Week 6: Yesod (Foundation, Connection)
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 Yesod, inviting us to contemplate various dimensions of foundation or connection. 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 36: 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 Yesod
After two lives’ worth of days,
absorb kindness in foundation:
Growth, water, sun.
With ear to earth,
feel ancient rhythms
beneath the hum of bees.
Dance a new dance,
re-carve your coordinates
in liquid light; enfold them
in the whirling mass of life
that clings lovingly to the soil.
—Hazzan Jessi Roemer
Day 37: Hesed of Yesod
Source of all, help me feel rooted and strong. May I face any challenges this day brings grounded in the foundational truth that I am a holy and capable being.
—Rabbi Amber Powers
Day 38: Tiferet of Yesod
Tiferet, place of balance, blend, harmony, heart, center. Yesod, foundation, life-giving force, gateway, genitalia. An affirmation: I touch my heart, I access my centrality, and draw it down through the core of my being, arousing my creativity.
—Kohenet Amanda Ahava Nube
Day 39: Netzach of Yesod
A parable: In the mythical village of Chelm, where everyone is a fool, the elders appointed an official town fool and gave him the job of waiting at the town gate to greet Messiah. He fulfilled this solemn duty day after day, month after month, year after year. People would ask, “Don’t you getA writ of divorce. Traditionally, only a man can grant his wife a get. Liberal Jews have amended this tradition, making divorce more egalitarian. terribly bored just sitting there?” “Yes,” he would answer, “but it’s steady work.”
—Arthur Strimling
Day 40: Hod of Yesod
sometimes i feel so far from myself,
separated from what i love, what makes my skin sing, what draws song from my spirit
like being in a darkened room, stumbling through.
heaven, like you, is a series of connected hallways,
and sometimes, mamaleh, it is so dark and lonely
but the path was formed long before you arrived.
keep walking. keep searching. you are already here.
—Emily Rogal
Day 41: Yesod of Yesod
My pilates teacher tells me it is all about my core.
The psalmist tells me “You have made my mountain strong.”
Today I focus on my spiritual foundation.(I also go to the gym.)
—Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer
Day 42: Malchut of Yesod
Six full weeks into an ever-spiraling journey
Commitment enacted
Practice solidified.
Many steps toward insight and coherence
Some easy, others loaded with burdens
Some forward-moving glides, others complicated two-steps.
SinaiAccording to the Torah, God, in the presence of the Jewish people, gave Moses the Torah on Mount Sinai (Har Sinai). is within sight.
We approach the possibility of revelation
gloriously embodied
supported in community.
—Rabbi Deborah Waxman
