This year I am watching the dance of the sefirot through the Omer counting. As we arrive at the week of Yesod [foundation], the attributes we’ve encountered all come together once again. They are like circle dancers drawing together toward the center of the circle. They form the foundation on which the world, as we know it, is built. Every characteristic of the previous sefirot is now fully engaged in the dance. It becomes a single flowing movement toward manifestation… but that is next week.
First we live in the promise. We experience the process of integration as the architect’s final blueprint comes together. A blueprint is the perfect intention of the one who has imagined and designed the final product. It has not yet gone through the tweaking and sometimes unintended error that happens when it is placed in the hands of the builder.
Yesod as Generativity
In our bodies, Yesod is at the genitals and womb. It is the place of generativity. The Cambridge dictionary defines that word as: “the quality of being able to produce or create something new.” Further, the dictionary suggests this sentence to illustrate the meaning of the word: “The device has no ‘generativity’ – it does not invite or enable users to tinker with it, to improve upon it, to adapt it to their particular needs.”
We might then understand that the perfect blueprint in Yesod is still available for further tinkering. From the perspective of the Creator/God as architect, we see the trust placed in Creation and all of us, to perfect the plan; we are the tinkerers, the ones who will adapt the original idea to our particular needs.
Yesod as Trust
I have always taught that trust is one of the most important qualities in Yesod. Faith, faithfulness, and trust are essential to the healthy expression of Yesod, in physical intimacy as well as in our relationship with all of Creation. We either recognize our interdependence with every aspect of this created world, and hold it sacred, or we use its precious resources for our own needs, heedless of the harm we might be causing.
Yesod is the channel to the real, the last chance for perfection. I want to be present to that possibility this week, even as I know that perfection is simply not real. This week comes with the gift of imagining what might be, or what I wish things could be.
May we take this one week to bear witness to the perfection of our world, to weave in and out with the dancing attributes and feel that we are an essential part of the whole, so that we might be inspired to live more harmoniously with and within this blessed creation.
Yesod Practices
Two practices to try throughout the week:
- Take a walk in nature and bless each tree, plant, critter with: “How perfect you are!”
- Soften your gaze when sitting in conversation with a friend or loved one; see the light that shines through their eyes and know they are perfect in that moment
Rabbi Nadya Gross, MA
Rabbi Nadya is Co-Founder and Chief Programming Officer of Yerusha, a spiritual director, and congregational leader. She transmits the mystical teachings passed down from her grandmother in a two-year wisdom school: Secrets My Grandmother Told Me, serves on the faculty of Yerusha’s Sage-ing® Legacy Program, and the Anamcara Project of the Sacred Art of Living Center for Spiritual Formation. She is the co-author, with Rabbi Malka Drucker, of Embracing Wisdom: Soaring in the Second Half of Life.
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