THE ROAD to JEWISH SPIRITUAL
RENEWAL TRANSFORMATION:
The Omer is a perfect time for our souls to receive a spiritual bathing. The Kabbalah teaches us that during these forty-nine days following Pesach, we need to take great care in ridding all negativity from every area of our lives. But do we truly know all what is negative in our lives? We cannot know without taking an inventory, called a chesbon (cheshbon) ha nefesh.
After Pesach, we begin anticipating Shavuot, the next 'big' holiday and in essence the conclusion of Pesach's Redemption with Shavuot's Revelation.
Pesach was a the start of redemption from the bondage of self, when we learned that we are our own Pharaoh-Jailers in our self made Mitzraim (Narrow Places). At our seders, we learn that the attribute of matzah, flat and humble, is a middot, a trait, we wish to obtain; and we desire to rid ourselves, of the chometz, the puffiness, the ego, the selfishness, in our lives.
The Omer is the work we do to obtain the Revealing Light of Pesach and Shavuot. We cleanse our souls, covered over, with unspiritual schmutz, by counting the days of the Omer until Shavuot's arrival. The Omer is counted from the second night of Pesach through the night before Shavuot.
And with counting comes accounting. Cheshbon literally means an accounting, an inventory. And Ha Nefesh means of our souls.
Over the seven weeks we have the opportunity to break open klipot (negative shells) from within our being, releasing the Light that has been trapped by our own unspiritual choices. Yes, the extraction process takes work. But the benefits of releasing the trapped sparks of Light are worth it.
We do this with a Cheshbon Ha Nefesh, a fearless, complete moral inventory. See Chapter Four of The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew for a complete, step by step, easy to understand method of doing your Chesbon ha Nefesh and having true revelation to bring you to a complete Jewish spiritual renewal and awakening. Click on http://tinyurl.com/pbl66fo
