And here we are.

( My takeaways from week six )

( Week Seven: Malchut and Shechina - Immanence, Manifestation, Divine Presence, Inspiration, Awe )

At the end of seven weeks, you have done whatever you could do in seven weeks. It both was and was not enough.

The 50th day is the festival. Jewish holidays tend to be a mix of the somber and the uplifting, and Election Day will undoubtedly be both those things. Vote, if you can and you haven't already; help others vote; and as the polls close and the results trickle in, take care of yourself and your loved ones. Remember that on any day, whenever you need to, you can start counting again, building your own pattern and your own habit and your own way of getting from where you are to where you will be.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey. It's been genuinely therapeutic and invigorating for me, and I hope for you as well. <3

I'm very sorry for the lateness of this post; there's been some good but very urgent and intense stuff happening here and I had no brain at all for it. I'm still not sure I have brain for it tonight, but I know a few people have been counting along and I didn't want to leave you hanging any longer.

( My takeaways from week five )

( Week Six: Yesod - Foundation, Motivation, History, Vitality, Creation )

At the end of this week, you have taken six concrete actions for social change. You've worked on letting go of the urge to change the past and taken responsibility for repairing past wrongs. You've actively created some good things in the present. And you've taken time to look back over the past six weeks of thinking and planning and acting and appreciate what you've done. Even if you only made a single donation or sent a single postcard, that's a tangible accomplishment that could do some real good.

The seventh and final week is malchut/Shechina, the divine made real.

I've completed the post for hod, just in time. I'm glad I took the time to do it right. I think the entries for tonight and tomorrow night are really powerful and useful. I hope they are for all of you too.

( My takeaways from week four )

( Week Five: Hod - Presence, the Moment, Ritual, Thought, Acceptance )

This post currently ends on day 33 rather than going through to day 35, because one of the actions I'm taking to manifest a healthier future is trying to go to bed earlier even when it means leaving something undone. I'll come back to complete it tomorrow. Complete!

At the end of this week, you have taken three concrete actions for social change, and one action to sustain and preserve what's already good in the world. You've loved yourself as you are and made a plan for being who you want to be. You've supported yourself through anxiety, and hopefully out the other side. You've built some rituals and habits, extending now into the future. And you've expanded your idea of what taking positive action looks like. I hope this grounding in the present is helping with all that stress about the future.

Next week is yesod: foundation, motivation, history, and vitality.

( My personal stumbling block and anchor from week three )

As previously mentioned, netzach begins a new three-week group that deals with the past, present, and future—except in the reverse order, with the future coming first.

( Week Four: Netzach - Endurance, Tenacity, Vision, Victory, Eternity )

At the end of this week, you have taken three concrete actions for social change. You've crafted a vision of the future, and refined it. You've crafted a vision of your own future self and found ways to work toward that future self's sense of accomplishment. You've set up a schedule of actions so you can build a habit of acting. And you've gotten some large-scale perspective to pull you out of navel-gazing and remind you of wonder.

Next week we turn to hod, presence and the present.

( My personal budget and motivations from week two )

The discipline of gevurah has channeled the intense light of chesed, and that brings us to the week of tiferet.

( Week Three: Tiferet - Balance, Harmony, Truth, Focus )

At the end of this week, you have taken three concrete actions for social change. You've renewed your commitment, given yourself an anchor for when you feel adrift, and made a plan for moving a stumbling block out of your path. You've acknowledged truths about yourself and about the past and present. And you've built or renewed a relationship that supports your action or is itself an action, a tiny way that you've made the world better than it was.

Next week begins another three-week group: netzach, looking up and out at the future; hod, centering ourselves in the present; and yesod, grounding ourselves in the past. The first of these is netzach, the week of eternity, vision, endurance, and the long term.

Thanks for all the supportive comments on my last post. I'm glad to have such good company on this journey.

