What is the purpose of counting 49 days? Why does God even tell us to do this in the Torah? Passover is a time when we commemorate the liberating of our people. Shavuot we celebrate God giving us the Torah and the Ten Commandments. The Omer is seven weeks of self-evaluation.
Unlike Yom Kippur, we are not atoning the sins we have committed. Instead, we look at our moral character and how it compares to the image God had in mind for humans. Each day is a moral fiber. The qualities form a decent being. During the second week, we discover discipline.
On day one, we discover the love of discipline. Now as I said last week, the same seven traits collaborate to make 49 combinations. What is the difference between discipline of love and love of discipline? Discipline of love focuses on how we stay loyal in any relationship. Love of discipline does not necessarily mean in a relationship. God gave us 613 mitzvot to respect in the Torah. Loving discipline is determination to follow them.
Next, we observe the discipline aspect of discipline. Life is not all work. After all, not even God worked a full week. Discipline should be orderly. God created us to be people, not robots. Too much discipline turns us into robotic scraps of humans. Too little discipline turns us into pigs. Although robots are worse than pigs, neither is kosher.
Discipline takes compassion. For example, a teacher needs to be strict, but compassionate. I once had a teacher who no one really liked when they had her. The next year I realized she may have been strict, but she really cared about the students and their education. It is easy to make a batch of cookies, but they are worthless if they are not sweet.
Today we observe how enduring discipline should be. About a year and a half ago, I set a list of goals. Though the path has been tough, I have kept up with those goals and continue in the direction of fulfillment of them. Athletics, academics, music, art,drama or anything else in life really takes practice. Practice comes from enduring discipline.
Too many times in life we make assumptions. Assumptions come from a large amount of discipline and a subordinate amount of humility. Sometimes we put our bad traits into another's personality. For instance, a person calls another a gossiper. The whole student body hears the accusation. The person who started the rumor was the true gossiper. Humility is a major aspect of processing productive discipline.
After that, we take the extra step to bond with others. We try to shed our discipline onto others. Being a student I understand that discipline includes honesty. When testing, the temptation to cheat is always available, but my discipline sets an example. Hopefully, potential cheaters follow the right path.
On our last day focusing on discipline, we explore the dignity it takes to have the trait. We examine how our spirit is weakened by discipline. Do we loose our childlike wonder? I feel that greed is the perfect example. Greed can destroy a person. We aim with our enduring discipline to be rich, but despite our perseverance we loose respect for others. Our dignity is destroyed and on the road another's usually is too.
In fact, the entire Omer takes discipline to count.
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