Soul Bank and Trust Company
Doing good does not always yield good results in the present day and age. All of our Mitzvos are stored in a bank. In the Messianic Age we will be able to cash in and fully enjoy on all the good that we do today.
Counting Days and Weeks
We are now in the midst of a period known as Sefirah, which simply means counting. In this week’s parsha, the Torah commands us to count the days, beginning with the second day of Passover—when an Omer barley offering was made in the Holy Temple— and culminating forty-nine days later, on the eve of the Festival of Shavuos.
In this commandment there are two components: One is to count the days and the other is to count the weeks. For example: If tonight’s count is twenty, we would count as follows: “Today is twenty days, which are two weeks and 6 days to the Omer.” The basis for this dual count is the Torah’s commandment to “count [up to] fifty days,” while in another verse it states: “Seven weeks shall you count.”
We know that there is nothing redundant in the Torah. Why then would it command us to do something repetitive? What is the difference between counting weeks and counting days?
Changing our Character through Counting
In truth, counting the days and the weeks is more than just an exercise in counting. Every time we do any Mitzvah, the mere act of the Mitzvah, even without intent, has the capacity to affect us spiritually. However, when one has the proper feeling to accompany the act of the Mitzvah, that effect is greater and more pronounced.
Among all of the Mitzvos we were given, there are those that are singled out by the Torah for their remarkable capacity to change our character. All those precepts that are associated with purity, such as washing of the hands, immersing in a Mikveh, belong to this category, where the explicit objective of the Mitzvah is to cleanse us and refine us.
The Mitzvah of counting the days and weeks- Sefiras Ha’omer—belongs to this category as well. Our Sages make a strong case for the purifying and edifying properties of this Mitzvah. Indeed, even the word for counting in Hebrew-Sefirah can be translated as “illuminating.” The term days and weeks are also metaphors for the various soul-components and characteristics that need to be refined and illuminated with G-dly light and enlightenment.
And while it is true that just the act of counting the days and weeks, in conformance with G-d’s will to do so, suffices to introduce G-d’s refining radiance into our lives, when we focus our attention and energy on the process of refinement, the effects are obviously magnified.
Two Stages of Refinment
Now, in the process of self-refinement, there are two stages: Stage one is where we analyze our behavior and our attitudes in a very general way. According to the teachings of Kabbalah, our characteristics can be divided into seven categories that correspond to the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuos.
For example, this week’s characteristic is called Netzach, which connotes the desire to succeed, tenacity and utter determination. This trait can get us into a lot of trouble if it is directed towards the wrong goals. In this week of counting, our primary focus is on the trait in its most general form. We survey our own personality to see if we have the tenacity and determination that we ought to have for positive matters and make sure that they are not used for evil or petty concerns.
There is a second, more advanced stage, where we direct our soul’s “laser beam” on one particular aspect of our personality within the general trait that we are interested in refining.
This focus is far more difficult and painful because it introduces us to ourselves; a part of ourselves that we didn’t know existed and that we would perhaps have been happier had we not known of its existence.
Not everyone is capable of consciously achieving this measure of refinement. For those who find it too daunting, they can find comfort in the realization that the “mere” exercise of verbally counting the days, as the commandment dictates, has the capacity to affect even the remote recesses of our personality without consciously being exposed to them.
Withdrawal of our Funds
One of the limitations that we have due to exile conditions is a limited capacity for spiritual awareness. In His infinite kindness, G-d gave us physical acts that generate these spiritual forces, without us being overwhelmed by their presence.
However, with the coming of Moshiach and the ushering in of a new-age of spiritual awareness, all of the effects that we’ve achieved now will become manifest then. The difference is that then we will appreciate and savor the beauty and joy of the effects of our Mitzvos that we do now.
All of our Mitzvos that we do, particularly, the ones that are singled out for their spiritual effect on us are stored in our “Soul’s Bank and Trust Company.” While we may benefit from the dividends now, the principle, with compounded interest, will be “withdrawn” from our accounts in the Messianic age and appreciated for their complete value.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Emor by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
