Week 2: Gevurah (Strength, Boundaries, Holding)
As we begin Counting the OmerFrom the second day of Passover until Shavuot, Jews count seven weeks – seven times seven days – to commemorate the period between the Exodus from Egypt and the Revelation at Sinai. When the Temple stood, a certain measure (omer) of barley was offered on the altar each day; today, we merely count out the days., each day’s quality intersects with Gevurah, inviting us to contemplate various dimensions of strength. We invited writers to reflect on each daily theme as part of Ritualwell’s annual Omer Fundraising Campaign. You may download a full PDF for this week at the bottom of this page. As you gather inspiration for your Omer journey, please take a moment to support Ritualwell so we can continue to offer you free, meaningful content all year long. Thank you!
Hag Sameakh!
Hila Ratzabi
Managing Editor, Ritualwell
Artwork: Omer 2018
D’vorah Horn
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Day 8: HesedLit. Kindness It is said in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) that the world stands on three things: Torah (learning), Avodah (worship), and Gemilut Hasidim (acts of kindness). of Gevurah
According to Cornell West, “Justice is what love looks like in public.” Boundaries are not bad, and strictures are not harshness. From the midst of a world of roiling chaos, we can welcome the order of strong justice as a balm.
—Rabbi Mira Wasserman
Day 9: Gevurah of Gevurah
Gevurah, Holding Power, is the pipeline through which love and kindness might flow. At the deep core of holding is the holding that makes the holding effortless, like carrying a baby from the inside. It is not superficial, tight or rigid. It is strong, resilient, and alive.
—Rabbi Vivie Mayer
Day 10: Tiferet of Gevurah
Cultivate discernment of your soul’s whisper; it leads you to your true power, your unique way in which to be a channel of Divine Splendor.
—Rabbi Me’irah Iliinksy
Day 11: Netzach of Gevurah
Social injustice and climate catastrophe loom. Sustainability is far off; we’ll getA writ of divorce. Traditionally, only a man can grant his wife a get. Liberal Jews have amended this tradition, making divorce more egalitarian. there only through hard, holy, inconvenient choices. The ongoing victory and glory (Netzach) we desire requires strong moral boundaries (Gevurah) today.
—Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb
Day 12: Hod of Gevurah
If I’m grounded in my story, I’m strong enough to share it with the world. Everyone has a gift to share. Our confidence in the unique person we are acts as the glory within our strength.
—Rabbi Elyssa Cherney
Day 13: Yesod of Gevurah
Let gentle strength be my foundation as I walk the path of love, surrender, faith, hope and action in service to God, myself and you, dear ones, reflecting the divine mystery that binds us all.
—Alden Solovy
Day 14: Malchut of Gevurah
The One Who Separates sky from the branches that reach for her also created horizons, roots, wings, and twilight. When our hands touch, the precipice between one and another is also a window, every boundary an opportunity to connect with something sacred.
—Heather Paul
