For the past week we have been focusing on the divine aspect of netzach through the daily counting of the Omer. Netzach can be translated as “eternity”, “victory”, or “commitment”. Any of these translations communicate the essential nature of netzach, that is: showing up. As we complete this 4th week of Sefirat HaOmer, counting the 49 days between Pesach and Shavuot, it behooves us to consider how we have and have not embodied netzach in our lives. When have I been there when someone needed me, perhaps even without being asked? When have I missed the mark and prevented myself from showing up for the people I love and care about?
In her daily devotional journey through Sefirat HaOmer, The Omer: A Counting, Rabbi Karyn Kedar introduces the 28th day with a quotation from Midrash Tanchuma on Parshat T’tzaveh: “The eye has a dark part and a light part. One can only see through the dark part.” The eyes through which we view our lives are primed for darkness. Roy F. Baumeister, a professor of social psychology at the Florida State University demonstrated as much in his seminal article, “Bad is Stronger than Good.” Therein, Baumeister and his co-authors demonstrated that we have the psychological proclivity to give more weight to bad events in our lives than good events. We experience negative events and emotions more strongly and ruminate on them longer. The only antidote to this impulse is by cultivating our capacity for presence. Only when we are able to be as present to the good in our lives as to the bad will we be able conquer the darkness each of us must navigate through towards meaning and satisfaction. This is the essential teaching of Netzach: no matter what, show up. Bad things are going to happen to us, but so will good things. We must be present to both in order to become wise. There will always be good within the bad and bad within the good, may we be present to both that we might experience life in the full spectrum of its color.
Under the guidance of our medical advisory committee, we have moved to an optional masking policy for worship. We will continue to watch the numbers and, in accordance with the CDC, will update the policy as necessary. With unmasking, it will be even more important to monitor yourself and to stay home if you are experiencing any symptoms or have been a close contact.to anyone with a confirmed case. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
