This week we focus on the sephira of Netzach, the energy center of persistence and endurance. It's often thought to be located near the right hip, or the right leg. When we start out on a journey, or even up a flight of stairs, we often start with the right foot!
As we are in the second month of the very unusual kind of self-care that sheltering at home requires, many of us are starting to feel 'antsy', anxious about how long this period of relative isolation will last, eager to rejoin friends and family, longing for physical contact and uneasy about the future. Some of us ache for movement after weeks in confined spaces, or are irritable around those we love the most. How apt that this is the week of Netzach, the week which reminds us that continued, sustained energy is necessary to make the world go round.
I invite you to go on an imagined journey to some moving body of water...the banks of a babbling stream in the woods, the edge of a river approaching a rushing waterfall, a wide beach with energetic surf as the tides are changing. Netzach is like the energy that powers the movement of those waters. The water goes by the spot where we are watching, and is replaced by more water. If we listen to the subtle sounds the water makes, or observe the way the light reflects as the surface changes, it is clear that there is are continuous shifts, small transformations, unceasing variations. Netzach reminds us of this diverse continuity, the ever-changing, enduring energy of life, of nature, of spirit.
This week we can gift ourselves with appreciation of momentum, of the constant passage of time, of the ongoing beating of our hearts, and of the repeating opportunities to help others. Netzach gives us the energy to keep going, when we are too weary to think, too bored to create, or too distracted to see what is right in front of us. It's a good week to refuel, half way through the journey of the Omer, realizing that freedom, with all its choices and opportunities, can be exhausting. It's a good week to pause and enjoy the rhythms of life.
Have a loving week….
Rabbi Min
The book, Counting the Omer is a Kabbalistic meditation guide to understand the in-depth meanings of each of the forty-nine days between Pesach (Passover) and the Shavuot celebration of the revealing of the Torah. Rabbi Kantrowitz follows Kabbalistic guidelines to show how the unique values of the sephirot interact each day, giving the reader insight into the strengths of the day. Through this guide the reader is led to meditate on the mystical qualities of life and self. Available at Amazon