/completion when i go to the analgesics aisle at the drug store, i get a headache…maybe they plan it that way, eh? but i feel weariness and pain at the multitude of ridiculous choices we have for aspirin, acetominophen and nsaids….but everyday we are presented with oodles of temptations in choices. few are really good for us. many simply don’t matter much. and many others are downright bad for us. meditate on your choices of the past week, are there any of which your are particularly proud? any where your discernment played in to affect your ultimate choice?

in yetzirah….the world of feeling/formation my bride is very particular about the purses she buys….and she loves purses (can i get a witness?). it is less about how they look, i think (though i’m sure they all look swell as well) than how they function. the right compartments, pockets, attachables for the organizing of the mary poppins collection of stuff that must be carried about. if purses were alive, would they evolve? contemplate how powerfully operational suitability fits into the entirety of Creation. be thankful for the adaptations that allow you to function rather effortlessly in the world. and why is it that organizing a closet leaves you feeling so good?

in b’riyah….the world of thought/creation apparently we humans were created with an obvious skill to categorize and distinguish between things. we may have been put in the Garden of Eden to tend the veggies, but the first thing we are recorded doing is naming the animals. consider your skill in judgment, in calling a thing by its right name…how much of your ability is inbred? how much do you bring from experience? be thankful for both.

in atzilut….the world of nearness to G’d/intuition remember a time when you felt particularly close to G’d. did you think your way there? were you in a particular circumstance? did you meditate to that point? or did it just happen? can you put your finger on it? the effort partakes in gevurah in hod.

kinyan 30 of 48 ways to acquire Torah

Ohev et haBriyot….Loving all Creatures. we know that all the animals on the planet are important from the story of Noach. we may hypothesize that plants have a unique relationship with G’d, for they were left to their own devices, perhaps setting seed that could withstand the period of deluge was their ticket. but we learn this trait from the great r’ Hillel, who teaches we should all be like Aharon, loving peace, loving your fellow creatures, and attracting them to the study of Torah. we sort of have to assume that Hillel was thinking of humans…for attracting slugs to Torah is a fool’s errand.

unless we take the Ramban to heart. he teaches that the Torah is but one extended name of G’d and that all of Creation, therefore, has a relationship with it….even if we do not recognise it. therein is the acquisition of Torah as well.

stewardship is all inclusive, consider Psalm 8:

“you have given them care for the works of Your Hands…

placed the solid growing earth under their feet”

so when you walk humbly (in hod) with G’d, think fondly of the Demodex you host.

haYom tish’a v’esrim yom, sh’heim arba’a shavuot v’yom echad, laOmer: chesed she b’hod

hodu l’adonai ki tov….ki l’olam chasdo

‘praise-thank G’d who is good….everywhere and always is G’d’s loving-kindness’….we pray this regularly, with special fervor in Hallel for festivals, for it makes all the connections between hod (hodu) and chesed (chasdo) that anybody could possibly need. we give thanks because the loving-kindness is everlasting and everywhere….it is the aspect of G’d with which “olam” (‘universe/eternity’, ie, the whole of Creation) was created. these 2 belong together like Laurel and Hardy.

people forget that humility is not self-debasement…it is not demoralizing…it is not nicki minaj doin ‘stupid hoe’. it is not minimizing yourself to the detriment of yourself, but rather reserving what need not be in play. so it is humility….the sliver of the new moon…..that is the very seat of love and loving-kindness for another. why? because it is ready and right-sized for expansion, and chesed always wants room to expand. but to do chesed in hod, you have to have room to allow the other in. and to be grateful for the opportunity to have the relationship.

chesed in hod is having an ‘attitude of gratitude’ and a readiness to find the beauty in everything, no matter how small or subtle. hod is the appreciation of the other—heck, of ALL in Creation—chesed brings the overflowing love in, so what you have is the sun and the moon, really. the sun lighting it all up in loving-kindness and the moon reflecting that light with greater clarity simply by reducing the glare.

the gematria of hod is 15, which just happens to be the number of stair’s in the Cohen’s ascent to the Temple. it symbolizes the stages of approaching the Holy. and we do well to remember that it was Moshe’s lovingly generous brother Aharon to whom the closest regular approach to the Holy of Holies was given. Aharon is also the agent of disseminating awareness of G’d’s chesed through the procedures of atonement.

not surprisingly, chesed in hod is the attitude of temimut halev (‘sincerity of the heart’) which is the seat of ahavah called for in the Shema….you shall love G’d with all your heart….yet we must still find room to love our neighbor as ourself….

