31 Days of the Omer. That is 4 Weeks and 3 Days.
31 Days of the Omer. That is 4 Weeks and 3 Days.

Tiferet shebe Hod
Harmony in Splendor/Gratitude
Thursday evening May 23 and Friday May 24

Boaz is beautiful the way a saguaro cactus is beautiful.
He is beautiful the way Palo Duro canyon is beautiful.
His eyes are dark brown, the desert sand at night . . . but one is brown with a hint of green and the other is brown with a hint of gold . . . if you look closely enough.
Other than brown, I don’t actually know what color his eyes are, but look at him. Shouldn’t that man there have eyes two slightly, but just slightly different colors? 

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Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielBoaz, Tiferet, Hod, Sinai, ShavuotComment
30 Days of the Omer. That is 4 Weeks and 2 Days.
30 Days of the Omer. That is 4 Weeks and 2 Days.

Gevurah shebe Hod
Strength/Might/Judgment in Splendor/Gratitude 
Wednesday evening May 22 and Thursday May 23
Gevurah.
Strength.
Hod.
Gratitude.
I don’t know.
I do know that today I’ve been walking with and praying for Liri Albag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa, and Naama Levy. 

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Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielGevurah shebe Hod, Omer, Sinai, Hostages, Liri, Daniella Gilboa, Karina Ariev, Naama Levy, Agam Berger, Liri Albag, Israel, Anu Korim, Prayer for Israel, Prayer for the Captives
29 Days of the Omer. That is 4 Weeks and 1 Day.
29 Days of the Omer. That is 4 Weeks and 1 Day.

Chesed shebe Hod
Lovingkindness in splendor/gratitude
Tuesday evening May 21 and Wednesday May 22
I think in some essential way Chesed is saying, “You have my attention.”
“You are worth my attention.”
Maybe it’s, “You have my attention and even when I can’t see the goat shape you can see, I see that you see it, and I say so.”  Maybe Chesed is really, “I see you.”

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Jewish HolidaysAmy Arielgoat, teaching, students, chesed, hod, sephirot, sinaiComment
28 Days of the Omer. That is 4 Weeks.
28 Days of the Omer. That is 4 Weeks.

Malchut shebe Netzach
Nobility within Endurance
Monday evening May 20 and Tuesday May 21
As I walk into this day, I listen to a podcast, Judaism Unbound, Episode 431, interviewing Rabbi Jess Belasco. Rabbi Belasco runs the Disability Justice Torah Circle, which hosts classes, facilitates connection, and provides pastoral resources for disabled, high-risk, and chronically ill people who desire Jewish community. In the podcast, and in life, they ask, “What does disability say about Judaism?”

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Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielOmer, Malchut, Malchut shebe Nitzach, Nitzach, Elephant Clouds, Clouds, Liddy, Rabbi Jess Belasco, Belasco, rabbi, disability, disability justice circle, Judaism Unbound, podcast, LexComment
27 Days of the Omer. That is 3 Weeks and 6 Days.
27 Days of the Omer. That is 3 Weeks and 6 Days.

Yesod shebe Netzach
Foundation and Bonding within Endurance
Sunday evening May 19 and Monday May 20
Jonah walks like he’s on stage, and not just any stage. Jonah walks as though he were in a musical and any moment the opening bars of a song will pour from the sky.  Jonah walks like Chaim Topol as Tevye and Barbara Streisand as Fanny Brice . . . or probably as Miss Marmelstein.
Surrounded by children, Jonah is telling them his story.

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Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielOmer, Yesod, Netzach, JonahComment
26 Days of the Omer. That is 3 Weeks and 5 Days.
26 Days of the Omer. That is 3 Weeks and 5 Days.

Hod shebe Netzach
Hidden Splendor within Endurance
Saturday evening May 18 and Sunday May 19
Shavua Tov
Devon Spier is sitting on a big rock and shouting out her poetry into the sky.
It falls around us like rain if rain were fairy dust. . . .
Enjoying the soft butterfly kisses of her words on my skin, I’m watching Joseph and Asnat dance in the light. They are a swirl of blues and reds, greens and yellows, and of course they are wearing bells. When they lean together and their heads touch their curls, hers bouncing on her shoulders and his loose and flowing down his back, intertwine. 

