Adult Education Blog

We're in the final week of counting the Omer, those 49 days between Passover and Shavuot. Today is the forty-third day of the Omer, making six weeks and one day.

The Kabbalists tied different qualities of God to the different weeks of the Omer, and we've just entered the period connected to the Shechinah - the indwelling of God which is also God's feminine aspect. To celebrate the start of this week with the Shechinah, I'm sharing the words of Rabbi Rachel Barenblat, named one of America's most inspiring rabbis by The Forward in 2016. She's been blogging since 2003 under the name The Velveteen Rabbi.

Here's an excerpt from DAY 43: BEYOND NUMBER

Thank God for the gift of another day.

Check the mile marker: what's the number?

We're almost there. One more week

of sifting days like grains to measure

how they fall, and then -- Torah

pouring in like raindrops, too many to count.

The challenge is making each moment count --

sussing out subtle differences in each day.

Through forty-eight qualities we acquire Torah

(according to the sages, who liked to number

everything) -- that's wisdom beyond measure.

Time to manifest Shechina this final week.

What we were withholding made us weak

until we found it was ourselves that count:

not salary or 401K, nothing you can measure

but who we are in the world every day.

Focusing on accomplishments just made us numb(er),

and you need an open heart to receive Torah.

It wasn't just once upon a time that Torah

streamed into creation....

Enjoy the full text of the poem here.