“there is still, in my love, so much room

and so many words for you”

Islam has Rumi and Hafez, for the jews, Ibn Gabirol. and here he teaches chesed she b’hod more compactly than anything i could ever write. let’s just leave it here. baruch haShem.

mussar for chesed she b’hod

with another….bein adam l’chaveiro chesed in hod is about valuing the other for no reason other than that the other exists!…..is part of Creation! why do you value and love the people in your life? show them; tell them….so many words for you.

with yourself….bein adam l’atzmo for this one, to do a favor for yourself, you are better off by doing a favor for another in proximity to giving thanks. before you pray today, or this week, do chesed in tzedakah. more of you will be in the prayer thereafter.

kabbalah for chesed she b’hod

in assiyah….the world of doing/completion today is Pesach Sheni (‘second passover’ or maybe ‘do-over passover), a halachah from written Torah itself (Nubers 9:6-8). the episode reflects the question brought by some who were unable to do the Pesach at the appointed time due to having been ritually unclean at the time through no fault of their own…they were doing the great chesed of tending to the dead. Moshe brought G’d’s word, which was itself chesed: ok, so you can’t do the passover with the rest of us? we’ll give you a do-over passover time a little later after you are ritually pure again. so, in empathy with those who need the do-over, have some matzah today (again? already?) and remember that it too is one of those wonders brought forth from the earth…..just like yourself.

in yetzirah….the world of feeling/formation r’ Mordechai Breuer, z’l, used to teach that the core of the shechechiyanu blessing was the full, rich appreciation of life in the moment…the final words are “lazman hazeh” (‘this very minute’). be mindful of (ie, meditate in real time) a single moment of your day today. it doesn’t matter which you choose. give thanks for it, and for what you open out of it.

in b’riyah….the world of thought/creation we are an ancient People, who have cultivated many traditions and practices over time. choose one you don’t regularly do and do it mindfully today. contemplate all those who brought love for G’d and Creation through it in generations past.

in atzilut….the world of nearness to G’d/intuition G’d is wherever we let G’d in. meditate on receiving with love today. find what stops you from doing it freely and resolve to remove those stops to chesed in hod.

kinyan 29 of 48 ways to acquire Torah

Ohev et haMakom…..Loving G’d (in the guise of place). as we said, G’d is wherever we let G’d in. among the names of G’d is “haMakom” (‘the Place’) presumably due to G’d’s designated Place in the Bet haMikdash, which was the Place of the Indwelling Presence amongst Bnei Yisrael. when you say Shema tonight, be mindful of place and how the prayer itself calls on us to teach the Oneness of G’d in whatever place and time we find ourselves in.

“you shall love haShem Your G’d…..when you sit in your house…when you walk on the road”

haYom shisha v’esrim yom, sh’heim sh’losha shavuot v’chamisha yomim, laOmer: hod she b’netzach

“if a ruler’s anger rises against you, don’t leave your place;

for calmness lays great offences to rest”

this enigmatic verse from Kohelet (Ecclesiastes 10:4) really gets at the idea of hod she b’netzach, for it suggests a blend of standing pat while also laying low, and most importantly, practicing ‘calmness’ because it works! hod is an odd sefirah (we will study it in greater detail next week) in that it comprises things that we don’t often hold together in the west: passivity, deference, humility…and SPLENDOR, as in brilliance, majesty and grandeur!

certainly kazan’s “splendor in the grass” doesn’t strike us as having to do with victory through restraint! or does it?

but the kabbalists are thinking very differently…. hod and the female (left side of the sefirotic tree) are indeed associated….and they are thinking of Aharon–second fiddle and a sort of help-meet to Moshe–who ends up in the fanciest duds of all as High Priest. vast stretches of Zohar are devoted to the deep meaning of the splendorous clothing of the High Priest. and it is only Aharon who can actuate atonement, via the way laid out by G’d, for the People. he is the master of ketoret (‘incense’ perhaps even perfume) that heals the plague and brings back joy. (think about this, ladies: how many of you have beloveds who are masters of scent? not every dude is a spice merchant….)

Aharon’s face is never veiled like Moshe’s, even though Aharon spends lots of time in proximity to the Divine Presence. and he attains his high stature even though he once gave in to the vile urges of the mixed multitude and takes part in the “shaping” of the golden calf. most amazing indeed.

