hazzan Diana Brewer was ordained through the aleph ordination program. she leads prayer services regularly at the jewish community of amherst, and is on the staff of the davvenen leadership training institute.

Omer Day 45 תפארת שבמלכות Tiferet SheBeMalchut

Beauty. Balance. Heart. Harmony. Compassion within Reality. Actualization. Selfitude. Shechina. Sovereignty.

Once upon a time, I had a surprisingly negative outlook on life. As I mentioned in another recent post, I thought that people who looked happy were either faking it or totally divorced from Reality. I referred to people who looked dark and troubled as “Real people.”

As you know, or can guess, much has happened since that time. I have learned to see a Beauty in Reality that I didn’t believe in during those darker years. It does not exempt me from the hardship of life, from difficult circumstances, difficult feelings, all the stuff that makes life life. There is a Balance that becomes possible when I don’t focus entirely in one direction or the other.

When I allow this type of Harmony to flow inside my Reality, it enables a greater Actualization of my Selfitude. I have a broader palate with which to paint a more varied and Beautiful emotional landscape.

This day, may we take the good with the bad, the ups with the downs, the grace with the awkwardness. May we see Beauty where before we saw decay. May we find Harmony within the endlessly variable verities of Reality.

Omer Day 46 נצח שבמלכות Netzach SheBeMalchut

Omer Day 44 גבורה שבמלכות Gevurah SheBeMalchut