Today is 37 days, which is two days and five weeks of the omer: gevurah she’b’yesod. I’ve included player position in my quest for diversity in this project, so today I’m excited to highlight my first manager. Casey Stengel did play right field, but he is best known as (and was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1966 on his strength as) a manager. As he joked … Continue reading day 37: the old perfessor
Today is Day 36 of the Omer. Hesed sheb’yesod. Generosity that flows from justice. Was there any way that I was not going to choose Marcus Smart for Day 36? Absolutely not. The week of Yesod, which begins today is associated with the Biblical figure of Joseph, who is one of the most significant figures in the book of Genesis. And the parallels between Joseph … Continue reading Day 36: Marcus Smart
Apologies for not getting our hockey-starved, Omer-obsessed fans something for this past week’s sefirah. And what a week to (almost) miss! Hod, or glory, is the counterpoint to Netzach, and is often thought of as the glory of humility. The kabbalists understood Hod (along with Netzach) to be associated with the feet of the anthropomorphic image of God, so a particularly grounded image of glory … Continue reading Hod – הוד
Today is Day 35 of the Omer. Malchut sheb’hod. Humility that leads to Kingship. I got to interact with Mark Madsen a bit at Stanford University. He was so genuine, so humble. There was nobody on those great Stanford teams that I was happier to see become an NBA champion. In college, Madsen was a hard working big man, who came to college after a … Continue reading Day 35: Mad Dog
Today is Day 34 of the Omer. Yesod sheb’hod. The Humble Pioneer. Day 34, ultimately came down to two 7 foot superstars with Nigerian roots: Giannis Antetokounmpo and Hakeem Olajuwon. On yesod sheb’hod, you can’t go wrong choosing between two humble superstars who have become pioneers in professional basketball. Giannis is already a League MVP, but we’re giving the nod to Hakeem for being a … Continue reading Day 34: The Dream
Today is 36 days, which is one day and five weeks of the omer: hesed she’b’yesod. Thus begins the week of yesod, which means we’re going to be talking about tzaddikim, the righteous ones. Let’s see where it takes us. If the picks for Days 27, 30, and 35 had to deal with Oakland’s Charlie O, left fielder Gary Matthews was victim to Atlanta’s Ted Turner. The difference was … Continue reading day 36: sarge
Today is 35 days, which is five weeks of the omer: malchut she’b’hod. In 2009 Oakland retired number 24 in honor of left fielder Rickey Henderson, but since Bill James said, “If you split Rickey Henderson in two, you get two Hall-of-Famers,” a good case can be made that the As should have also retired the number 35 in which he began and ended his career, donning … Continue reading day 35: man of steal
Today is 34 days, which is six days and four weeks of the omer: yesod she’b’hod. Today is the third Red Sox player I’ve highlighted (which I don’t love because I really do want to get to every team and baseball already skews too much towards the big money/market franchises). I chose the first was because he was Ted Williams and the sefirot were gevurah … Continue reading day 34: big papi
Today is Day 33 of the Omer. Hod sheb’hod. The Ideal Humility. Hod is associated with Moses’s brother, Aaron, who is the ideal #2 in Torah. He complements his brother Moses, speaks on his behalf in Egypt, and serves as a priest and peacemaker for the Israelites while they wander in the wilderness. Finding that perfect #2 in the NBA is very difficult. Everyone grows … Continue reading Day 33: The Ideal #2
Today is 33 days, which is five days and four weeks of the omer: hod she’b’hod. Today is known as Lag Ba’Omer, an acronym of the Hebrew letters that add up to 33, lamed and gimmel (לַ״ג). The day has a couple of associations relevant to this project. The first is that it is understood as the yahrzeit of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the purported (though not) author … Continue reading day 33: steady eddie
Omertime 