‘HOD’ on a minute

(I peeked through the window in the picture above to try to find out where the music was coming from. It was so beautiful, I heard it from my balcony a block away, had to find it.)

We all struggle to stay humble. Life humbles us, but usually when things are flowing, we forget that we are not the one in control. As I started counting the Omer from the second day of Passover, when I was outside of Israel until Shavuot, I am in awe of how today is HOD and HOD. It is Lag B Omer, the celebration of the life of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and also of Rabbi Akiva and his students, representing unity.

I am a lifetime student and love to keep learning Torah deeper. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai is the author of the Zohar, which is the foundation of the Kabbalah. Today I said to myself, HOD on a minute! The symbol of this thirty third day of the counting of the Omer is Hod and Hod. I see many interpretations about glory, courage and surrender. This is the lesson that I connect to most:

“Humility must also be examined for its genuineness. Is my humility humble? Or is it yet another expression of arrogance? Do I take too much pride in my humility? Do I flaunt it? Is it self-serving? Is my humility part of a crusade or is it genuine? Do I have expectations due to my humility? Exercise for the day: Be humble just for its own sake.” https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/276704/jewish/Omer-33.htm

As a Yoga teacher for 25 years, I have learned the concept of self actualization and meditation. You are delving into deep self knowing, which is important and beautiful. However, we have to come back down to earth and share our gifts and light with the world. Inspiring and helping others is the purpose of creation. This year there were many celebrations all around Jerusalem. I stopped by a bonfire for families last night, that was down the street from me. Today I went to the weekly Kabbalah Cafe hosted by the Chabad of Rehavia at Bagel Cafe every Friday at 9:30am. We learned about how important it is to be like Rabbi Akiva, who reached the highest levels of connection with God, but also came back to his students to guide and share.

Last year on this day I was in Tsfat with my daughter on Lag B Omer for my friend Dorothy’s wedding. Dorothy always reposts the most amazing weekly lesson from the Torah, and I want to share it below, describing how important it is to use our power for good and to be there for each other.

One of the mitzvot in this week’s Torah portion is the counting of the Omer, when we count 49 days from Passover to Shavuot, the day on which the Torah was given (Leviticus,23:15). The Vilna Gaon (18th century) writes that if a person has a good heart, the Torah will make him a better person. However, if his character is flawed, religion could have the opposite effect and make him worse. He will be able to use religion to justify anything he wants. In fact, Shavuot is known as the day on which we were given the Torah — not the day on which we received it. Receiving the Torah depends upon our striving to refine our character. In order to be able to truly relate to God, a person needs to be ethical and moral. One of the main character traits a person needs to be sensitive to before Shavuot is humility. To the extent that we let our ego get in the way, God isn’t able to penetrate our essence and we won’t be able to hear what the Almighty wants. It is no coincidence that Moses, who was the most humble person to have ever lived, had the deepest relationship with the Divine. The more we realize how much of our life is just an undeserved gift, how lucky we really are to have so much in life, the more we will merit to see the Divine in every aspect of our lives. Each day can become a day of receiving the Torah, whether or not we are standing at Mount Sinai.

Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Jawary