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A Daily Bread

Date: 19 Nisan 5780 (April 1, 2021) Torah Portion: Topic: Omer (Sheaf) – Day 4 /Netzach of

The Reason We Count

The Omer (Sheaf) was a harvest offering brought to the Temple on the second day of Passover (Lev. 23:9-14). We are count “seven full weeks and on the 50th day a festival known as Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks) was to be celebrated. In the Rabbinic tradition, it was understood that even after the destruction of the Temple, we are to actually count the day, “This is the X day of the Omer.”

The explains that each of the 49 days of the Omer represents one of the combinations of the seven lower (divine emanations). Each Sefirah has seven lesser Sefirot). So, we are to take all the teachings and apply its meanings on a daily basis for self-refinement..

The Omer Prayer

“Benevolent are You, YHWH, our Elohim, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the . Today is the Fourth day of the Omer.”

Mystical Meaning

The Week One is Chesed (Loving-Kindness) of Sefirah. Love is the most powerful and necessary component in life as it is a foundation of all human interactions. It allows us to experience another person and to allow that person to experience us. The love for Elohim and His Love for us is the highest reality as love is transcendence.

Day Four is Netzach (victory) of Chesed: Yesterday, we discussed about of Chesed that we need to balance our life to find “beauty” in “love.” We need to let go of baseless hatred and put earnest efforts to love and care for another. We need the “beauty of love” (Tiferet of Chesed) to communicate our love to another without feeling embarrassed by both parties.

Netzach of Chesed means controlling your love with the art of love. For example, a conductor of an orchestra by leading symphony members through rehearsals and performances for public presentations. The musicians interpret his movements to play the instruments. The conductor develops his style or approach over time as parents learn uniqueness of their children, to lead them to act accordingly within rules of the family.

In order for me to show kindness, it has to come from a place of love. What is this power that I have in my soul to be able to control, that is love? The Netzach of Chesed allows me to teach me how to reach to a balance the way I’m expressing the love that’s inside of me.

Unfortunately, most people don’t know how to express their love. For example, husbands usually love their wives. It isn’t that the husbands don’t want to express their love, but they do not know how to express it or have the tools. After all, there is no school that teaches the husbands on how to express their love.

So, how do I not only control my love and how do I bring it out in the right way to express my love in an external way instead of keeping it inside of me? The power of Netzach of Chesed is to teach me how to be able, not only to control the love, but how to bring it to a balance that I know when to give it out and how to express myself the right way and when to hold back.

The “art of loving” is to know how to do it in a balanced way. For example, if you say, “I love you” to your wife, ten or twenty times a day without a reason, this approach is not balanced and after a while the words don’t seem to be sincere, nor is it balanced to say once a month or a year during the wedding anniversary. Therefore, it is not always about how you say things and what you do. We have to show the love by being considerate, thoughtful, compliments, etc., that says “This is done out of love.”

Shalom

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