COUNTING THE OMER – This prayer is traditionally recited between sundown and sunrise of each day.
Day 24: Tiferet she b’Netzach
The Blessing (Day 24):
Baruch atah Adonai elohaynu melech ha’olam asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al sephirat ha’omer.
Blessed are you, G-D, Source of Endurance, You make us holy through your mitzvot, commanding us to count the Omer.
Hayom arba’a v’esrim yom, shehem shlosha shavuot v’shloshim yomim l’Omer.
Today is the twenty-fourth day, which makes three weeks and three days of the Omer
Week Four – Netzach (Endurance, Perserverance, Continual Energy)
Day Twenty-four: Tiferet she b’Netzach (Harmony within Endurance) – HEART to RIGHT HIP
Tiferet she b’Netzach is the state of having a balanced approach to life to assist in our ability to endure, persist, and ultimately thrive. Our life is filled with a multitude of changing circumstances that cause us to make adjustments to continue on. Having a sense of internal Harmony and Balance enables us to make these small, or large, changes in our lives and help us in our Persistence to live our lives to our best ability.
I am a very lucky woman to have found a partner in life who I love dearly, and who loves me as well. We have been together since we met in 1992. I recall those first months, and years, as a wonderful time of learning about each other, and falling in love – deeply. But, staying in love is trickier. There have been struggles, as many couples have, as our lives have changed since having children, changing jobs, getting involved in business issues that take more time than you ever imagine, etc. Not only have external factors changed in our lives, there are changes that have occurred in each of us as we have matured and learned from new experiences.
Maintaining any long-term relationship under the stresses of balancing all different demands requires frequent adjustments, and open responses to each other’s needs as well as our own. There is an understanding of our own Harmony, of what Balances ourselves as well as our relationship, and this has a direct effect on the Enduring respect and love we have for the other person. When we don’t respect what is in our deepest hearts, we cannot have a strong relationship filled with honesty and beauty.
Today, consider relationships in your own life. How do the scales in your situations function? Are they balanced? If not, is there a way to bring them into a harmonious place so that you can continue to move forward? Can a sense of this Balanced Harmony help you to making a better, lasting relationship that can Endure? If so, take a moment to reflect on ways that you can work toward this goal.
*Much of today’s writing is found in or inspired by Rabbi Min Kantrowitz’s amazing book “Counting the Omer: A Kabbalistic Meditation Guide”
Yedi'a 