Aharon is the central figure in repentance. he both needs to do it in a way that Moshe is not called on the carpet for, and is the pleader with Moshe to pray for healing for Miriam when she is afflicted with t’zara’at (‘spriritual skin affliction’), and he is the key figure in the Mishkan (‘temple in the desert’) and the rites of returning to G’d through offerings. it is Aharon who becomes the keeper of the fiery snake (the antisnakebite snake that later was kept in proximity to the Temple) just as he was the one who laid down the staff before pharaoh for it to become the flexible staff that is a snake….the wavy manipulation of the serpent in Eden spoke to Chava, so we know how powerful it can quite calmly, unassumingly be…

hod in netzach is simple really. it is to recognize that you don’t achieve the greatest ends alone, but rather with the help of others. with the help of G’d; with the help of humans. it takes the wisdom of Aharon to be joyous at the news that his brother would be G’d’s designee to free the People, and that he would be, at least at first, Moshe’s assistant. Aharon shows us the power of the team–Moshe, the captain does not–and quietly, calmly, as attends to so very much business behind the scenes…as do the masters of hod in our world, women…the more flexible, yielding, yet healing, watery set. we should all remember that the path of shefa (‘divine flow’) to foundation (yesod)…to the penis, if you will…goes by the water way of women…and men like Aharon who can muster the water way as well. is calmness and magnifence making a little more sense now? splendor in the bending, wavy water way of the grass……

mussar for hod she b’netzach

with another….bein adam l’chaveiro you will find in this interinclusion that (once again) your mother was right…..you should always say thank you. the harder part can sometimes be to recognize the help of all those who get you to where you are, and where you need to be. indeed, none of us is an island….so say thanks to everyone you meet today who might even remotely be helping you in your walk with G’d today…even say thanks to those whose help you only begrudgingly acknowledge…whose approach you mostly have to endure!

with yourself….bein adam l’atzmo for many folks, the hardest part of teshuvah is confessing your wrongs. but careful cheshbon nefesh (‘accounting of the soul’) is the necessary base on which teshuvah is built thereafter. admit your errors, and admit also that you still have the power to work at the tikkun olam (‘repair of the world’) in spite of your errors. face it and thank G’d for this splendor in your persistence.

kabbalah for hod she b’netzach

in assiyah….the world of doing/completion ther is splendor in the constant power of a waterfall; and it was the enduring drip of water on the stone that convinced Akiva that even unlearned he could become a rabbi (and such a one!). consider how water over eons can carve a grand canyon in stone…how water as ice can flatten the landscape over which it drags…..think on the power of water as you wash your hands today. purity and power in one.

in yetzirah….the world of feeling/formation emotions are often said to run like water. but we are directed in the words of Amos (5:24) to “let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like an ever-flowing stream”. contemplate the fluidity called for here. do your judgements have either the easy altering course of water or the ever-flowing quality of steadiness?

in b’riyah….the world of thought/creation think of how fluid scientific discovery is…splashing information from very different starting points into a coherent stream of thought. halacha means ‘walk’ or ‘way’, and hold within it the same quality of meander….while it is a a cohesive legal voice, it is nonetheless made up of the interpretations of thousands over many, many generations. meditate on constancy in judaism in spite of the absence of central authority.

in atzilut….the world of nearness to G’d/intuition opinion is the enemy of righteousness, for it is formed and no longer plastic. righteousness is not a chiseled monolith of practice gleaming in the sunlight. we see justice and righteousness instead as flowing water, glinting with splendor as light strikes its unendingly changing facets. still water, however, runs deep…..contemplate how G’d’s light can nonetheless reach it….unfailingly.

kinyan 26 of 48 ways to acquire Torah

Siyag l’Dvarav….Fencing Ourselves Away from Distraction. in order to study productively, you have to get away from everyday distractions. yeshivot are designed to help you do that, but most folk are not able to get that far away. but each of us can make a time or place temporarily away from the rush of everyday life. even if it is just 30 minutes over a quiet cup of coffee, or before bed, or on the train commuting. if you can do something more substantial, all the better. but you must be as removed from temptation as possible in order to achieve real concentration on Torah and not on your feelings of deprivation. but remember that teaching is also study…..

“teach them repeatedly to your children, speaking of them when you sit at home,

and when you travel on the way, when you lie down and when you rise”

haYom tish’a asar yom, sh’heim sh’nei shavuot vachamisha yomim, laOmer: hod she b’tiferet

“her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace”

many of you will recognize this as the next to last line in the “etz chaim hi”, said as the Torah is returned to the ark. i read it as a proof text for permission to relax now and then in my errors of interpretation and understanding….or just the many errors of explication that i’ve made already (and will no doubt make more of) in this effort to share the sefirat haOmer. for even when the explanation doesn’t work, the study nonetheless happens…and that is Torah lishmah (‘study for its own sake’, understood to mean ‘for the sake of Heaven’) even without our intention when we err!

if yesterday was devoted to the force of netzach in breaking down barriers to compassion/balance/beauty, today, in hod, associated with humility/gratitude/splendor, we grow quiet in the face of compassion, balance, beauty and harmony that already surrounds us. it is always there; there is no place without it because all of Creation is a manifestation of G’d’s glory, and there is no where where that glory is not. G’d’s glory fills the earth.

