Today is 13 days, which is one week and six days of the omer: yesod she’big’vurah. I know you didn’t think I was going to choose A-Rod today. I also know you didn’t think that I wasn’t going to start with Texas. As it turns out, today’s honoree, left fielder Carl Crawford grew up in Houston and suffered the indignity all too common for people of color in … Continue reading day 13: the perfect storm
Today is 12 days, which is one week and five days of the omer: hod she’big’vurah. What’s that you say? A baseball legend in Canada? Yes, indeed, it’s not all hockey in the Great White North. I enjoyed my sojourn Sunday and again today in the 51st State. Today’s pick, a Puerto Rican turned Torontonian, owns the second most famous baseball moment in the Land of … Continue reading day 12: the canadian slugger
Today is nine days, which is one week and two days of the omer: gevurah she’big’vurah.* Even if Red Sox right fielder Ted Williams hadn’t worn #9, I would have considered him for the day of gevurah she’big’vurah. There’s no way this outsize figure could be the pick for anything other than a double sefirah day. I will first admit that I find these double sefirot days a bit … Continue reading day 9: teddy ballgame
Today is seven days, which is one week of the omer: malchut she’b’hesed. Not Mantle (no more Yankees for a while), and not Biggio (I have to point out when I take a pass on an Astro). Today’s pick is catcher Iván Rodríguez — and not just because I had a friend in high school, of whom I have fond memories, with his same nickname. (Also, I … Continue reading day 7: pudge
Today is six days of the omer: yesod she’b’hesed. (Because of chag, I am posting this before the sixth day actually begins.) I’m biased towards players who have spent their whole careers on one team. I like loyalty, by team and by player. I like the relationship between players and fans that can develop over that kind of time. I like watching a player improve and … Continue reading day 6: the overlooked
Today is three days of the omer: tiferet she’b’hesed. Today Yankees fans can stop being mad at me (see yesterday’s post) as I honor one of their best: The Bambino, The Sultan of Swat, four-time WS winner, one of the first inaugural five HoFers, perhaps the greatest baseball player of all time, the singular Babe Ruth. (Also perhaps the player with the most nicknames of all … Continue reading day 3: the bambino
The ein sof (literally, “without end”) is understood in kabbalah as Gd before any self-manifestation. It is Gd’s act of tzimtzum (“contraction”) that allows for everything else to come into being. In particular, the ein sof is the origin of the sefirot (“emanations”), which have come to be associated with days of the omer, the seven weeks between Pesach and Shavuot. Just as primordial boundlessness gave way to a … Continue reading ein sof; or, making room for something new
Omertime 