Day 7 Malchut of Hesed
In
entering exile with Am Israel, the Shekhinah embodies malchut b'chesed—sovereignty in lovingkindness.
In giving up her throne to suffer alongside her people, the Shekhinah teaches
us both grace and empathy.
—Sivan Butler-Rotholz
During Passover, we read from the Megillat Shir HaShirim, the
Scroll of the Song of Songs. The racy love epic poem is traditionally
interpreted as the love story between God and the People of Israel. The
narrator and the presumed gender roles between the loves flip back and forth
throughout the poem, making it somewhat hard to follow narratively, but all the
more beautiful poetically, especially when considering the agender or
multigendered nature of the lovers as God and an entire community. Different communities
have different traditions of when during Passover to read this, so it is not
necessarily tied to this day of the Omer, but I find it very fitting with the
Kabbalistic realm of Malchut Sheb’cheshed.
We consider what it means in our modern lives to be lovers with
God, to envision Shechinah dwelling on Earth among us, subjecting Herself to
exile and oppression along with Her children rather reigning from above. Are we
seeing the world with empathy? Do we embrace life in love? Are we doing the work
to help bring others out of Mitzrayim, out of the Narrow Places of strife,
spreading peace and justice in our wake? Are we building this world from love?
Do we recognize that none of us are free until all of us are free?
Only when each person in the Jewish community can answer all
those questions with a resounding yes can we honestly say that we have learned
the lessons of the Passover story, and that we are living in a palace of
loving-kindness. Only then are we truly intertwined with the Divine, engaged in
the sacred relationship with the Holy Blessed One. As our festival comes to an
end, let us pray at this time next year there may be freedom and dignity for
all, and may we each find ourselves in the comforting loving embrace of a holy
and just community. Amen and Shabbat Shalom.
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