CITRUS IN COMPASSION - day 18 NETZACH sh b’TIFERET

PSALMS OF MY SOUL

ספירת העומר

Kabbalistic Sephirat HaOmer

SPIRITED WITH CITRUS IN COMPASSION - day 18 NETZACH sh b’TIFERET

2 weeks and 4 days of the Counting of the Omer

What is the blemish I can repair in my internal spiritual work, in the qualities of Netzach sh b' Tiferet?

Hours ago, an ambulance arrived at my neighbor’s home; I know the seniors are not well. As I have done before, in Tiferet/compassion I crossed the street to offer my assistance. Before I left to visit, I grabbed grapefruit from my tree that I had bagged minutes earlier, in order to give away. I stopped first by the fire truck (that had arrived with the ambulance) and offered the citrus to a fireman who had remained in the truck. He motioned ‘no' to me.  I put the bag by the water hydrant and entered my friends’ home.  

Once inside, and in Netzach/endurance, I told a fireman standing outside of patient’s bedroom door that although the truck driver turned down the fruit offer, I left the grapefruit by the hydrant in case he and others wanted them.  I know the firemen really live for hours in the fire stations and go food shopping. I also know that they collect and give away fruit for the needy. I think this weekend is the weekend that happens.  As soon as the firetruck and ambulance left, I checked outside my house, and the fruit bag was gone. 

I’m glad that I had endured, even with the “No” and decided that although one fireperson had said, No, others may want the fresh organic fruit, that in Tiferet/compassion, I had offered. 

I called and left a phone message for the neighbor, in case they need my help.

~ 

I know that Netzach/persistence is a strong quality for me. 

My Tiferet/Compassion is strong also, but I know could manifest more action. 

I do regularly send out sympathy communications, and also (daily) those for Refuah Shleymah.

For Bikur Cholim, I make some hospital visits mostly in Valley where I live, and for the dying on hospice. But sometimes visits are not easy for me, and I am uncomfortable, but I get beyond that feeling and know it is the patient who is the center of the friendship, and this is not about me.

Grapefruit

Garden of Joy 

© Joy Krauthammer 

Rabbi Simon Jacobson shares:

Endurance in Compassion:  "Is my compassion enduring and consistent?  Is it reliable or whimsical?  Does it prevail among other forces in my life?  Do I have the capacity to be compassionate even when I'm busy with other activities or only when it's comfortable for me?  Am I ready to stand up and fight for another?"

Exercise for the day: In the middle of your busy day take a moment and call someone who needs a compassionate word. Defend someone who is in need of sympathy even if it's not a popular position.

Master of the universe, You have commanded us through Moses Your servant to count Sefirat Ha-Omer, in order to purify us from our evil and uncleanness. As You have written in Your Torah, "You shall count for yourselves from the day following the day of rest, from the day on which you bring the Omer as a wave-offering; [the counting] shall be for seven full weeks. Until the day following the seventh week shall you count fifty days," so that the souls of Your people Israel may be cleansed from their defilement. 

Therefore, may it be Your will, Holy One, our God and God of our fathers (and mothers), that in the merit of the Sefirat Ha-Omer which I counted today, the blemish that I have caused in the sefirah Netzach ShebeTiferes be rectified and I may be purified and sanctified with supernal holiness. May abundant bounty thereby be bestowed upon all the worlds. May it rectify our nefesh, ruach and neshamah (levels of soul) from every baseness and defect, and may it purify and sanctify us with Your supernal holiness. Amayn, selah.

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