Gevurah she’b’gevurah. Judgment in Judgment. I’ve been waiting for this one. Why? Well, my memory might be a little fuzzy. But I’m pretty sure I wrote my Ph.D. dissertation about this 30 years ago. So much, I said, goes into making good judgments. You have to listen and read carefully. Understand a social and political…
Love Quiets Judgment: Omer 8
Gevurah. Power. Boundaries. Judgment. Chesed she’b’Gevurah. Judgment tempered by Love. My husband is a cognitive psychologist. So he has thought a lot about how minds work. How people collect information, organize it, and use it to make judgments. So, today I interviewed him. Here’s a bit of what he said. Raw judgment is dangerous. Let…
Presence in Love: Omer 7
Malchut. Another name for Shechinah, the maternal Divine Presence we can feel in everyday life. Malchut she’b’chesed. Presence in Love. When I was a newlywed, I thought a lot about presence in love-making. How to be fully present to your own experience. And also be fully present as part of a team of two. How…
Foundation for Love: Omer 6
Yesod. Foundation. Yesod she’b’chesed. Pouring a foundation for love. With a little bit of Hod, gratitude, thrown in. How do we create a foundation for love? Surely there’s no right answer. Because people speak many different love languages. And relationships grow in all kinds of soil. (If I may carelessly mix metaphors here.) So here…
Forever Love: Omer Day 4
Netzach. Forever. Netzach she’b’chesed. Forever Love. What does that even look like? Like a mother’s love? Maybe? We talked about that today, in my Sacred Texts and Oral Traditions class. So many cultures tell stories about the Mother of all life. Why, we asked, is this archetype so powerful? Because, I said, we believe in…
Unconditional Love: Omer 3
Tiferet. Beauty. Tiferet she’b’chesed, the beauty in love. I want the people I love to find me beautiful. What do I hope they’ll see? I hope my children will see me as wise, calm, and kind. And I hope my spouse will see me as…actually, I’m not sure. Something good? Maybe the details don’t matter.…
Boundaries in Love: Omer 2
Boundaries. Strength. Good Judgment. You need these to love well. Or, as we say in Omer speak, gevurah she’b’chesed, boundaries in love. So, I’m always working on boundaries. Sometimes, when someone I love asks me to do something, I feel panic. Then, I pause before saying “yes.” And I reflect. What’s the panic about? Do…
Family Love: Omer 1
Love. Kindness. Two good translations of the Hebrew word chesed. If you’re counting the Omer, chesed is the word of the week. If you haven’t counted the Omer before, here’s a quick primer. https://www.sophiastreet.com/sefirat-haomer-counting-the-omer/ There are many different kinds of love. But today I want to focus on family love. It’s quite present to me…
Souls in Soles
My friend Rev. Beth Hayward just started a new spiritual podcast! And I’m in episode 4 talking about spiritual practice, healing, Shabbat, learning from group meltdowns, and talking to God in hard times.Here’s a little more about the podcast: Souls in Soles is a forum for:– Down-to-earth talk on high-up holy things– Conversations with diverse…
Maggid of Mezerich: Doing the Work
A teaching from the Maggid (teacher) from Mezerich, Ukraine (1700-1722), born Rabbi Dov Ber ben Avraham. He is one of the early Hasidic rebbes. Think of them, perhaps, as traveling psychologists. Or self-help gurus. They’d give talks and webinars, then be available to counsel people one on one. Mostly, they spoke to Jewish audiences and…