Day 26 of the Omer

Today we reach the 26th day of the Omer, and we focus on Hod in Netzach, Humility in Endurance.


Some flowers are hard to find. Think about grasses. There are so many different kinds. Those we plant to create our lawns we keep cutting and cutting, and we never see their flowers. But the lawn grasses are just a few of the grass species of the world. Walk through a wild meadow or the remnants of the prairies that once blanketed the Midwest and West and you will see many different kinds of grasses, and if you look closely at the right time of the summer, you will see many, many tiny flowers, and some time later, myriads of seeds. These flowers don't need to be bright and big and showy to attract insects or birds to pollinate them. They let the winds sweeping across the wide open spaces do the work of pollination. And as long as we don't plow the grasses all under or dig them all up, they will survive into the next generation and the next and the next.


Where is our hidden-ness? How can our hidden-ness be our humility and our strength? How can our humility help us maintain ourselves, our families, our communities, and our planet? 


May we be as hidden as the flowers of the prairie and meadow grasses and as enduring as they have the capacity to be. May our hidden-ness help us to survive and to thrive. May our hidden-ness help us to continue doing the holy work we each must do. 

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 twenty-six days which is three weeks and five days of the Omer.