Dear Haverim:
*Tonight,Friday, March 29, 6:30 p.m.
services. Sermon topic: DOMA & Supreme Court Deliberations:A
Jewish Point of View. Nine years
ago, at this season, when I interviewed to become your rabbi, then-President
George W. Bush was pushing for the passage of DOMA. My views then, and my views
now, based on Jewish values, remain the same. (Note: after sundown remember to
count the Omer: Day Four).
*Saturday, March 30, 9:30 a.m. (Torah
service 10:15 a.m.). Sermon topic: Counting
the Omer: Agriculture, History and Mysticism.
Is my
love enduring? Does it withstand challenges and setbacks? Do I give and
withhold love according to my moods or is it constant regardless of the ups and
downs of life?
Exercise
for the day: Reassure a loved one of the constancy of your love
Explanation of Daily Omer Meditation: See below for
more.
Looking ahead:
*Sunday, March 31, 9 a.m. Hol Ha Mo’ed Pesach. (Note: with Hebrew School on break, it is
harder to make a minyan. Please help.)
You
can often get locked in love and be unable to forgive your beloved or to bend
or compromise your position. Hod introduces the aspect of humility in love; the
ability to rise above yourself and forgive or give in to the one you love just
for the sake of love even if you're convinced that you're right. Arrogant love
is not love.
Exercise
for the day: Swallow your pride and reconcile with a loved one with whom you
have quarreled
*Monday, April 1, 9 a.m. 7th Day
Yom Tov Pesach. (Note: we will
need your help to make a minyan).
For
love to be eternal it requires bonding. A sense of togetherness which
actualizes the love in a joint effort. An intimate connection, kinship and
attachment, benefiting both parties. This bonding bears fruit; the fruit born
out of a healthy union.
Exercise
for the day: Start building something constructive together with a loved one
*Tuesday, April 2, 9 a.m., 8th
Day Yom Tov Pesach & Yizkor.(Note: No Hebrew School).
Mature
love comes with ― and brings ― personal dignity. An intimate feeling of nobility
and regality. Knowing your special place and contribution in this world. Any
love that is debilitating and breaks the human spirit is no love at all. For
love to be complete it must have the dimension of personal sovereignty.
Exercise
for the day: Highlight an aspect of your love that has bolstered your spirit
and enriched your life...and celebrate.
Daily Omer Meditation:
A practical guide to becoming great in 49
days.
With
the mitzvah of counting the 49 days, known as Sefirat Ha'Omer, the Torah
invites us on a journey into the human psyche, into the soul. There are seven
basic emotions that make up the spectrum of human experience. At the root of
all forms of enslavement, is a distortion of these emotions. Each of the seven
weeks between Passover and Shavuot is dedicated to examining and refining one
of them.
The seven emotional attributes are:
- Chesed ―
Loving-kindness
- Gevurah ― Justice and
discipline
- Tiferet ― Harmony,
compassion
- Netzach ― Endurance
- Hod ― Humility
- Yesod ― Bonding
- Malchut ―
Sovereignty, leadership
The seven weeks, which represent these
emotional attributes, further divide into seven days making up the 49 days of
the counting. Since a fully functional emotion is multidimensional, it includes
within itself a blend of all seven attributes. Thus, the counting of the first
week, which begins on the second night of Pesach, as well as consisting of the
actual counting ("Today is day one of the Omer...") would consist of
the following structure with suggested meditations:
Upon conclusion of the 49 days we arrive at
the 50th day ― Mattan Torah. After we have achieved all we can accomplish
through our own initiative, traversing and refining every emotional corner of
our psyche, we then receive a gift ('mattan' in Hebrew) from above. We receive
that which we could not achieve with our own limited faculties. We receive the
gift of true freedom ― the ability to transcend our human limitations and touch
the divine.
After the miraculous Exodus from Egypt, the
Jewish people spent 49 days preparing for the most awesome experience in human
history ― the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Just as the Jewish peoples'
redemption from Egypt teaches us how to achieve inner freedom in our lives; so
too, this 49-day period, called 'Sefirat Ha-Omer' the Counting of the Omer, is
a time of intense character refinement and elevation.
During this time, the aspect of the human
psyche that most requires refinement is the area of the emotions. The spectrum
of human experience consists of seven emotional attributes, or sefirot. This
week we continue Sefirat Ha'Omer, utilizing the seven dimensions of the seven
emotional attributes. The first week after Pesach was dedicated to examining
the aspect of chesed, loving-kindness. The second week corresponds to the
emotional attribute of gevurah, discipline or justice.
If love (Chesed) is the bedrock of human
expression, discipline (Gevurah) is the channel through which we express love.
It gives our life and love direction and focus. Gevurah ― discipline and
measure ― concentrates and directs our efforts, our love in the proper
directions.
The underlying intention and motive in
discipline is love. Why do we measure our behavior, why do we establish
standards and expect people to live up to them ― only because of love. Chesed
of gevurah is the love in discipline; it is the recognition that your personal
discipline and the discipline you expect of others is only an expression of
love. It is the understanding that we have no right to judge others; we have a
right only to love them and that includes wanting them to be their best.
Ask yourself: when I judge and criticize
another is it in any way tinged with any of my own contempt and irritation? Is
there any hidden satisfaction in his failure? Or is it only out of love for the
other?
Exercise for the day: Before you criticize
someone today, think twice: Is it out of concern and love?
Examine the discipline factor of discipline:
Is my discipline reasonably restrained or is it excessive? Do I have enough
discipline in my life and in my interactions? Am I organized? Is my time used
efficiently? Why do I have problems with discipline and what can I do to
enhance it? Do I take time each day for personal accounting of my schedule and
accomplishments?
Exercise for the day: Make a detailed plan
for spending your day and at the end of the day see if you've lived up to it.
Underlying and driving discipline must not
only be love, but also compassion. Compassion is unconditional love. It is love
just for the sake of love, not considering the others position. Tiferet is a
result of total selflessness in the eyes of God. You love for no reason; you
love because you are a reflection of God. Does my discipline have this element
of compassion?
Exercise for the day: Be compassionate to
someone you have reproached.
Effective discipline must be enduring and
tenacious. Is my discipline consistent or only when forced? Do I follow through
with discipline? Am I perceived as a weak disciplinarian?
Exercise for the day: Extend the plan you
made on day two for a longer period of time listing short-term and long-term
goals. Review and update it each day, and see how consistent you are and if you
follow through.
The results of discipline and might without
humility are obvious. The greatest catastrophes have occurred as a result of
people sitting in arrogant judgment of others. Am I arrogant in the name of
justice (what I consider just)? Do I ever think that I sit on a higher pedestal
and bestow judgment on my subjects below? What about my children? Students?
Exercise for the day: Before judging anyone,
insure that you are doing so selflessly with no personal bias
For discipline to be effective it must be
coupled with commitment and bonding. Both in disciplining yourself and others
there has to be a sense that the discipline is important for developing a
stronger bond. Not that I discipline you, but that we are doing it together for
our mutual benefit.
Exercise for the day: Demonstrate to your
child or student how discipline is an expression of intensifying your bond and
commitment to each other.
Discipline, like love, must enhance personal
dignity. Discipline that breaks a person will backfire. Healthy discipline
should bolster self-esteem and help elicit the best in a person; cultivating
his sovereignty. Does my discipline cripple the human spirit; does it weaken or
strengthen me and others?
Exercise for the day: When disciplining your
child or student, foster his self-respect
