Day 22: Chesed she’b’Netzach, Love within Endurance
QUESTIONS
How are your Omer reflections and practices landing? Where inside you do they settle? How do you process them? In your thoughts, feelings, body? Your interactions with others? The way you see or move through the day? In your conscious or unconscious mind?
What endures?
COMMENT
Lately, I’ve been dreaming the Omer.
This morning, I dreamed of enduring love.
Here’s the dream:
I call my late mother on my cell phone. She says, “Why don’t you call me more often?” I say, “Mom, because you’re dead!” And we both think that is funny.
Then, my late brother-in-law tries to involve me in one of his usual convoluted schemes. He wants to deliver some car keys to my husband through a third party. But I say, “No.” So I tuck the keys in a shiny new wallet. And then I give the wallet directly to my husband. Just so I don’t have to hear him say, “Effin’ Rick!” again.
And then, torrential rain begins to fall. Big summer raindrops, clear and cooling.
And then—real life again—I rush to work for a meeting.
In the evening, I come home. The mail basket holds a thick envelope from an attorney. It’s an official copy of my late brother-in-law’s will. He did not have much money. But there are ten beneficiaries. Seven relatives, one friend, two charities. Beneath all his bluster and bitterness lay a lot of love.
And I cry. Because he didn’t really know how to show his love. So, he hid it in his will.
But today we can see it. May the love endure.
About the Questions
These questions take off from the text above. And they also go deeper into the day’s reflections in the book Shechinah, Bring Me Home: Kabbalah and the Omer in Real Life.
There are many ways to explore these questions. You can: Tell a story from your own life. Give an example from a book or a movie. Write a poem. Analyze a concept. Offer a definition. Draw a picture. Sing a song.
New to the Omer? Here’s a guide to the theory and practice.
Image Credit: Photo of Rick Kaplan and baby Hillary Kaplan. Hillary holds a tube with the words “Constant Care.” Photo by Charles Kaplan.
This post made me cry! I imagine many of us have had a relative who simply could not express love that was felt.
And although I’ve seen it before, I love this pic of Charles’ brother, Rick.
PS: I love counting Omer. Every year brings different gifts. This year I have counted while interweaving my responses, emotions, healing into a thirty day journal workshop with a community of 1300 writers, artists and creative souls! One of the most deeply profound and beautiful experiences of my life!
Thank you Sarah Tiferet for this lovely message. Yes, I think many of us can relate to this! And thanks for sharing how profound your Omer journey has been. It is really wonderful to set aside some creative contemplative time every day!