Following the assassination a month earlier of Tzar Alexander II of Russia, and the subsequent rumors that the Jews were behind the assassination, anti-Jewish riots broke out on the 6th of Iyar. The riots and pogroms lasted for four years, during which time thousands of Jewish homes and synagogues were destroyed, and countless Jews were injured and impoverished. The unrest started out in Southern Russia, and quickly spread throughout the entire country.
Tzar Alexander III actually blamed the riots on the Jews(!) and punished them by enacting new laws which further restricted their freedoms. Among these devastating laws were legislation which restricted Jews from residing in towns with fewer than 10,000 citizens, and limiting their professional employment and education opportunities.
These oppressive laws, known as the "May Laws," compelled many Jews to emigrate. They are said to have caused more than two million Jews to leave Russia, many of them opting to move to the United States of America, and the freedoms it offered.
Link: The Pogroms of 1881-1884
One day after the State of Israel was proclaimed (see Jewish History for the 5th of Iyar), the surrounding Arab nations -- Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq --declared war on the fledgling state, with the objective of "driving the Jews into the sea." Tel Aviv was bombed on that very first day of the War of Independence.
Link: War of Independence
R. Levi ben Gershon, known by the acronym Ralbag or by the Graecized Gersonides, was a great Torah scholar who lived in Provence (a region in Southern France). He is famous for his Bible commentary, which includes many ethical lessons to be learned from the stories of Scripture. He was also proficient in philosophy, astronomy, and mathematics, and wrote numerous works and treatises on these topics.
Link: Rabbi Levi Ben Gershon
Tomorrow is the twenty-second day of the Omer Count. Since, on the Jewish calendar, the day begins at nightfall of the previous evening, we count the omer for tomorrow's date tonight, after nightfall: "Today is twenty-two days, which are three weeks and one day, to the Omer." (If you miss the count tonight, you can count the omer all day tomorrow, but without the preceding blessing).
The 49-day "Counting of the Omer" retraces our ancestors' seven-week spiritual journey from the Exodus to Sinai. Each evening we recite a special blessing and count the days and weeks that have passed since the Omer; the 50th day is Shavuot, the festival celebrating the Giving of the Torah at Sinai.
Tonight's Sefirah: Chessed sheb'Netzach -- "Kindness in Ambition"
The teachings of Kabbalah explain that there are seven "Divine Attributes" -- Sefirot -- that G-d assumes through which to relate to our existence: Chessed, Gevurah, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malchut ("Love", "Strength", "Beauty", "Victory", "Splendor", "Foundation" and "Sovereignty"). In the human being, created in the "image of G-d," the seven sefirot are mirrored in the seven "emotional attributes" of the human soul: Kindness, Restraint, Harmony, Ambition, Humility, Connection and Receptiveness. Each of the seven attributes contain elements of all seven--i.e., "Kindness in Kindness", "Restraint in Kindness", "Harmony in Kindness", etc.--making for a total of forty-nine traits. The 49-day Omer Count is thus a 49-step process of self-refinement, with each day devoted to the "rectification" and perfection of one the forty-nine "sefirot."
Links:
How to count the Omer
The deeper significance of the Omer Count
You murmured in your tents, saying, '"Because G‑d hates us, He took us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to exterminate us." (Deuteronomy 1:27)
Really, He loves you, but you despised Him. As the common saying goes, “Whatever is in your heart towards your friend, you imagine he feels towards you.” (Rashi)
Often we justify our own feelings by projecting them on others, twisting the entire relationship backward and upside-down.
We can’t get our way, so we say, “I’m doing everything to accommodate them, and they’re being so stubborn.”
And they say, “But it’s just the opposite! You won't give an inch!”
We don’t want to be around people, so we feel, “I’m trying to be nice to them, but they don’t want me around.”
And they say, “We would love to have you around, but you don’t seem to want to be here with us.”
In just the same way, we project our own feelings on the One who made us, attempting to twist truth inside-out.
We become absorbed with our own little world and can’t find room for G‑d within it, so we feel, “All I am to G-d is just an ugly little cockroach messing up His universe.”
How does G‑d feel?
There, with G‑d, is the true reality.
That He gives you life and all things He knows are good for you and awaits the time you will recognize how good it all is.
That He showers you with love, and awaits the time that you will return that love to Him.
That He eagerly awaits every word of your prayers, treasures every mitzvah you might do, kisses every word of Torah that comes from your lips—but you have no idea how precious you are to Him.
You may push back. You may run away. But just one small turn, and He’s there waiting.
Run from your delusions. Embrace reality. Reality is love.