43 days of Omer: Covenantal Love of Divine Presence, Chesed of Shekhinah
Today is forty-three days, which is six weeks and one day of the Omer in the year 5780. חסד שבשכינה, Chesed ShebeShechinah. Covenantal Love of Divine Presence.
Falling into the Warm Embrace of the Divine
We have entered the final week of the Omer. The taste of spiritual revelation is in the air. Shavuot is coming.
The Many Faces of God
Shekhinah, the Divine Mother, goes by another name: Malchuyot, Sovereignty. She goes in drag to spaces where women are not allowed. She pretends that sovereignty has a permanently male connotation. The gendering of the Divine and the holy language is another veil concealing and revealing aspects of truth. When we connect with a gendered God, we are connecting with the aspect of the Divine we need to cling to at this moment. We are not seeing the totality of the Ground of Being, since the Divine is not only beyond gender, She/He is beyond words. At Her core, the Shekhinah, the Presence unfolds as Ain Sof, Without End.
Complete certainty in the existence of the Divine
3,581 Californians died from COVID-19.
95,087 people in the United States died from COVID-19.
334,621 people in the world died from COVID-19.
Still, with complete certainty, I know the Divine exists.
These forty-three days I have been describing aspects of the Divine. Ways of seeing the Shekhinah, the Presence, in this world. I can pray for healing without expecting an old man in the sky to grant my wishes. I know my prayers help the healing process, just as I know I can choose to be a healing presence.
The pandemic is not a hoax. Scientists are real heroes.
I have little patience for claims that we must go back to normal. That amorphous mental health concerns are more real than documented physical health concerns. I know the world is suffering psychologically and spiritually. Going back to generic in-person encounters without a vaccine is a death sentence. Not just for people with underlying health issues; but for countless people felled by this powerful virus.
With a dose of Stoicism, I choose life. I choose mourning the loss of in-person community in the short term in order to ensure its continued existence in the long term. If I am to contemplate the Divine, surely I can accept a few months or years of disruption to the life I expected. Surely we can create new paradigms through which to navigate this new world.
Falling into the loving embrace of the Divine Presence
When I remember She is calling to me in every moment, I remember the core of me.
Knowing why I place a yarmulke on my head: my attempt to learn humility in the presence of Infinity.
May you be touched by Divine covenantal love today. I pray Her Presence pulses within you and helps you radiate warmth.
Previously on the 43rd day of the Omer
The Divine Mother Nourishes Us All, 2019 / 5779
Allowing The Divine Presence A Place In My Life, 2018 / 5778