Day 38 of the Omer

On this third day of the sixth week of the Omer we focus on Tiferet in Y'sod, Harmony in Bonding.

Biomes are large geographical areas of the world, each with distinctive plants and animals that are adapted to the particular climate and geography of the area. Forest biomes include tropical forests, temperate forests, and boreal forests, also known as the taiga.

I love these words: boreal, taiga. Boreal – of or pertaining to the north. Taiga, from the Russian. Both words carry a sense of mystery as I think of those vast cold wildernesses that stretch across the north – Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia, and Siberia; forests of pine, fir, and spruce, and accompanying moose, bear, wolves, deer, hawks, and other animals.

The northeastern United States where I live now was once temperate forest. The forest returns where farmland is left fallow. Much of the Midwest where I grew up was once prairie. And so it is from place to place – a certain type of ecosystem is, or was, predominant, before the land was tilled and subdivided and cross-sectioned by highways.

Harmony in Bonding. Every biome contains the plants and animals and other organisms that are suited to the conditions of the area, and as long as it is undisturbed, a balance and a harmony is maintained over time among all those living things.

In our lives, we, too, work to maintain harmony and balance between ourselves and those around us. Sometimes we find ourselves swinging too far in one direction, and circumstances may soon force us to swing back toward a middle ground that keeps us more in balance. We find at times that we cannot do everything. We are finite. Just as any one spot on Earth is home to only one biome, so we, too, can be home only to a limited number of relationships, in order to maintain ourselves in balance.

Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha'olam, asher kid-shanu b'mitzvotav, vitzivanu, al sefirat ha'omer.

Blessed are you Adonai our G!d, ruler of the universe, who sanctifies us with mitzvot and commands us regarding the counting of the Omer.

Today is thirty-eight days which is five weeks and three days of the Omer.

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