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 9 גבורה שבגבורה Gevurah SheBiG'vurah

Might. Strength. Judgement. Boundaries. Discernment. Withholding. Structure. Discipline within Discipline, Strength. Boundaries. Structure. Judgement. Might. Withholding. Strength. Discernment.

1) In the Springtime of your Winter years, you yearn to leap forth - a gazelle skip into a land you do not know, and have asked me to show you. I will gladly show you the way, but please trust me when I say that now is a time of Holding Back. Lean into the Strength of Structure, so that your garden may blossom in its time.

2) What an arduous curriculum you give me, Dear One. The syllabus: to trust and to doubt; to believe and to question; to receive and reject; to be vulnerable and to protect. To Withhold all Judgement until the truth is revealed.

3) Who knew that Gevurah in Gevurah is another way of saying “Lighten up!” Seriously - sometimes I need to put Boundaries around my Discipline, Discernment around my Structures. Gevurah in Gevurah. Lighten up! Or maybe it’s just me…

Today may you find Strength in Discerment. May you Withhold Judgement and assume the best. May you find a lightness in the Structures that hold you together.

Omer Day 10 תפארת שבגבורה Tiferet SheBiG’vurah

Omer Day 8 חסד שבגבורה Chesed SheBiG'vurah