Gevurah sh’b netzach – strength within endurance – my cup overflows- (Psalm 23:5).  With discipline, right intention, and compassion, I may dwell the divine and share/spread the abundance. (Thank you to our congregant Elise Luce Kraemer for sharing your inspirational Omer art!).

In what way does your cup overflow this Shabbat?

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 chamishah v’esrim yom, shehem shloshah shavuot v’arba-ah yamim la-omer. Today is 25 days which are three weeks and 4 days of the Omer.

Wishing you a meaningful omer– Your RS Clergy

 

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

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

Last week, I had the privilege of having lunch with 2 different past presidents of our congregation, one on the occasion of his 90^th 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

For 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