| Today is: Friday, Iyar 12, 5772 · May 4, 2012
Omer: Day 27 - Yesod sheb'Netzach
• Count "Twenty-Eight Days to the Omer" Tonight
Tomorrow is the twenty-eighth 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 twenty-eight days, which are four weeks, 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: Malchut sheb'Netzach -- "Receptiveness in Ambition" 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
• Roman Jews Granted Privileges (1402)
On the 12th of Iyar, 1402, the Jews of Rome were granted "privileges" by Pope Boniface IX. They were given legal right to observe their Shabbat, protection from local oppressive officials, their taxes were reduced and orders were given to treat Jews as full-fledged Roman citizens.
People differ in their intellect, character, talents and sensitivities. But all are equal in the very basis of their bond with G-d: their intrinsic commitment to Him. So while every individual contributed to the making of the various components of the Sanctuary in accordance with his or her individual capacity, regarding the foundation of the Sanctuary it is said (Exodus 30:15), "The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half of a shekel..."
- The Lubavitcher Rebbe
Chitas and Rambam for today: | 
Audio: 
