The First Sephirah of Love: Chesed

Out of a Universe of power, motion, movement, creation, Beauty, and confusion, derived from G-d’s Divine Breath, we dwell on our tiny planet Earth, wondering about our lives. Will my car get a flat tire? Will my children abandon me? How will I pay the rent? How do I look in this outfit? Should I have another snack? Will war come to our borders?

Infinite questions from infinite souls abound. That is because we dwell in the midst of Abundance: the quality of Chesed, Unconditional Love. It’s all there for us: everything we ever wanted and every answer to every question. All of the good and all of the bad in realms beyond our Earth and Solar System. When we choose to experience the Middot of Abundance for character refinement, we love everything and every person. We are wildly naive, like Blake’s children in “Songs of Innocence.” We don’t know that there are structures, some Divine and some man-made, that can limit us. We don’t know that our Love can get hurt.

Chesed is the state where we begin our Journey through the Tree of Life. It is practiced communally during the Counting of the Omer, but it can be accessed at any moment, whenever we think about it. The Divine Light of Shefa, radiating from the supernal Sephirot above into our Chesed, flows from there into the rest of our Tree. Recall this state of pure joy: abandonment of the ego and achievement of bliss. (There are specific steps to take to achieve bliss that we will cover in my blogs). Tap into your Love of the Universe. Understand that there is never-ending good and never-ending evil. Strive to share the Unconditional Goodness you have been granted by G-d.