kindness does not enter the house newly built,
with wet paint still,
white picket fences
and the softness of chimes rocking little children to bed.

rather, kindness enters the house whose baseboards have broken,
whose wallpaper is yellowed and faded
and whose roof is one small crack from the ruin of caving in.

kindness billows past all this
and escapes through the back window
rising sky high

an atmospheric reminder that
the world is but one and is One

all the brokeness holds the center
is
and has always been
the center.

As we awaken to our own suffering, we glimpse not only the exhaustive structure of old beliefs and practices, but a new way to emerge, whereby a path through unhealthiness opens up upon greater compassion toward oneself, one’s history, and all the accompanying wounds.

Hesed in Malchut challenges us to not seek out the new or better, to hastily change our inner worlds, but to, as a matter of spiritual necessity, treat ourselves with lovingkindness even as we come to terms with our failings.

To experience this moment in the Omer, you are encouraged to spend time in self-reflection, to see yourself there in the brokeness and the whole, and to embrace all the dimensions of yourself as part of the divine circle of your existence.

Remind yourself that the change you seek is not merely an adjustment in mind and body but an opening that takes root in the heart. For in love, we find the keys to the whole kingdom, G-d’s and ours.