Value your religious feeling - even if you don't understand it

Hi,

"The terrible illness of this generation is not rooted in the heart, in emotion, desire or lawlessness, not in evil-doing hands or legs which rush to wickedness – although all of these are diseased and painful. The foundation of the illness is in the brain, the power of thought… Even without great analysis we see that the cause for all of the generation's ills is only in thought… 

"The inner cause which leads to all of these is the broad intellectual movement which has found a place in the minds of the working class, demanding an accounting of every store of emotion that ever existed in their hearts, whether via habit or education or heritage, a lot or a little, and they are unable to address all aspects with clarity. They imagine they have found [in themselves] only weak elements, unthinking emotion, cowardice or weakness without courage and the strength of life, and their hearts burn inside them. 

"Because they have not found a paved path to shine the light of intellect upon the most ancient emotions, those most beneficial for our nation, to elevate all of its specific elements to the height of the elevated mind… therefore, they disdain and negate [those emotions]…"

(Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, Maamar haDor (http://bit.ly/1mZFhbB))

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Day 12 of the Omer - Humble Restraint

Hi,

The Sephirah of the Omer's second week is Gevurah. Gevurah is power, expressed in restraint and boundaries.

In addition, the Sephirah of the fifth day of each Omer week is Hod. The kabbalists linked the word Hod (הוד), which means "glory", with Hodaah (הודאה), meaning "thanks" or "confession", to deduce that הוד is a glorious humility.

The combined Sephirah for Day 12 of the Omer is therefore Hod sheb'Gevurah, "humble restraint".

Successful restraint in areas like speech or self-indulgence can lead to arrogance. As Rav Kook wrote in "Maamar HaDor", "As great as the distance from the heavens to the earth, so is the distance between arrogance and the strength that results from the heavenly blessing of the wealth of the soul and the strength of its righteousness."

Further, arrogance could even convince a person that further restraint is unnecessary.

Today's Sephirah instructs us to use our humble Hod in order to maintain a productive and persistent restraint in our Gevurah.

Have a great day,
Mordechai