Day 23: Gevurah she’b’Netzach, Everlasting Judgment
Wow, the Omer is powerful.
The synchronicities just keep coming.
Today I met Gertrude. There I was, sitting on a bench at Mountain View Cemetery. I wasn’t visiting anyone in particular, just enjoying a neighbourhood green space. And Gertrude sat down beside me.
I guess we talked about the things strangers talk about when they meet at a cemetery. Burial customs around the world. Whether there’s an afterlife. Our daily conversations with beloveds who have died. Gertrude is 84 years old, so we talked about aging, too.
After she left, I got curious about something. What did I write about on this day two years ago? So I opened Shechinah Bring Me Home and there it was. Life after death—but without judgment. Instead, life as someone’s precious memory. Or as a sparkle of energy in the body of a loving God.
QUESTIONS
PRACTICE: How do you remember, connect with, stay in touch with people important to you who have died?
IDEAS: Does that practice seem consistent with what you think about the afterlife?
FEELING: When you think about what awaits you, how do you feel? Curious? Sad? Afraid? Neutral? Hopeful?
GOD: Do you imagine (or believe) God will review your life with you before your death? Or as you begin your afterlife? What do you imagine the review might look like?
RESOURCES
If you would like to read more about Jewish views of the afterlife, here is a link to a paper I wrote called “The Afterlife Journey: Kabbalistic Guidelines for Death Preparation.“
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: Detail from a photo of Mountain View Vancouver, City of Vancouver photo.
