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The Day of Hod Shebeyesod

the.guard Tuesday, 19 May 2020
The Day of Hod Shebeyesod

A member wrote to us today:

Today is hod shebeyesod in the sefira count. I won't pretend I understand what that really means. But it resonated for me, on my simple level.

Yesod refers to building the foundation of our lives: kedushas habris. And Hod is hodaah, expressing our gratitude to Hashem for all we have.

Hod shebeyesod is perhaps about coming to kedusha through gratitude. (It is known that gratitude is a foundation of recovery from addiction).

So, in a way I have never done before, I thank You Hashem!

Thank You for being with me during these times. For keeping me (and the rest of my family) healthy and well despite the dangers of the virus. Thank You for giving me a good place to live, nice food to eat, enough money to get by. Family to support me and friends to connect with. Places to go, stimulating things to keep me occupied. Thank You for giving me new strength and chizuk in kedusha through GYE and in other ways. You give me everything I need, in every area of life! Even in the tough areas, if I look well enough I realize I need them too. They force me to grow and to bring myself closer to You.

How can I not go around not feeling joyful when I am so enveloped in Your kindness? And with all You do for me, knowing I am being carried by You every moment - how can I take this body and use it against You? Even as I fell You kept on carrying me onward! But... my body is so heavy and forgetful and my yetzer so full of wily tricks and sheker. So I beg You: please help me to live with true, deep awareness of Your kindness. Even if I fail to appreciate them fully, even though I do not deserve them, please keep showering me with all Your blessings. Send me the courage to surrender my 'need' to act out. Guide me to the actions I need to keep myself holy and to spiritual ways of filling myself up. And above all: please help me to remember that honestly, I can't do it without You.

May this prayer be not just for me but for all my fellow members and partners on GYE. Please bless all the good yidden out there who just want to do Your will but can sometimes find it so hard. Help us feel Your goodness and Your unfailing love. Lift us up to kedusha so that we rise above the smallness of the yetzer hara. Bring us close, bring us home.

Thank You.