When we take the time to deeply explore our attributes within, we are assured to come away from the experience with a new found freedom.
We live in a world that has increasingly embraced the inalienable right of every person to be free. It would seem that we are more free than we’ve ever been, conquering time and space with the internet, smart phones, and the exponential development of technology affecting every aspect of our lives. But for all this prosperity and high tech, are you more free of your inner demons and scars, of oppressive employers or pressures? Are you more free in your relationships, free of jealousy, anger or substance abuse?
The reality is we are all slaves to something – to work, or a relationship, to fear, or food, to a lack of discipline, or too much discipline, to love, or a lack of love. We just concluded the holiday of Passover, commemorating the freedom of the Hebrews from the Egyptian exile.
The Hebrew word for ‘Egypt’ used in the Torah is “Mitzrayim.” The word “Mitzrayim” also means “limitations and boundaries” thus, the esoteric teachings of the Torah speak of the slavery in “Mitzrayim” representing all forms of constraints that inhibit our true free expression. Thus, the ancient story of the exodus from Egypt can also be seen as a formula on how to overcome our limitations and boundaries and thus achieve inner freedom in our lives.
After leaving Egypt the Jewish people traversed the desert for 49 days until they were ready to reached Mount Sinai, the zenith of the exodus.
Enslavement is a habit that needs to be broken and transformed over an extended period of time – a time that is refining and healing. The 49-day process in this journey, can be seen as the keys to freedom.
Kabbalistic teachings explain that there are seven basic impulses in the heart of humans:
1. Chessed (love, benevolence)
2. Gevurah (restraint, awe, fear)
3. Tiferet (compassion, harmony)
4. Netzach (ambition, competitiveness, persistence)
5. Hod (humility, devotion, surrender)
6. Yesod (communicatively, connectedness)
7. Malchut (regality, receptiveness, expression).
Furthermore, since a fully functional emotion is multidimensional, it must include within itself a blend of all other seven attributes (e.g., chessed of chessed, gevurah of chessed, tiferet of chessed). Thus, the seven week period, which represent these emotional attributes, further divide into seven days making up the 49 days.
The first week (which began this year March 27) was an internal exploration on the attribute of “loving kindness”. Love is a single most powerful and necessary component in life. Love is the origin and foundation of all human interactions. It is both giving and receiving. It allows us to reach above and beyond ourselves; to experience another person and to allow that person to experience us. It is the tool by which we learn to experience the highest reality – G-d.
The week we are now in is when we explore the attribute of “Justice and discipline.” If love is the bedrock of human expression, discipline is the channel through which we express love. It gives our life and love direction and focus. Take a laser beam: Its potency lies in the focus and concentration of light in one direction rather than fragmented light beams dispersed in all different directions.
Gevurah - discipline and measure - concentrates and directs our efforts, our love in the proper directions. Another aspect of gevurah is - respect and awe. Healthy love requires respect for the one you love.
When we are exploring the attribute of Justice and discipline, we ask ourselves some important questions;
1. When I judge and criticize another, is it in any way tinged with my own contempt and irritation?
2. Is there any hidden satisfaction in the other person’s failure?
3. Is my judgment coming from love?
When we take the time to deeply explore our attributes within, we are assured to come away from the experience with a newfound freedom.
Adopted from “A Spiritual Guide to the Counting of the Omer -- Forty-Nine Steps to Personal Refinement” by Rabbi Simon Jacobson.