Emor
Reaching Perfection
This week’s parasha is the source of the mitzvah of sefirat ha’omer, the counting of the omer, which we are currently in the process of counting. The days of sefira are days in which we can “acquire” the Torah and reach perfection, as we come closer and closer to the giving of the Torah. This is evident in a number of ways.
We find that the sefira spans seven weeks, each of which is represented with one of the ten sefirot (characteristics of divine influence): chesed, gevura, tiferet, netzach, hod, yesod, and malchut; each one also signifying a different spiritual part of the characteristics of a person. Additionally, each day is also unique in what it can achieve in the spiritual growth of a person, and has its own sefira too; the result of which is that when Shavuot comes around, one can attain a high level of human perfection. Although these ideas are certainly very lofty, they can be understood somewhat on a more simplistic level. For example, the sefira of chesed in its simplest form means to do acts of kindness for our fellow Jew, gevura is when we display might in the service of Hashem, and tiferet represents honesty. As we mentioned, every week is divided into seven parts, and this too can be understood on a more simple level. For example, there can be an instance where chesed and gevura must work together, like when giving charity to the poor. The act of giving requires compassion, but also strength to overcome the desire to keep one’s money for oneself. This can be achieved when one convinces oneself that this person truly needs the money and that there is no-one else who can help him.
In every generation, Hakdosh Baruch Hu shines a divine light that once again allows a person to escape from his own personal slavery to freedom. This liberation from the 49 levels of tum’ah towards kabbalat haTorah requires planning and effort. The days of sefira are the days when this “project” comes to fruition.
The sefer Ohr Gedalyahu brings an example of such an achievement. According to many holy sources, the 48 days of the sefira are represented by one of the 48 ways in which the Torah can be acquired, as listed in the sixth perek of pirkei avot. Consequently, lag ba’omer, which will be this week, corresponds to the trait “love rebuke”, in other words, acknowledge your faults. For this reason, reckons the Ohr Gedalyahu, the talmidim of R’ Akiva stopped dying on lag ba’omer, because on this day they finally perfected that which was lacking, and recognised their faults; thus, the evil decree ceased.
Additionally, it has been noted that the minhag around the world is to read the six chapters of pirkei avot during the sefira, one for each Shabbat, to further inspire us to perfect our middot, in the light of the holy qwords of our Sages of blessed memory.
May all these activities strengthen us towards becoming better people and reaching true perfection in the service of Hashem.
שבת שלום ומבורך,
Rabbi Gad Bouskila
