Sifirat HaOmer WEEK 7 ― MALCHUT ― SOVEREIGNTY, LEADERSHIP

בס"ד

WEEK 7 ― MALCHUT ― SOVEREIGNTY, LEADERSHIP

During the seventh and final week of counting the Omer, we examine and refine the attribute of Malchut ― nobility, sovereignty and leadership.

Sovereignty is a state of being rather than an activity. Nobility is a passive expression of human dignity that has nothing of its own except that which it receives from the other six emotions.
True leadership is the art of selflessness; it is only a reflection of a Higher will. On the other hand, Malchut manifests and actualizes the character and majesty of the human spirit. It is the very fiber of what makes us human.

Malchut is a sense of belonging. Knowing that you matter and that you make a difference.

That you have the ability to be a proficient leader in your own right. It gives you independence and confidence. A feeling of certainty and authority. When a mother lovingly cradles her child in her arms and the child's eyes meet the mother's affectionate eyes, the child receives the message: "I am wanted and needed in this world. I have a comfortable place where I will always be loved. I have nothing to fear. I feel like royalty in my heart." This is Malchut, kingship.

Typos? Not.

When I type I  make a lot of mistakes.
I struggle to type without errors.
Word processing is the best thing that ever happened to my typing.
Technology has finally caught up with my level of inaccuracy and my skill as a typist.
(I made ten! errors in the last paragraph.)

My typo of the word "praying" comes out " prying".

I sometimes feel it is a good mistake. Praying is prying myself loose from the everyday world and prying my self out of my thoughts and focusing them on Eternity and Infinity, on reality.

How many of you go through the day thinking that all of this is just an illusion?
This world is not reality, as much as it presses in on me, as much as I feel that I am dependent on the next breath of air, of my rib cage expanding again, and the food and the space I live in, the need to create order. All of it is just a lie and a test to see if  I can see, feel and experience what is beyond this world to the reality of forever.  Can I pry myself out of this space and be with Hashem?

Write about mistakes that turned out okay in the end.

Write about prying something loose.

Transformed

BS"D

Memory is selective.

Women pretty much forget what they went through in labor.  In spite of being intense, and sometimes painful, they usually look forward to having another child.

People that were obsessed with getting their homes free of chametz and perfectly clean and orderly seem to forget all about it once the holiday actually starts.  The whole family descends on them;  the grandchildren run around playing, leaving toys and clothes and books in their wake;  furniture is moved around to accommodate diners and conversations; towels and bedding are out, in disarray in every room of the house, including the living room and the housewife that would have shouted about such behavior 48 hours ago, is getting a kind of pure pleasure from this chaos, a kind of satisfaction that is only felt at this time of year, at Passover.

Passover is a holiday of transformation.

Write about any or all of the following words:

Transformation

Metamorphosis

Changes

Rebirth


Chag Semach!

Passover: what is different this time?

BS"D

In the Seder one of the major pieces is the Ma Ishtana מה ישתנה What is different about this night?

Use this as a timed writing piece:  Start every line with What is different....
Write for 5 minutes.

Insanity! Clean for Passover

BS"D


In a way that is short and user friendly, Nicole explains how to clean for Passover without going crazy.

Nicole Bem is a talented writer I met in a class given by Gila Green in Ra'anana, Israel.
Here's the link:   Spiritual Scrubbing
She also has a book out:  LET MY RV GO!

Chag Semach!

Separation

BS"D

This time of year we all spend a lot of time separating:

Is this chometz? Can I sell it?
Does this still fit? Should I give it away?
Do I want this set of glasses?
Should I repair this pair of shoes or get new ones?
Why have I been holding on to this?!
Is there is something under this-what could be under this?  Who put this here!?
I forgot I even had this.
I can't get rid of this.

As you sift through your life, your belongings and memories and junk, what comes up?
Write about sifting and separating.

Passing over Passover

BS"D

I know: who has time to write at this time of the year?!

Just writers!  I can't seem to stay away from my computer.  Call it procrastination.  Call it an obsession.
I only know that as my trash fills up, as my dust pan fills up, as I empty yet another vacuum cleaner bag, I am filled with words.
Mostly I feel gratitude ( yes! really!) to be a part of this season.  It's so easy to complain about the long hard hours of work leading up to the Seder and a full week long holiday.

What are you grateful for in the pre Passover season?

This can be just one word!

Chag Semach!

Trying: On Writing and Child Rearing

BS"D

I hear the rumble of a drill upstairs. I wonder what my neighbours are doing up there. I feel the hardness of the seat. The chair is not good for sitting long, but sit long I do in it. 

The air is cold around my legs, and I want to dress more warmly but dressing more warmly means that I have to wash my hands afterwards and then my hands will be cold, colder than they are already. 

I have a burning, cold burning like menthol on my face on the sides and the cheeks. I wonder if I'm allergic to something or if this an emotion. I know that I am afraid to write and do the projects I have set out for myself. I have a terror of being exposed but I think that this is what I was meant to do with my time right now. I very much want to start to teach writing but I'm afraid and sure that no one will want to take a class from me since I want to be paid and since I've never published a thing. I can only try.

I can only try.

I just thought again about the girl that wanted to know how do raise a girl like my daughter. 

You can't do anything about anything in the world except want it and fear G/d.

So I feared G/d, probably not enough, but enough.  Enough that what I wanted was not to disappoint Him by doing things with/to my daughter that she couldn't have a relationship with Him. I want my children, all of them, to be with G/d. To love Him and fear Him and to want Him, to want to walk with Him more than anything else that they could have in the world.

What can I say? I wanted it and G/d said "Yes, you can have these kinds of things, you can have these kinds of children."

Children don't belong to us.

They are given to us to work on ourselves and to guide them to enter a relationship with G/d. 

That's all.

This is cross posted at my other blog "The Flashlight". 

The Double Image

The Double Image