Counting the Omer: Day 43
By Tamara Kline
According to Kabbalist teachings, we contemplate the combined virtues of chesed and malchut on day 43 of counting the omer.
When we think of chesed, we think of doing deeds of pure loving kindness. When we think of malchut, we think of bringing G-d’s kingdom into the world through our deeds and actions.
For today, as we move closer and closer to receiving the Torah, ask yourself:
1. How can I bring more loving kindness to my day to day actions and interactions?
2. What might I (and others around me) gain from this?
3. What might I (and others around me) lose out on if I don’t try to do more of this?
Perhaps keep these answers in mind while reciting the morning prayer each morning – to give extra meaning to the 4th line.
These are the deeds that yield immediate fruit
and continue to yield fruit in times to come:
Honoring our parents,
Doing deeds of loving kindness,
Attending the house of study punctually, morning and evening,
Providing hospitality,
Visiting the sick,
Helping the bride in need, attending the dead,
Probing the meaning of prayer,
Making peace between one person and another and between spouses,
The study of Torah is the most basic of them all.
Background explanation:
The 49-day Counting of the Omer is a 49-step process designed to inspire us, refine us, and help prepare us spiritually for receiving the Torah on Shavuot.
Some Kaballistic traditions state that each of the 7 weeks symbolize one of G-d’s seven emotional attributes and gives us an opportunity to contemplate and cultivate more of that particular attribute or virtue in our own life.
Each day of the week represents one of the 7 attributes as well, which gives us 49 ways of being in the world to consider and explore for ourselves.
The 7 emotional attributes or virtues are:
1. Chesed – Loving-kindness
2. Gevurah – Justice and discipline
3. Tiferet – Harmony, compassion
4. Netzach – Endurance
5. Hod – Humility
6. Yesod – Bonding
7. Malchut – Sovereignty, leadership
