11 Days of the Omer. That is 1 Week and 4 Days.
Netzach of Gevurah
Determination/Endurance of Discipline/Justice/Boundaries
Friday evening and Saturday
Evening May 3 and Day of May 4
A elderly woman whose name I’ve never known comes up next to me and takes my arm. I slow my pace to match hers. We exchange pleasantries and then . . .
“Where is Zelophechad?” I ask after her husband.
“Oh, he’s somewhere up there getting reacquainted with old friends. He’ll come find me again after a while,” she says. “That was a time. . .” she murmurs.
I wait.
“You remember how he and his father, Hepher, both left Egypt? Bold men, those. I wasn’t always so sure the life we didn’t know would be better than the life we did,” she pauses a moment. Standing still we watch the people walking around us, past us. “I certainly couldn’t imagine this,” she says, starting to move again. “He could, though. He always could. That man could imagine anything!” I hear her giggle and turn to look at her face. Her eyes sparkle. She shakes her head and laughs. “Faith was never hard for him. He has the endurance of a camel and the discipline of an ant.”
“Is that a good thing?” I ask.
“Well, it can be. It can be,” she says.
We are both quiet for a moment.
“You know,” she says, “his steady-on was everything, raising five daughters. It kept him with us for a long time. He didn’t murmur, and he didn’t revolt with those 10 spies. He got all that excited about what Caleb and Joshua had to say, though. He’s not a man to get excited. Not typically. But he didn’t revolt. He didn’t follow Korach, either. Like a camel, that man.”
“And an ant?” I smile thinking of the juxtaposition.
“And an ant,” she insists, but then sighs. “For all the good it did him.”
“What made him storm the land?” I ask.
“He couldn’t stand the idea that ten men’s folly could leave us all forty more years in the wilderness. He couldn’t believe that it wasn’t something he could fix. He was so sure he could convince God we could do better.”
“But Moses warned them. Moses said they would fail.”
“Oh, I know it. He knew it, too. When he and those other men joined together to rush into the Land through the mountains he believed, with all of his soul, that he was doing the right thing.”
We walk. I wait.
“I did a good job with those five girls, though, after he died. Even without him.” There is pride and satisfaction in her voice. We look over to where the sisters are gathered, reuniting with squeals and laughter and a cacophony of memories. The woman smiles. “My girls,” she says.
“How did you do it?” I ask. “How did you raise them by yourself? How did you raise them to be so themselves?”
“I was like a camel,” she says. “Like an ant.”
See you at Sinai.
How to say the blessing:
Choose the language that resonates with you the most.
Non-gendered Hebrew based on grammar system built by Lior Gross and Eyal Rivlin,
available at www.nonbinaryhebrew.com
Gender Expansive:
הִנְנִי מוּכָנֶה וּמְזֻמֶּנֶה …
Hineni muchaneh um’zumeneh …
Here I am, ready and prepared …
Feminine:
הִנְנִי מוּכָנָה וּמְזֻמֶּנֶת …
Hineni muchanah um’zumenet …
Here I am, ready and prepared …
Masculine:
הִנְנִי מוּכָן וּמְזֻמַן …
Hineni muchan um’zuman …
Here I am, ready and prepared …
All Continue:
… לְקַיֵּם מִצְוַת עֲשֵׂה שֶׁל סְפִירַת הָעֹמֶר כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב בַּתּוֹרָה וּסְפַרְתֶּם לָכֶם מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת
מִיּוֹם הַבִיאֳכֶם אֶת עֹמֶר הַתְּנוּפָה שֶׁבַע שַׁבָּתוֹת תְּמִימוֹת תִּהְיֶנָה. עַד מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת
הַשְּׁבִיעִית תִּסְפְּרוּ חֲמִשִּׁים יוֹם וְהִקְרַבְתֶם מִנְחָה חֲדָשָה לַיי
… lekayyem mitzvat aseh shel sefirat ha-omer, kemo shekatuv batorah: us’fartem lakhem mimacharat hashabbat, miyom havi’akhem et omer hat’nufah, sheva shabbatot temimot tih’yena, ad mimacharat hashabbat hash’vi’it tis’peru khamishim yom, vehikravtem minkha khadasha l’adonai.
… to fulfill the mitzvah of counting the Omer, as it is written in the Torah: And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Shabbat, from the day on which you bring the sheaf of the wave-offering, you shall count seven full weeks. Until the day after the seventh Shabbat, you shall count fifty days, until you bring a new gift to the Eternal.
Gender-Expansive Language for God
בְּרוּכֶה אַתֶּה יי אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ חֵי הָעוֹלָמִים אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשֶׁנוּ בְּמִצַוְּתֶהּ וְצִוֶּנוּ עַל סְפִירַת הָעֹמֶר
Brucheh ateh Adonai, Eloheinu khei ha’olamim, asher kidshenu bemitzvoteh v’tzivenu al sefirat ha’omer.
Blessed are You, Eternal, Life of all worlds who has made us holy with Their commandments, and commanded us to count the Omer.
Feminine Language for God
בְּרוּכָה אַתְּ יָ-הּ אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ רוּחַ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוְּתָהּ וְצִוָּנוּ עַל סְפִירַת הָעֹמֶר
Bruchah at Yah, ru’akh ha’olam asher kidshanu bemitzvotah v’tzivanu al sefirat ha’omer
Blessed are You, Yah, our God, Spirit of the universe who has made us holy with Her commandments, and commanded us to count the Omer.
Masculine Language for God
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ עַל סְפִירַת הָעֹמֶר
Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melekh ha’olam asher kidshanu bemitzvotav v’tzivanu al sefirat ha’omer.
Blessed are You, LORD, our God, ruler of the universe who has made us holy with His commandments, and commanded us to count the Omer.
Count the day and week
Today is the _________ day, which is _________ weeks and _________ days of the Omer.
Today:
הַיּוֹם אַחַד עָשָׂר יוֹם שֶׁהֵם
שָׁבוּעַ אֶחָד אַרְבָּעָה יָמִים לָעוֹמֶר.
Hayom echad asar yom shehem shavua echad v’arba’ah yamim
la’omer.
Today is eleven days of the Omer.
That is one week and four days of the Omer.
Sefirat HaOmer Blessing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8hCiPI1tMQ