Thirty days of the Omer 5777

Today is thirty days, which is four weeks and two days, ofthe Omer. Gevurah of Hod, Judgment / Discipline in Splendor / Prophecy /Gratitude.

I'll behonest- Hod and Netzach are the hardest sephirot for me to try to writesomething original about, particularly something for seven days straight. Thisfeels like a particularly obvious permutation. Of course you don't want to walkthrough life with rose colored glasses and accept whatever happens as the willof the universe. Life is meant to be lived. In creating space for the flow ofthe universe, we must also align ourselves with a vision of our better selves,and the better world we wish to live in. We each have responsibility to keepmoving forward toward wholeness, toward our best selves.

I have no proper transition to what is really on my mind -- I had the pleasure of hearing from many learned scholars today, including Rabbi Dr. Rachel Adler and Rabbi Dr. Aryeh Cohen (and the world's best mohel, Dr. Andrew Shpall.) The topic was brit milah, and hatafat dam brit, as part of conversion. In English - that's the fact that circumcision is an integral part of Jewish conversion. It's not simply a physical act -- if one was circumcised without the ritual, a ceremony must be performed. There are a variety of interpretations of this entire process and I can't do justice to all of my thoughts right now. I will say - it was my first time hearing from a feminist theologian and I'm such a fan. The event was sponsored by the Sandra Caplan Community Bet Din.