COUNTING THE OMER – This prayer is traditionally recited between sundown and sunrise of each day.
Day 41: Yesod she b’Yesod
The Blessing (Day 41):
Baruch atah Adonai elohaynu melech ha’olam asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al sephirat ha’omer.
Blessed are you, G-D, Source of Foundation, You make us holy through your mitzvot, commanding us to count the Omer.
Ha yom echad v’arbaim yom, shehem chamisha shavuot v’shisha yomim l’Omer.
Today is the forty-first day, which makes five weeks and six days of the Omer.
Week Six- Yesod (Foundation)
Day Forty-one: Yesod she b’Yesod (Foundation within Foundation) – GENITALS to GENITALS
The foundation of our life may be under a lot of stress right now, as coronavirus has attacked the structure of our days. It reminds me of other disasters that have had an effect on us over the years. Some disasters are physical in their effect, others are less structural. No matter what, the realities are consistently that if one foundation is affected, many other foundations will be changed. Let’s consider the effect of coronavirus on a family who has owned a home at the Jersey shore for generations. Over many years of summers spent at this beach house, grandparents and grandchildren, cousins and siblings, have built memories and family connections that are part of the framework of the family’s Foundation. This year, that may not occur. In addition, as we are unable to take care of the home because we are not able to be there, there may be effects on the physical home and its foundation. The family gatherings all happened within the structure of a building built on a different kind of Foundation, maybe one made of stones. As we go even further, we can realize that each component of a building’s Foundation requires a Foundation of its own. Each stone is composed of crystals arranged one upon another in its own kind of Foundation. At the end, we acknowledge that there is another invisible support under the building blocks of the world: the support of G-D.
As we consider Yesod she b’Yesod, we realize that each Foundation, such as the one of the family, relies on the strength and firmness of the other Foundations. If one falters, it will have an impact, large or small, on the other structures. For this reason, it is important to recognize our reliance on each Foundation, and create our own strong yet flexible base to provide the best Foundations possible in all areas of our world.
As we manage our way through this current pandemic, we lean on the Foundations we have built along the years, our connection to each other as well as our connection to G-d to give us the strength.
Yedi'a 