| Today is: Friday, Nissan 25, 5771 · April 29, 2011
Omer: Day 10 - Tifferet sheb'Gevurah
• Count "Eleven Days to the Omer" Tonight
Tomorrow is the eleventh day of the Omer Count. Since, on the Jewish calendar, the day begins at nightfall of the previous evening, we count the omer for tomorrow's date tonight, after nightfall: "Today is eleven days, which are one week and four days, to the Omer." (If you miss the count tonight, you can count the omer all day tomorrow, but without the preceding blessing). The 49-day "Counting of the Omer" retraces our ancestors' seven-week spiritual journey from the Exodus to Sinai. Each evening we recite a special blessing and count the days and weeks that have passed since the Omer; the 50th day is Shavuot, the festival celebrating the Giving of the Torah at Sinai. Tonight's Sefirah: Netzach sheb'Gevurah -- "Ambition in Restraint" The teachings of Kabbalah explain that there are seven "Divine Attributes" -- Sefirot -- that G-d assumes through which to relate to our existence: Chessed, Gevurah, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malchut ("Love", "Strength", "Beauty", "Victory", "Splendor", "Foundation" and "Sovereignty"). In the human being, created in the "image of G-d," the seven sefirot are mirrored in the seven "emotional attributes" of the human soul: Kindness, Restraint, Harmony, Ambition, Humility, Connection and Receptiveness. Each of the seven attributes contain elements of all seven--i.e., "Kindness in Kindness", "Restraint in Kindness", "Harmony in Kindness", etc.--making for a total of forty-nine traits. The 49-day Omer Count is thus a 49-step process of self-refinement, with each day devoted to the "rectification" and perfection of one the forty-nine "sefirot." Links:
How to count the Omer
The deeper significance of the Omer Count
• Egyptians "Sue" For Gold & Silver (4th Century BCE)
Egyptian representatives appeared in the court of Alexander the Great, demanding that the Jews pay restitution for all the Egyptian gold and silver they took along with them during the Exodus. Geviha the son of Pesisa, a simple but wise Jew, requested the sages' permission to present a defense on behalf of the Jews. Geviha asked the Egyptians for evidence that the Jews absconded with their wealth. "The crime is clearly recorded in your Torah," the Egyptians gleefully responded. "In that case," Geviha said, "the Torah also says that 600,000 Jews were unjustly enslaved by the Egyptians for many, many years. So first let us calculate how much you owe us..." The court granted the Egyptians three days in which to prepare a response. When they were unable to do so they fled on the following day, the 25th of Nissan, and never returned. In Talmudic times, the day when the Egyptian delegation fled was celebrated as a mini-holiday. Links:
Alexander The Great
Jews Take Egyptian Wealth
Tree, o' tree, with what can I bless you? That your fruit should be sweet? Your fruit is sweet. That your shade should be plentiful? Your shade is plentiful. That a stream of water should run beneath you? Water runs beneath you. The one thing left for me to bless you is: May all the plantings from your seed be like you!
- Talmud, Taanit 5b
Chitas and Rambam for today: | 
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