Day 18 of the Omer

Netzach of Tiferet - Endurance of Harmony, these are the Divine Attributes we consider on this fourth day of the second week of counting the Omer.


Raindrops fall on the mountainside. They slide off the leaves and drip onto the forest floor. The rain continues, and the water forms rivulets that trickle into a mountain stream. The stream tumbles downward, over rocks and boulders, ever closer to the sea. It meets up with another mountain stream, and another, and then the landscape begins to flatten, and the water slows its speed, still bubbling and tumbling over rocks, but wider and slower now. More streams come together; they form rivers. Rivers meet other rivers and grow ever wider. And then at last the river meets the sea, the fresh water mixes with the salt water, until it, too becomes salty. 


The sun beats down on the oceans and the seas, water molecules evaporate and enter the air as water vapor. They are carried upward, condense to form water droplets, are carried through the atmosphere by the winds, and then fall as raindrops on the mountainside. They slide off the leaves and drip onto the forest floor. 


The cycle continues, steady, constant, never-ending, keeping the balance.


Steady, constant, keeping the balance - these are messages for us as well. We, too, go through cycles and return to places where we have been before. How changed are we when we return? Are we keeping apace with all we meet along the way? Are we tumbling over the rocks in our path, always headed toward the sea, toward the One toward which we must always be moving? Are we constant, enduring in our efforts to stay connected to the One who can keep us in balance? We are one drop of water in the sea, and yet the sea without its many drops of water would not be.


Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha'olam, asher kid-shanu b'mitzvotav, vitzivanu, al sefirat ha'omer.

Blessed are you Adonai our G!d, ruler of the universe, who sanctifies us with mitzvot and commands us regarding the counting of the Omer.


Today is eighteen days which is two weeks and four days of the Omer.