Sephirat HaOmer day 33, Lag B'Omer
REVERBERATIONS IN GLORY
- Joy Krauthammer
Dear Chevre,
As it is 18 Iyar, the 33rd day, four weeks and five days, Hod sh b'Hod, of the Sephirat HaOmer counting, Lag B'Omer, it is a day beginning now, to celebrate. We are celebrating the neshama of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, being freed on the day he died. R. Shimon bar Yochai, author of the Zohar, a book of Jewish mysticism, believed that when a person died, the soul was set free*, and that day was to be celebrated. On the day of his passing, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai instructed his disciples to mark the date as "the day of my joy."
*(At my husband, Marcel's, z'l, funeral, I remember calling out loud, "He's free, free at last." I understood and celebrated Marcel's birthday in Heaven.)
For a long time, it was difficult for me to understand and grasp the Sephirah HOD, but I am getting better at it, and last night counting double Hod, on a personal level of understanding, I express to you, the splendor of Hod, the humility / Hod, the gratitude / Hod I feel for the blessings we receive from Yah, the Compassionate One, and also for my rebbes. My praise and thankfulness reverberate as does Hod, in my song for the Eternal One. As an Artist of Life, I praise Yah through the vessels of my musical and sound healing instruments, and in my garden.
We can feel the reverberations in glory and ripples of that Love / Ahava / Tiferet, that heart beat, echoing through our cells and into the universe.
When I touch the esssence of flowers- G*d's Face, or photograph sunrise, or when I drum, and offer sound healing, I feel Rumi's words:
"When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy." (Rumi)
Hod within Hod is like being inside a giant Tibetan or crystal singing bowl or my hand-made African djembe drum.
"Hearing the songs of the angels resonate as they praise the splendor, the glory / Hod of G*d’s love." (Chellema)
"Hod holds the possibility of forms which most joyfully and appropriately contain the energy they hold, and it is this possibility that we celebrate today." (R. Ted Falcon)
I walk into my garden--my transforming organic vessel holding forms of energy for meditation and beauty, and my soul in ecstasy connecting to the Divine One delights in the splendor of the vision and fragrance of new flowers blooming this week: magnificent ruffled petalled mauve colored bearded irises in addition to my lush deep purple bearded irises, and yellow irises which smell like lemons; the new field of creamy white wood irises which again appeared after a short absence of only a couple of days before replenishing themselves--looking this morning like a swarm of happy butterflies--individual flying flowers on the long end high tips of tall stems, swaying in the breeze; the loyal yellow day lilies; the pure white sophisticated calla lilies found in a bride's bouquet; the four-foot long, ever transforming, continually amazing me, bowed over stemmed exotic blooming onions (transplanted from my rebbetzin's garden).
The succulent 'mother of thousands', red, weird umbrella-shaped lagartijos (lizards) which mamash awesomely keep rebirthing themselves from their own limbs as well as with babies, and multiply themselves even more easily if laying sideways than upright; the taking advantage, seeking, vining passion flowers in all their strange ripply haired glory just beginning to birth firm shelled egg-shaped fruit; the inspiring strong orange clivia clusters, now transplanted to where I can enjoy them more easily under the shady fig tree; and amazingly, the stately stems of brightly colored gladiolas, each flower looking like an orchid--opening two months in advance of their usual birthday; my black berries to be have their white flowers and every year are ripe and ready for plucking on my birthday; the quick darting iridescent humming birds are loving the garden.
The Garden is filled with new dahlias, zinnias, petunias, marigolds, snap dragons, purple delphiniums (that I bought for Marcel's z'l more private intimate Matzeivah / gravestone unveiling two weeks ago) and verbena; and all kinds of stems with uncommon bulb flowers that I don't recall the names of... Of course, the first of the season--huge and lavish abundant profusions of roses, are beyond description in the spring season's primary bloom, especially in their majesty--Double Delight; I swoon when I smell its fragrance. (They are in the garden for Marcel, that I created a couple years ago, by transforming lawn into dirt flower beds, and added Aviva's favorite flowers, burgundy dahlia tubers. The yellow bees (wasps) are swarming through the aromatic gentle purple lavender flowers, and allow me to take a few to share wherever I go.
There is more... and I am grateful experiencing Hod / G*d's glory.
“Kadosh kadosh kadosh Yah, Tz’va-ot m’lo hol ha-aretz k’vodo”
“Holy, holy holy – Yah, – the whole earth is filled with your glory!”
The Alenu continues:
“V’ne-emar, v’haya Adonai l’me-leh al kol ha-aretz bayom hahu yi-h’ye Adonai e-had u-sh’mo ehad.”
“On that day the Eternal will truly be One with all the shapes and forms of its glory.”
Yet there are sad losses from the 24* freeze we had in this Valley this winter. I am in HOD, in humility, grateful for the blessings, and those 'issues' which must be blessings in disguise and will somehow transform from darkness to light.
"The Eternal placed the human being in the Garden of Eden to till it and to tend it." - Genesis 2:15
BlesSings for you to co-create and enjoy G*d's glory.
Joy Krauthammer
PS
Yes, all these manifestations of HOD, blesSings from the Divine One, are flowers from Joy's garden, co-tended in love with G*d.
PHOTOS © Joy Krauthammer
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© Joy Krauthammer
Day 33, Lag B'Omer Bonfire
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