(All this counting is making me hungry! You too?! Join us, Saturday, June 11th at 9:30pm, at the Rabbi’s house for a study session and ice cream! See the end of this e-mail for more details)

Instructions for counting the omer are found on our Omer Overview Page. You can find the specific blessing for today at chabad.org.

And here’s today’s wisdom, powered by Etz Hayim members:

This poem by Marcia Falk has helped me find comfort and strength during tough times. I hope no one else ever needs it. But if they do, I hope it helps.

ENDURING

Like awakening after a long illness
to find your health stole back in while you slept,
your sorrow, in its time, will retreat,
and the knowledge you carried all along
will re-emerge, whole and cleansed.

One day you will not thrash in the too-bright light,
looking for a corner in which to close your eyes.
One morning the weight will not be there
beneath your eyelids, the first thing you wake to;
it will not settle on your tongue like a lump of salt.

And because you have stayed this long
unrelenting, in the unrelenting world,
you know that time, though imperfect,
is diligent, and wrestles down grief,

and that all things are born small
and grow large –
except grief, which is born large
and grows small.

–By My aunt, Ruth Leonore, shared this poem with me when we were both going through some rough patches. All my life, she’s always found just the right thing to say that really helps.

Submitted by: Beth W.

Come and celebrate the completion of the Counting of the Omer and the holiday of Shavuot, by joining us for an evening of Ice Cream and Torah Study. Bring your hunger for wisdom and your appetite for sweet, delicious, ice cream.

Join us on Saturday, June 11th at 9:30pm, at the Rabbi’s house. Call the office for directions.