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Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielJoseph, Josef, Asnat, Osnat, Netzach, Tiferet, Hod, Devon SpierComment
24 Days of the Omer. That is 3 Weeks and 3 Days.
24 Days of the Omer. That is 3 Weeks and 3 Days.




Tiferet shebe Netzach
Compassion within Endurance
Thursday evening May 16 and Friday May 17

Tzivia turns to me and asks, “Did I ever tell you about the vessels?” 
“No,” I say. “Tell me?”
She grins and gestures to the people near us. “They were all part of it,” she says.
“All of them?” I ask.
“Every one,” she nods. “It was like this. My husband, Obadiah, had died. My children and I were really suffering. Of course, we missed their father, but also we were so poor and so hungry. A creditor came to our house and threatened me. ‘Pay your debts, woman!’ He scolded me. ‘Pay them or next time I come I will seize your children as slaves.’”
I sigh, “What did you do?”

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Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielOmer, Obadiah, Elisha, Tiferet, Netzach, Elijah, Jugs of oilComment
23 Days of the Omer. That is 3 Weeks and 2 Days.
23 Days of the Omer. That is 3 Weeks and 2 Days.

Gevurah shebe Netzach
Strength/Might and Judgment within Endurance
Wednesday evening May 15 and Thursday May 16
I don’t feel compelled to ship together all of my favorite women from the TaNaKh, and I wouldn’t have thought Judith and Devorah . . . but here we are, and here they are, and . . . welcome to the way my mind works. Watching them together, they sure seem well-matched.
I’m liking the idea of a romance between these two elders. 

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Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielOmer, Gevurah, Netzach, SinaiComment
22 Days of the Omer. That is 3 Weeks and 1 Day.
22 Days of the Omer. That is 3 Weeks and 1 Day.

Chesed shebe Netzach
Lovingkindness within Endurance
Tuesday evening May 14 and Wednesday May 15

Amira is shaped like a greyhound but her ears are long and fluffy. 
She’s the color of sand and her eyes are bronze. 
Running toward me she looks like the light at is shifts on the desert rocks, poetry in motion, right up until she pulls up in front of me and does her goofy whole-body-wag.

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Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielOmer, Dogs, Chesed, Netzach, SinaiComment
21 Days of the Omer. That is 3 Weeks.
21 Days of the Omer. That is 3 Weeks.

Malchut shebe Tiferet
Royalty and Nobility within Compassion and Harmony
Monday evening May 13 and Tuesday May 14
Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day
Kumi lach . . . Arise my friend, oh beautiful one, go to yourself… (Song of Songs 2:10) What if every relationship could be an opportunity for us to call each other into the realization of our full potential? Shefa Gold

A young girl near me gasps, “It’s Queen Eden!” she whispers in awe.
“Eden haMalka!” someone shouts near me.
“It’s HER!” Another voice calls out.

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Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielOfra Haza, Eden Golan, Malchut shebe Tiferet, Malchut, Yom Ha'AtzmautComment
20 Days of the Omer. That is 2 Weeks and 6 Days.
20 Days of the Omer. That is 2 Weeks and 6 Days.

Yesod shebe Tiferet
Foundation within Compassion and Harmony
Sunday evening May 12 and Monday May 13

“I think she is one of the young Egyptian women who served Batya,” I say.
“When she went down from her father’s palace to rescue Moses?” Rabbi Leff asks.
“I think so,” I say.
“Who is that with her?” he asks.
“I think it’s one of Miriam’s nieces,” I say. “One of Aaron and Elisheva’s daughters.”
“What makes you say so?” he wants to know. 
I shrug and smile, “Nothing in particular. It’s the story I want today. I want to be walking with Miriam’s niece and Batya’s maiden who just ran into some Jewish and Palestinian kids from the Jerusalem Youth Chorus as we all make our way toward Sinai together.”

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Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielOmer, Yesod, Tiferet, Sinai, Jerusalem Youth Choir, Jerusalem Youth ChorusComment
19 Days of the Omer. That is 2 Weeks and 5 Days.
19 Days of the Omer. That is 2 Weeks and 5 Days.

