Today In Judiasim – Courtesy Chabad.org

Today’s Laws & Customs

Tomorrow is the tenth day of the Omer Count. Since, on the Jewish calendar, the day begins at nightfall of the previous evening, we count the omer for tomorrow’s date tonight, after nightfall: “Today is ten days, which are one week and three days, to the Omer.” (If you miss the count tonight, you can count the omer all day tomorrow, but without the preceding blessing).

The 49-day “Counting of the Omer” retraces our ancestors’ seven-week spiritual journey from the Exodus to Sinai. Each evening we recite a special blessing and count the days and weeks that have passed since the Omer; the 50th day is Shavuot, the festival celebrating the Giving of the Torah at Sinai.

 

Tonight’s Sefirah: Tifferet sheb’Gevurah — “Harmony in Restraint”

The teachings of Kabbalah explain that there are seven “Divine Attributes” — Sefirot — that G-d assumes through which to relate to our existence: Chessed, Gevurah, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malchut (“Love”, “Strength”, “Beauty”, “Victory”, “Splendor”, “Foundation” and “Sovereignty”). In the human being, created in the “image of G-d,” the seven sefirot are mirrored in the seven “emotional attributes” of the human soul: Kindness, Restraint, Harmony, Ambition, Humility, Connection and Receptiveness. Each of the seven attributes contain elements of all seven–i.e., “Kindness in Kindness”, “Restraint in Kindness”, “Harmony in Kindness”, etc.–making for a total of forty-nine traits. The 49-day Omer Count is thus a 49-step process of self-refinement, with each day devoted to the “rectification” and perfection of one the forty-nine “sefirot.”

Links:
How to count the Omer
The deeper significance of the Omer Count

Today in Jewish History

Two days after the Jews crossed the Red Sea (see Jewish History for the 21st of Nissan) they arrived in Marah. There they received several commandments; one of them was to observe the Shabbat. The first Shabbat was observed on the 24th of Nissan.

Links:
A Brief History of Shabbat
Shabbat Mega Site

Daily Quote

Everything that is for the sake of G-d should be of the best and most beautiful. When one builds a house of prayer, it should be more beautiful than one’s own dwelling. When one feeds the hungry, one should feed them of the best and sweetest of one’s table. When one clothes the naked, one should clothe them with the finest of one’s clothes. Whenever one designates something for a holy purpose, one should sanctify the finest of one’s possessions; as it is written (Leviticus 3:16), “All the fat is to G-d.”

– Maimonides

Daily Study