I realized that I didn't include a blessing for counting each night. Here's the one I'm using, in English because I don't know enough Hebrew to translate it: "Here I am, ready and prepared to take action toward building a nation governed by just and righteous laws. I undertake this journey to Election Day in homage to the ancient journey from liberation to revelation, and with the intention to manifest both liberation and revelation in this time. Blessed are You, Holy One, who show Your love for Your people Yisrael through the gifts of Torah, mitzvot, discipline, and law. Today is the [] day of mishpatim, making [] weeks and [] days of mishpatim." (Or you can reverse the order of days and count: "Today is [] days until Election Day, making [] weeks and [] days until Election Day.")

( My personal causes, roles, and actions from week one ) I feel like I'm already starting to see how these choices and self-understandings can interact, which makes me feel very empowered.

When I'm feeling all revved up and excited, I often overextend myself. Fortunately, the characteristic of week two is gevurah.

( Week Two: Gevurah - Strength, Judgment, Discipline, Discernment, Boundaries )

At the end of this week, you have taken three concrete actions for social change. You've also examined your capabilities and limitations, refined your sense of what's possible, budgeted your resources, and nudged yourself toward doing something challenging. And you've given yourself space to be who you are, a compassionate understanding of your motivations, and a vision of a better future.

Next week is tiferet, the week of balance, beauty, mercy, and truth, which channels the abundance of chesed through the judicious constraints of gevurah to create a steady, sustainable flow of energy.

Last year, Rabbi Miriam asked us to think of a phrase or idea to carry into the year, and the words "Help me let go" came into my head and proved to be very useful through the year. Now I'm seeking a touchstone for 5781. I decided to let the Rosh Hashanah liturgy speak to me, and what stuck in my head wasn't actually from the holiday liturgy but from the Ahavat Olam, a prayer said at every evening service.

Ahavat olam beit Yisrael am'cha ahavta;
Torah umitzvot, chukim umishpatim otanu limadta.

Our machzor, Mishkan T'filah, translates this poetically, and it's the translation that caught my eye:

Love beyond all space and time—
Your love enfolds Your people, Yisrael.
We receive it in your teaching:
Your gift of Torah, sacred obligations, discipline, and law.

This struck me as a very specifically Jewish way of understanding divine love, and having spent the last four years in an increasingly lawless country, I'm particularly attuned to the idea that law is a sacred gift.

I missed the omer count, and was delighted to find the sefirat ha'binyan; now that's over, I need a new nightly ritual. Out of curiosity, I counted seven weeks from Rosh Hashanah to see what I would find. On the Hebrew calendar, nothing. On the secular calendar, November 5th.

Which is not so far from November 3rd.

So I'm adapting this practice for the weeks leading up to Election Day, still working with the kabbalistic traits of divinity associated with the omer count, but interpreting them through the lens of "Torah, sacred obligations, discipline, and law" as expressions of divine love. Call it sefirat ha'mishpatim, counting and working toward a government that enacts and obeys just laws.

I'm putting together daily practices based on the divine attributes associated with the omer count, working somewhat from R' Yael Levy's lovely mindfulness-focused omer count guide Journey Through the Wilderness. Anyone who wants to join me in this is welcome to. I'm also including suggested readings for some of the days and I'd love links to other readings that feel topical.

Since tonight is already day six, I'll be playing catch-up a bit, but I really didn't want to leave out the week of lovingkindness, compassion, and generosity. Chesed is the beginning of all activism for me. I defined it once as "the love that's like God's love", the love that's less personal and more social and even impartial. Taking time to ground myself in chesed gives my activism strength and purpose.

( Week One: Chesed - Generosity, Love, Compassion )

At the end of this week, you should have a list of three candidates or organizations to support, at least one social change action that you feel you can do consistently and sustainably, and a little grounding in love and compassion for yourself, your community, and the world. Next week is gevurah, the week of strength, judgment, and discernment, and the outward-facing work begins.