but to understand hod in tiferet, splendor in beauty, we have to put away so much of our self. we are called “m’daber” in the rabbinic literature, ‘the talker’ for our proclivity to name and classify and analyze with exquisite subtlety in words all that catches our attention. we erect barriers in our efforts to understand more deeply. we are all-in-one machines that erect new barriers even in our process of stripping down to get closer to seeing another glimpse of G’d in nature….nature being the only aspect of G’d’s wonder that we can always grasp (if we are only awake). nature is the G’dstuff in which we live, the stuff of which we are….that we bluster through… over… around and beyond daily, every waking hour.

all the paths of Torah are pleasantness; all of them….even the broken, breaking, dissecting errant ways we sometimes derive are ultimately paths of peace. why? well, can you think of any self-understanding that comes without making mistakes? even pharaoh’s path was Torah, right? he quite literally descends to G’d, and with that descent comes freedom and peace, precisely as G’d intended all along.

but Chazal (rabbis of the talmuds) point out an even easier way. they teach that G’d created all with Torah….so everywhere you look is another path of Torah. and r’ nachman made the fields his place for Torah and prayer and meditation on G’d. everywhere. just look and see. and he also made clear that his every step was itself a step toward the Land of Israel, that is, the place of rectification and cleaving to G’d. every step is on a derech noam, on a ‘pleasant path’ toward the great good. just look and see.

it is hard to think of anything more beautiful than beauty…until you traverse the tree of life a little further and come to the splendor of beauty in quiet hod, beauty in thanks, in a smile without a word and without even the sound of a laugh. “hinei,” people….’behold’ all around you. it is all in hod. silent, eloquent, all a testament to the splendor and wonder of a G’d that gives us simple splendor in the grass…

why am i not a flower, a person-flower?

bless me, my spirit with tenderness instead of might.

to own smiles instead of words, and always bring light to the world.

to be able to give love, good fortune with my hair, like orchids.

and may my way through rooms be like finger-touches on piano keys.

tenderness, you ineffable name of G’d, be my image of G’d!

mussar for hod she b’tiferet

hod-tiferet with another….bein adam l’chaveiro i’ll bet that a lot of you welcome folks home from school and work with a pleasant “how was your day?” there is a little everyday compassion in that. but it might well be answered with the grumbles of daily disappointments and disaffections….or the disconnected minimalist “fine.” so get a little rad and reset the routine gently…..ask “what were the beauties, the wonders of your day?” if they can’t tell you, send them outside immediately to lay in the grass and look up, or down, or all aroun. at’ll fixem.

hod-tiferet with yourself….bein adam l’atzmo smile when you make a blessing today….no quick-get-it-out-of-the-way utterances, please.

kabbalah for hod she b’tiferet

in assiyah….the world of doing/completion baruch haShem, we are not only given to using words to make or find beauty. we decorate our living spaces. we spend lots of time getting just the right paint for a room’s walls, yes? and then what? we let our own creative work, our own engagement, recede into, well, wallpaper as we direct our attention to the television, the radio, the internet (well, yes, even this blog), hanging on the distracting and novel and noisy and sparkly. we consume without a lick of appreciation. go back to your own spark of creation in your place and remember why you so loved a particular paint for a wall, or a painting or a vase, or even the order that you impose in your cabinets in how you put your dishes away, or how you insist the dishwasher should be stacked…..it is all your sense of beauty and order at work. pleasant ways are found therein. don’t be unmindful of it!

in yetzirah….the world of feeling/formation every year the garden brings forth changes. changes in what you planted…changes in the volunteers that have taken root….changes in expression of abundance. remember the blooms of a previous year. compare them to this year’s early arrival of almost everything. be grateful for the variety that continues to enrich the order of your garden. and let your ruach flit with joy.

in b’riyah….the world of thought/creation pray from a siddur today (if you can read this, you can find one online if need be) and try to be mindful of the ‘order’ (“seder”) of the prayers. compose a brief transitional explanation or 2 for yourself. or read this week’s parshah for shabbat, mindful of the fact that the selection that is the week’s ‘portion’ is itself an ordering of words. be grateful for the words and for those who took great care in ordering their use for the betterment of your spirit.

in atzilut….the world of nearness to G’d/intuituition get out in the fields and forests like r’ nachman and the Besht. listen. pray. try to return the birds’ calls. see if you can see the Presence of G’d in the hiddenness of his nonCreation nature….G’d is not made of Creation stuff….but all of Creation is of made of G’dstuff. as you are looking, remember that every move you make, every breath you take, G’d will be watching you….

kinyan 19 of 48 ways to acquire Torah

Miyut S’chok….Moderation in Levity. Ben Sira 21:20–“a fool raises his voice in laughter; the wise smiles in silence”