Tonight, Saturday night, April 23, 2011, we count five days of the Omer.
For detailed instructions on how to count the Omer, blessing text, omer calendar, and more information, please click here.
OMER MEDITATION
A Spiritual Guide to the Counting of the Omer
Forty-Nine Steps to Personal Refinement
Day Five: Hod of Chesed
You can often get locked in love and be unable to forgive your beloved or to bend or compromise your position. Hod introduces the aspect of humility in love; the ability to rise above yourself and forgive or give in to the one you love just for the sake of love even if you're convinced that you're right. Arrogant love is not love.
Does love humble me? Am I arrogant notwithstanding - or sometimes, because I have the capacity to love? Do I realize that the ability to love comes from a greater, higher place; from G-d? And knowing that shouldn't I enter into any love with total humility, recognizing the great privilege of being able to love. Do I realize that through love I receive more than I give? Do I appreciate the one I love for this?
Exercise for the day: Swallow your pride and reconcile with a loved one you have quarreled with.