Ever Flowing Love, Day One Omer 2025
Today is one day of the Omer in the year 5785, Chesed Shebe Chesed חסד שבחסד, Ever Flowing Love within Ever Flowing Love.
It is a bit shocking to me that this is my first blog post since October, 2023. I write to the congregation of Temple Israel of Alameda on a weekly basis. I have not been taking the time to publish those newsletters on the Temple Israel website or this blog.
I started publicly counting the Omer, writing something new for each day of the Omer count, in 2016. Last year, I suspended my writing because my beloved father, Marshall Minster, passed away on the 14th of Nisan. The first Passover Seder occurred the same night I learned I was an orphan, in the Biblical sense. (When the Hebrew Bible refers to widows and orphans, they’re referring to people without a husband or father. My mother is very much alive.) May Moshe ben Osni v’Zalman’s memory forever be a blessing.
If you would like to count the Omer, read this explanatory post that includes links to apps and books that could be useful.
Ever Flowing Love, Chesed, is Divine Love. Covenantal Love. Love with Reciprocal Obligations. The Love that surrounds us and guides us towards our best selves. The Love that saves us from our worst selves. The Love that calls to us on our darkest days.
The Sefirot, the emanations of the Divine, speak to me because it is impossible to truly know G!d. The Essence of the Divine is beyond human comprehension. Yet, we can feel G!d’s presence and connect with the Divine through Divine attributes. Taking this forty-nine day journey means sinking into the reality of the Divine. Setting aside preconceptions and doubts. Allowing ourselves the opportunity to expand our consciousness through elements of reality beyond the physical.
This first week of counting Omer, counting barley offerings, is dedicated to seven aspects of Chesed. Seven aspects of Ever Flowing Love. A time to sink into Grace and Love on their purest levels. A time to slow down and expand ourselves. Each day, we have the opportunity to be reborn. Each day, we can choose how we live into the future.
May the Ever Flowing Love of G!d shine upon you and help you live fully into yourself.
May the Ever Flowing Love sustain you.
May you know that without doing anything; without accomplishing anything; without providing anything, you are worthy of Love.
Love pursues us.
With Love, how can we see with new eyes?
With Love, how can we speak with a new heart?
Will we allow ourselves to circumcise our hearts?
Will our circumcised hearts help us live more fully into the lives we are meant to live?
Resources for the Journey
View Suggested Reading on Bookshop.org
Dance of the Omer by Benji Elson provides the most complete traditional explanation of the Omer available. It is only available on the Amazon store.
The Meaningful Life Center offers a free app and a book on Counting the Omer.
Image by Nico Grütter from Pixabay.