Day 46 of the Omer

On this fourth day of the seventh week of counting the Omer, we turn our thoughts to Netzach in Malchut, Endurance in Leadership.

Our Sun is a star, and by star standards it is no big deal. There are many other stars that are similar to it. But for those of us here on Earth, it is the Sun that counts, it is the Sun that makes life possible.

One could say that the Sun is middle-aged. It is about 4.5 billion years old, and it will continue to burn hydrogen for another 5 billion years or so. In terms of a human life, or even all human life, this is a fantabulous amount of time. In terms of the evolution of all life on Earth, it is somewhat less so. But it is only because of this long existance of our star that life had time to evolve. Evolution took time, and the Sun gave it time.

It takes endurance and longevity to be a leader. It takes patience. Becoming a leader doesn't happen overnight, and remaining a leader requires maintaining ourselves through all the tough things that happen in a day or a week or a month or a year. We have to stay at it to see the fruits of our efforts, to let our "babies" evolve and change and grow. We have to hang in there and burn brightly for what might sometimes seem like a fantabulous amount of time.

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 forty-six days, which is six weeks and four days of the Omer.

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