Blessing
Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the counting of the Omer.
Barukh atah, A-donai E-loheinu, Melekh Ha-ʿolam, asher qid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu ʿal S’firat Ha-ʿomer.
Count
Today is day six of the Omer.
Meditation
Exodus 1:22
22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”
Devotional
Seeing his failure Pharaoh called upon all his people to throw the children into the river. He enlists them in genocide. This is the scapegoat mechanism as work. The formation of the lynch mob. This was a purge. Who do we have the right to kill? No one. How do we evaluate what is right and wrong? Stop and answer this question: “Does what I’m being told to do harm or hurt someone?” Does our religion, theology and belief system permit us to kill others? If so, stop and question the idea of God you have received. God is not violent. Jesus said, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:27-30). Question the “God” others make for you. Question the “God” we make in our heads. Remember the “god” that the people of Israel asked Aaron to make while Moses was at the top of Mt Sinai meeting and learning from the true God who delivered them from slavery.