Sephirat HaOmer -- 39th Day -- Netzach sh'b'Yesod

Seven is the number of perfection, according to the Torah.  The six days of creation culminate in the seventh day of rest.  Six years of working the land are completed by a seventh year of lying fallow.  There are seven mothers and fathers who founded the Jewish people.  In the Land of Israel, Passover and Sukkot last seven days.

When we are told to count off seven weeks of seven days, we know something important is afoot.  With the counting of the forty-nine omer (bundles of grain or corn), the nation progresses day by day from Passover to Shavuot.  Fittingly, that pinnacle moment later comes to represent the giving and receiving of the Torah.  The seven weeks of seven days represents the transformation from redemption to revelation.  It is a time of development from lowly to lofty.

How can we be in a period of both perfection AND growth?  The Kabbalists assigned a different Divine quality to each of the seven days, and overlaid those qualities with each of the seven weeks.  Each day presents a juxtaposition of two Godly characteristics.  The counting of the omer becomes a journey through the matrix of God’s qualities – all perfect, and yet still transforming.

This Shabbat will be 39^th day between Passover and Shavuot; that is, five weeks and four days.  The qualities of Netzah sh’b’Yesod represent an enduring foundation.  On this Shabbat, meditate on the ways you are grounded in your life.  How are you “like a tree planted near water, sinking [your] roots by a watercourse” (Jeremiah 16:8, from this week’s haftarah)?  In what ways are you absolutely centered and secure?  How did you get there, and what keeps you there?  From the strength of being grounded, all things are possible.