| Today is: Monday, Iyar 29, 5772 · May 21, 2012
Omer: Day 44 - Gevurah sheb'Malchut
• Count "Forty-Five Days to the Omer" Tonight
Tomorrow is the forty-fifth 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 forty-five days, which are six weeks and three 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: Tifferet sheb'Malchut -- "Harmony in Receptiveness" 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
• Hebron Liberated (1967)
One day after Israeli forces liberated Eastern Jerusalem in the course of the Six Day War, another of the holy cities, Hebron, was also liberated. Following the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, Jordan took over the control of Hebron along with the rest of the West Bank. During this time, Israelis were not allowed to enter the West Bank. The Jewish Quarter was destroyed, Jewish cemeteries were desecrated, 58 synagogues were destroyed and an animal pen was built on the ruins of the Patriarch Abraham Synagogue.
No tribe was more prestigious than Judah and none more lowly than Dan... Said G-d: "Let the one come and be associated with the other [i.e., Betzalel from the tribe of Judah, and Ahaliav from the tribe of Dan, who were charged with the building of the Sanctuary] so that no man may despise [his fellow] or be arrogant, for both great and small are equal in G-d's sight"
- Midrash Tanchuma
Chitas and Rambam for today: | 
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