Today is ten days, which are one week and three days of the Omer. Tiferet of Gevurah: The Six and Five of Wands.

Tiferet holds the Dynamic Tension between Chesed and Gevurah, creating a Balance that is an expression of Beauty. It is the Sephira of the Open Heart, able to feel all the love and all the pain that is the expansion and contraction of Chesed and Gevurah—and to feel all this with Compassion for the tension of this duality.

In fact, this expansion and contraction is what a heart does every second, it is the rhythm of life itself. This rhythm also characterizes each breath we take, expanding as we breathe in, and contracting as we breathe out.

How does Tiferet express itself through Gevurah, and how do I see this expression in today’s pair of images?

In the Six of Wands there is a man who has been lifted above the rest, who has been recognized as a leader by those who surround him. Perhaps he has been chosen for this position because he is the one who is able to hold the Dynamic Tension of the Balance between Chesed and Gevurah, which would make him the natural selection for leadership. He brings order to the disorganization we see in the Five of Wands. But it’s important to remember that leadership is a position of service, not a position of superiority. If the man on the horse begins to feel above the others, then he has lost touch with himself and his community.

I noted last week that one of the customs of the Omer period is to read a chapter from the Pirke Avot, The Wisdom of Our Ancestors, each week on Shabbat. And today there is a teaching of Rabban Gamliel from Chapter 2 that feels appropriate for this reading of the Six of Wands:

“And those who labor in public affairs should work for the community and for the sake of Heaven rather than for their own power.”

Pirke Avot, 2:2

 Here, leadership is understood as working for the community. Of course, taking on such a position of leadership calls for personal Sacrifice, and sacrifice is also one of the qualities of Tiferet.

This gives us a way to discern whether those who are leaders are working for the sake of the people or for themselves. Looking at how Senator from Georgia, Kelly Loeffler, or the Senator from North Carolina, Richard Burr, sold stocks at a profit after being briefed about the danger to the country of COVID-19. They took millions in profits all the while downplaying the danger of the pandemic to our lives and economy. This tells us right away that these are leaders who are in it for their own wealth and power, and are not working for the community.

But that’s pointing at others. And the point of counting the Omer is refinement of one’s own character defects. So one question I need to ask myself is when I take a position of leadership in a group, do I use it as an opportunity to serve or for self-aggrandizement?

Now one of the things I do in my book is I give key words for each of the Sephirot, so that readers can create their own permutations for each day, finding the one that works best for where they are and they feel applies in some way to the images on the cards. A few of today’s permutations include:

Compassion within Judgement

Beauty within Structure

Balance within Power

Truth within Discernment

Compassion within Discipline

Open-heartedness within Boundaries

Dynamic Equilibrium within Organization

You can create more permutations from these combinations, as well as from the other key words for these Sephirot listed in my book, Tarot and the Gates of Light.

As I try to live within the discipline of social distancing, can I have compassion for myself? As I try to live within the discipline of keeping up my daily practices, can I have compassion for myself when I slip instead of falling into the self-judgment and criticism that is a negative expression of Gevurah? As I walk down the street or enter a store can I keep my boundaries secure and still stay open-hearted to everyone else?

These are some of the questions that come up for me today. What questions arise for you?