Shavuot is associated with Gevurah (strict justice, judgment, discipline, self-control, Yitzchak) in the counting of the yom tovim as we find it in The Ten S’firot in Sacred Time available from Aleph.  Blessings to you on this special day.  Gabbai Seth Fishman, BLOG Editor

And On Shavuot
excerpt from Yishmiru Daat
by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

And on Shavuot, the Sefirah of Binah is illuminated in 50 portals within the attribute of the Gevurah giving Torah - from the mouth of the Gevurah / Almighty we heard, (Eruvin 54b), b’Tzimtzum / with contraction of the divine light from the central point of perfection outwards onto stone tablets upon which were tzamzem / condensed ten commandments, (tanchuma vayakhel 7), and tzamtzem / condensed His Shechina / in-dwelling between the two staves of the ark.  And also the expression “atzeret,” (meaning both concluding feast, i.e. Shavuot and also he squeezed), points to the tzimtzum / contraction and the limiting of this yom tov to only one day - and two in the diaspora - (and there are hidden expansions [on this day] up to a full week’s worth, but you will have to look to find them).  And we who stood together, (Exodus 19:17, and cf. Yalkut Shimoni, B’reishit chapter 22 remez 101), at the foot of the mountain, like Yitzchak, our father, in his bindings, we with our cautions, (Shabbos 88:) and our souls flew out of our bodies with each and every utterance.  And they are united with the souls of King David may he rest in peace, and with the Baal Shem tov, his soul is in Eden, and with the ger tzedek of Vilna, may God avenge his murder, having publicly sanctified God’s name, whose souls were drawn back on Shavuot into the body of the King with the kiss of Hir mouth, May S/He be blessed.

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In his lecture on zman / time from the Yishmiru Daat dvd available from Aleph, Reb Zalman says:

“We don’t have the sense of noticing the tides of time anymore, because what has happened is that commodity time has been taken over….  The sense we once had that we were working so we could have ‘being time’ is gone.” 

Chaplain Gloria Krasno helps us to do the work needed for this season, to help us to focus on counting the Omer and the associated combinations of Sefirot.  Here’s her mediations for Malchut.  May she be blessed for her holy work.  Gabbai Seth Fishman, BLOG Editor

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Only two weeks left.  Thank you Chaplain Gloria!  Gabbai Seth Fishman, BLOG Editor

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Many thanks to Gloria Krasno!  Have a wonderful Lag BaOmer, y’all.  Gabbai Seth Fishman, BLOG Editor

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Here’s a translation of Reb Zalman’s writings on Lag BaOmer from his Sefer Yishmiru Da-at.  The original text in Hebrew and English plus some background are provided below.  Gabbai Seth Fishman, BLOG Editor

Lag BaOmer
excerpt from Yishmiru Daat
by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

Lag baOmer - is Hod sheb’Hod / splendor of splendor (in the accounting of Sefirah). 

(Genesis 32:25) “And he touched the hollow of his thigh and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was sprained, etc.,” which was [the thigh of] the left leg, Hod / splendor, (cf., Pardes Rimonim Shaar 17 ch. 1). 

And the one who wrestled, i.e., Esau’s guardian angel, had not wanted Jacob, (who is Tiferet / majestic beauty, presence, mercy), to feel his own beauty (yafyo), and his attack was intended to diminish his esteem, as though he had no Hod / splendor whatsoever.  And one who is smitten like this may think that s/he has no chen  / grace, Hod  / splendor or yofi / beauty, but rather, s/he may think s/he is ugly. 

However, when a perceived external reality appears to indicate some turn for the worse in one’s grace, one may nonetheless feel, at core, that one is in Hod sheb’Hod  / splendor of splendors; one may yet feel this at a time when one’s inside, innermost places cannot access a shemen sasson / oil of gladness meant to revitalize oneself when one loses one’s sense of chen / grace.  For this reason, we pray when we count the Omer on Lag BaOmer:  “May it be Your will… that in the merit of the Omer count that I have counted today, that there be corrected whatever blemish I have caused in the Sefirah Hod she-b’Hod,” i.e. those times when within one’s innermost places one feels a sense of ugliness.

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