Hod shebe Tiferet
Gratitude within Beauty
Saturday evening May 11 and Sunday May 12
That is 4,749 days I have counted since my bone marrow transplant on May 12, 2011.
Which was the 8th of Iyar that year.
This year, the 8th of Iyar is May 16th. 
I’m going to go ahead and celebrate both days.

The sun glows extra warmly tonight as it sets and one by one, and group by group, so many people come to walk with me that a Biblical author would tell you we count in the thousands. Tens of thousands. Hundreds of thousands. 

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Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielOmer, AML, Hod, Tiferet, Sefirat haOmer, BMT, Gratitude, BeautyComment
18 Days of the Omer. That is 2 Weeks and 4 Days.
18 Days of the Omer. That is 2 Weeks and 4 Days.

Nitzach shebe Tiferet
Endurance within Harmony and Balance
Friday evening May 10 and Saturday May 11
The yahrtzeit of Irena Sender
Sometimes I feel like I’m walking in circles as if it’s a bad thing.
Then I see Choni haMe’agel, Choni the Circle Maker. His linen tunic is blowing about him in the breeze, a belt at his waist. 
Choni isn’t much of a talker. He prefers to walk by himself, even with all of us around.
Seeing him, I remember that circles can also be miracles.

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Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielChoni, Honi, Choni the Circle Maker, Honi haMe'agel, Netzach, Tiferet, SinaiComment
17 Days of the Omer. That is 2 Weeks and 3 Days.
17 Days of the Omer. That is 2 Weeks and 3 Days.

Seventeen Days of the Omer
Tiferet shebe Tiferet
Harmony and Balance within Harmony and Balance
Thursday evening May 9 and Friday May 10

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, “The more deeply immersed I became in the thinking of the prophets, the more powerfully it became clear to me what the lives of the Prophets sought to convey: that morally speaking, there is no limit to the concern one must feel for the suffering of human beings, that indifference to evil is worse than evil itself, that in a free society, some are guilty, but all are responsible.”

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Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielTiferet, Tiferet shebe Tiferet, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Heschel, Omer, SinaiComment
16 Days of the Omer. That is 2 Weeks and 2 Days.
16 Days of the Omer. That is 2 Weeks and 2 Days.

Gevurah shebe Tiferet
Strength//Boundaries within Harmony
Wednesday evening May 8 and Thursday May 9
The 5th of the Hebrew month of Iyar is Yom Ha’Atzmaut.
This year that’s the evening of Monday May 13th and the day of the 14th.
The Jewish calendar keeps moving forward and we keep moving forward with it.

If you’d like some gentle company, you are welcome to walk with me and my students for as long as you’d like.  

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Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielOmer, Yom Ha'Atzmaut, Hineini, Gevurah, Tiferet, 16Comment
14 Days of the Omer. That is 2 Weeks of the Omer.
14 Days of the Omer. That is 2 Weeks of the Omer.

Malchut of Gevurah
Nobility within Strength
Monday evening and Tuesday
Evening May 6 and Day of May 7

Some teach that malchut is the most important sefirah. They say that in malchut God doesn’t act by God’s self, but through us and that malchut is the goal God had in mind when creating the world.  
That isn’t my personal theology, but I respect it and it helps me to stretch and think this way. What if it were? What if malchut is God’s existence and God’s actions resonating along our veins? 
What if Rabbi Regina Jonas is Jewish royalty?  

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Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielRabbi Regina Jonas, Regina Jonas, Omer, Gevurah, Malchut, Sinai Comment
12 Days of the Omer. That is 1 Week and 5 Days.
12 Days of the Omer. That is 1 Week and 5 Days.

Hod of Gevurah
Humility of Discipline/Justice/Boundaries

Saturday evening and Sunday
Evening May 4 and Day of May 5
“Maybe I should add the Golden Girls to my Shavuot playlist,” I laugh. “Yesterday I walked a while with Zelophechad’s wife. She could be a Golden Girl.”
“Have you caught up with Machlah, Noa, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirza yet?” he asks.
“Her daughters? Not yet, you?”
“Not yet.”

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Jewish HolidaysAmy ArielDaughters of Zelophechad, Daughters of Z, Machlah, Mahlah, Hoglah, Tirza, Malah, Milkah, Milcah, Noa, hod, gevurahComment