Eternal Strength, 11 Days Omer 5782
Today is eleven days, which is one week and four days of the Omer in the year 5782. נצח שבגבורה, Netzach ShebeGevurah, Eternal Strength.
Accepting The Power Beyond Words
The Eternal Strength pulsing through the universe cannot be articulated in words. It cannot be put into a neat box. For the most part, I do not ask HaShem to do things. I do not have a human relationship with the Divine and I do not blame God when things go wrong. In fact, I get very frustrated with the notion of a so-called "law" of attraction. Jews have not attracted persecution throughout our history. We did not ask to be sent to die in gas chambers or work as slave labor to build the Colosseum.
So what is the Eternal Strength I am aligning with today?
The Desire to Live.
The Will towards Goodness.
The Discipline guiding me towards my best self.
The Boundary that protects me: holding me firmly. I know that whatever happens, ultimately my soul is bound up in the Web of Life and I choose to be a conduit for the strength needed to love, to create, to flourish.
May you feel bound to the Eternal Strength willing us towards our best selves.
May we together create a world worthy of being enveloped by the Eternal Strength. God is the most powerful force in the universe. May we be conduits of the Eternal Strength.
Psalm 18, verse 3
The Ground of Being is my crag and my bastion,
and my deliverer, my God, my Rock where I shelter,
my Shield and the Horn of my rescue, my Fortress.
Based on Robert Alter's translation.
Other ways to understand the 11th day of the Omer
Enduring Strength: Choose to be a Force for Good in the World, 5781 / 2021.
Eternal Judgment, 5780 / 2020.
Enduring Discipline: Clarifying My Vision, 5779 / 2019.
Your Will is Powerful, 5778 / 2018.
Clear-eyed Focus on My Path, 5777 / 2017.
Robert Alter's Translation of the Hebrew Bible
