COUNTING THE OMER – This prayer is traditionally recited between sundown and sunrise of each day.
Day 18: Netzach she b’Tiferet
The Blessing (Day 18):
Baruch atah Adonai elohaynu melech ha’olam asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al sephirat ha’omer.
Blessed are you, G-D, Source of Beauty, You make us holy through your mitzvot, commanding us to count the Omer.
Ha yom shmona asar yom, shehem shnai shavuot v’arba’ah yamim l’Omer. Today is the eighteenth day of the Omer, which makes two weeks and four days of the Omer.
Week Three – Tiferet (Harmony, Balance, Beauty)
Day Eighteen: Netzach she b’Tiferet (Endurance within Harmony) – RIGHT HIP to HEART
Today is the eighteenth day of the Omer. Ah – 18! What a fantastic number. At 18 years old, many of us feel like we are at the cusp of our lives. We are old enough to visualize our future and we are heading out to meet that future with the energy and optimism of youth. In Judaism, 18 is associated with Chai – LIFE! It is the complete energy of all that is life, and many of you may hear the wonderful Jewish toast “L’Chaim – TO LIFE” triggered in your memory and feel that energy that comes with those words.
Yet, we also know that life isn’t always easy. It takes all aspects of G-d in us to make it through intact. That is what these sephirot represent. So today, on the eighteenth day of the Omer, as we examine the influence of Netzach (Endurance) on Tiferet (Harmony/Balance) it is a wonderful time to consider how G-d’s energy of Enduring constancy in Balance is what, literally, enlivens us.
Netzach (Endurance) helps us to overcome obstacles in our path so that we can succeed. On this day of Chai (life) we find that overcoming obstacles in our life’s path is easier when we are in Harmony. There are sparks of G-D in all things. If we can remember this important teaching, it will help to soften apparent obstacles, diminish the intensity of these challenges and bring us to a place of Balance and Harmony. There have been times in all of our lives when we have had to expend much energy toward a specific goal, resulting in something wonderful. After the labor of Netzach, whether physical work, emotional struggle, or spiritual effort, we feel great joy at the Beauty of what has been born from our efforts.
Today, as you focus on the life force within, recall with delight something that you struggled hard to create. May the Beauty of your work bring a smile upon your face. Today, allow yourself to feel the joy of accomplishment and creativity, the fullness of Heart that comes from persevering and succeeding through Endurance.
Yedi'a 