Counting the Omer: Jerusalem of Gold

Counting the Omer today with inspiration from Naomi Shemer as we anticipate Yom Hazikaron (Israeli Memorial Day) Sunday evening and Yom Ha-atzme-ut (Israeli Independence Day) Monday evening.

The mountain air is clear as water 
The scent of pines around 
Is carried on the breeze of twilight, 
And tinkling bells resound. 

The trees and stones there softly slumber, 
A dream enfolds them all. 
So solitary lies the city, 
And at its heart — a wall.
Continue reading

Counting the Omer: Approaching Israel Independence Day

RRJ-at-Kotel-200x200As, this Shabbat, we anticipate Tuesday’s celebration of Yom Ha-atzme-ut, Israel Independence Day, we are grateful for Israel and we pray for the day when we will have peace with our neighbors. Reform Movement VP Rabbi Jonah Pesner, now in Israel with their Board, writes of the growing strength and spiritual power of our progressive movement in Israel, the equality work of the Women of the Wall, and the rich arts and culture.  Thank you, Reform leaders, for strengthening our ties with Israel.  As we count the omer today, let us consider our own connection with Israel.Continue reading

Counting the Omer: Wake Up to Your Life

Photo (6)

Where is this world do you find beauty? For this week of focus on beauty, we celebrate the work of our congregant, Elise Kraemer, who is creating art for her counting of the Omer. Focusing on Chesed sh’b Tiferet – love within beauty – Elise includes the text: “wake up to your life, beauty in sorrow, pain and joy, full catastrophe.”Continue reading

Counting the Omer: Darkness to Light

These words from Rabbi Kuhn shine a light on the striving we do during the omer and every day, to bring our characters to the next level of goodness:  

One of the most beautiful ideas of Judaism is that we should strive to improve ourselves every day.  This is the purpose of the High Holy Days, during which we take the time to examine our lives and consider what we have done wrong in the past year, and what we can do to become better people in the coming year.Continue reading

Counting the Omer: Counting Our Blessings

Last week, I had the privilege of having lunch with 2 different past presidents of our congregation, one on the occasion of his 90th birthday, and the other one younger than that.  But each one told me the same thing.  They each said they feel so blessed to have had such a good and meaningful life, and that each day they get up and thank God for their blessings.  They count each day as precious.  This is the real meaning of counting the omer.  Let us treasure the time we have and resolve to use it well, counting each day as a spiritual journey toward blessing.  –Rabbi Bill KuhnContinue reading

Counting the Omer: Courage Over Fear

crossing_of_red_sea___pastels_by_pawlis-d4b3hspWe all feel fear.  The question is, do we act on it?  When, in their escape from slavery, the Israelites are stuck between the Sea of Reeds before them and the Egyptian chariots behind them, what’s Moses’ message?  Don’t be afraid. Rabbi Alan Lew, of blessed memory, notes that perhaps the Israelites didn’t really need to be afraid: The Pharaoh sent 600 chariots, while the Israelites numbered more than a million.  Why would such an enormous group be afraid of an army of so few?  His answer is that they are not responding to what was really there, nor even to what they saw.  Rather they were responding to a phantom.  They were responding to a fear-inducing product of their own imagination.  So when Moses says “Don’t be afraid” he means “don’t panic” or “move forward” or “Don’t spend your life anxious about the things that seem scary or the demons you imagine.”  Continue reading

Counting the Omer: Out of the Closet

 

https://www.ted.com/talks/geena_rocero_why_i_must_come_out

For the 12th day of the omer in this week of givurah, strength, the courage of one fashion model to speak her truth.

Baruch Ata Adonai, Elohenu Melech ha-olam asher kidishanu b’mitzvotav vitzivanu al s’firat ha’omer.  Blessed are You, Eternal our God, Ruler of the universe, who makes us holy with sacred actions and enjoins us to count the omer.

Hayom shenayim asar yom, shehem shavuah echad vachamishah yamim, la-omer.  Today is 12 days which is one week and 5 days of the Omer.

Wishing you a meaningful omer– Your RS Clergy

Counting the Omer: Voice

Is it ok to be angry?  Jewish tradition says yes–anger is valuable when it drives us to stand against injustice.  For today’s omer counting and this week’s focus on might, givurah, we celebrate these girls who raise their voices for the purpose of justice.

Baruch Ata Adonai, Elohenu Melech ha-olam asher kidishanu b’mitzvotav vitzivanu al s’firat ha’omer.  Blessed are You, Eternal our God, Ruler of the universe, who makes us holy with sacred actions and enjoins us to count the omer.

Hayom achad asar yom, shehem shavuah echad v’arba-ah yamim, la-omer.  Today is 11 days which is one week and 4 days of the Omer.

Wishing you a meaningful omer– Your RS Clergy

Counting the Omer: Listening

Sometimes, the mitzvah is just to listen.  For this week’s omer counting focused on strength, in reverence for next week’s observance of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, we give thanks for the many survivors who allow us to listen to them.  This Sunday (10:15 am at RS), we’ll welcome survivor Ralph Franklin to tell us his story.

Baruch Ata Adonai, Elohenu Melech ha-olam asher kidishanu b’mitzvotav vitzivanu al s’firat ha’omer.  Blessed are You, Eternal our God, Ruler of the universe, who makes us holy with sacred actions and enjoins us to count the omer.

Hayom asarah yamim, shehem shavuah echad, ushlosha yamim la-omer.  Today is 10 days which are one week and 3 days of the Omer.

Wishing you a meaningful omer– Your RS Clergy

Counting the Omer: From Self to Soul

passing throughFor our 9th day of counting the omer, and our week focused on givurah, “strength,” we turn to the inspiring words that Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell delivered this Shabbat, when we marked her retirement from the Union for Reform Judaism.

“From Self to Soul: Passover, Passages, Passing through, and Counting”

We are here tonight, this Friday, April 18th, 18 Nisan 5774. On Monday night, many of us gathered around seder tables, and, with others, we engaged in a very ancient ritual of remembering and recounting stories from our past, both our collective past and some of our own journeys. We retold how the passages of our lives have shaped us, burnished us, formed us.Continue reading