Forty-nine days of the Omer 5777

Today is forty-nine days, which is seven weeks, of theOmer. Shechinah of Shechinah, Malchut of Malchut. Indwelling of the Indwellingof the Divine. Sovereignty of the Sovereignty of the Divine.

There are two ways to look at this momentous day. What isthe purest essence, the brightest light of Knowing, Goodness, Being within you?Are you connected to that pure Divine essence within? Can you feel It reachingout to you, hoping you will return to your truest essence?

Take a moment today to be still with your innerperfection. Know that making the purest essence of you sovereign in your lifecreates holiness that emanates throughout your interactions with the worldaround you.

Do you have trouble connecting with these words? Is ithard to see past the brokenness you see around you and within you? Then taketime to create space for your Shadow. Today is also the dark night of the soul--- you must crack open your core wound to find the vessel that can contain therevelation waiting for you.

The innerPharoah that binds you, making it difficult for you to reach beyond thematerial world, makes you mock the earnestness of my posts. That is not theother, that is you. That is the Shadow you need to embrace to become whole.Dance with your shadow, embrace the darkness, and you will see that it isobscuring your spark of the Divine. God within feeds the Shadow and the Shadownourishes your life force.

This is a blessed journey. A cycle that repeats every year. I am so blessed to be on this journey with you. I am blessed to have witnessed the ordination of rabbis and chazzans; the graduation of profound chaplains. All of them, my fellow students at the Academy of Jewish Religion, California, who today joined the ranks of alumni, are continuing the journey of being present to the souls around them and within them.

May weeach be fully present to ourselves and to those around us, today and every day.