Toward Harvest, part 2 (Beyond 42)

With the close of this Shabbat, we leave the week of Yesod [“foundation,” power/(pro-)creativity] in this Omer journey away from oppression. We now move into Malkhut [“sovereignty”], the final week in our journey toward Shavuot, celebration of harvest and Revelation.

Leaving Day 42 might also call to mind that ultimately, there are 42 stages in the wilderness journey (see Numbers 33), corresponding to a 42-letter of God. It will also remind some of the answer to “life, the universe, and everything” (…if only we knew the right question).

A Psalm for All the Peoples of the Planet
God, bless us with grace!
Let Your loving Face shine on us!
We want to get to know Your way
here on Earth,
Seeing how Your help is given
to every group of people.
….
Oh, how the various peoples will thank You
All of them will sing, be grateful.

The Earth will give her harvest.
Such blessings come from God, yes from our
God!
— from the Holistic Haggadah, Michael Kagan

We counted 42 on the evening of May 15. Tonight, we count….

Making the Omer Count

from On the Road to Knowing: A Journey Away from Oppression
A key element in the journey from liberation to revelation is understanding the workings of oppression, and our part in them. We cannot work effectively to end what we do not comprehend.

So this year, moving from Passover to Shavuot, I commit to learning more about how oppression works and how liberation is accomplished. I invite others to join me:

Let’s work together, as we count the Omer, to make this Omer count.

Thoughts and sources welcome.

Share this graphic to encourage others to participate.

A Meditation

Aware that we are on a journey toward knowing God — from liberation to revelation — I undertake to know more today than I did yesterday about the workings of oppression.

I bless and count [full Hebrew blessings in feminine and masculine address]:

Blessed are You, God, Ruler/Spirit of the Universe, who has sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us to count the Omer.

Today is forty-three days which are six weeks and one day in the Omer.
Hayom shloshah v-arba’im yom shehaym shishah shavuot veyom echad la-omer.

In the spirit of the Exodus, I pray for the release of all whose bodies and spirits remain captive, and pledge my own hands to help effect that liberation.