Day 49, June 3: The Malkhut in Malkhut

Here we are, the final day of the Omer!

First, I want to thank all of you who have participated in omerblog these past seven weeks! I have loved reading your comments and feel very grateful to be part of such a thoughtful, insightful and committed community. And to those of you who have read the blog but not posted, I really do hope that you, as well, have found this experience to be enriching and rewarding.
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It is so fitting - and beautiful - that the combination of Sefirot for the last day of the Omer count is the Malkhut in Malkhut. Malkhut, literally “sovereignty,” as we’ve learned along the way, is also known as Shekhinah, the Presence of God of which we may be, at times, aware. So we have journeyed together, day by day, step by step, from Liberation at Pesach to Revelation at Shavu’ot - tomorrow. We have tried to prepare ourselves to receive Torah at Sinai, once again.

So Malkhut in Malkhut, Shekhinah in Shekhinah, may be understood as those moments when we are intensely aware of being connected to our Source - call it God, Life, the Presence, YHVH - it doesn’t matter.

How to prepare to receive Torah on Shavu’ot, tomorrow?

One way is to seek out silence today; to quiet the mind and open the heart.

Rabbi Min Kantrowitz points to a quote from the Talmud (Megillah 18a) that says that a word is worth a sela (an ancient coin) but silence is worth two selas. And she points to this quote from Pirkei Avot (1:17):

Simeon, the son of Rabban Gamaliel said: “All my days I have grown up among the wise, and I have found nothing of better service than silence.”

SF

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