The mystics of our tradition saw great meaning in the counting of the Omer. In its cycle of 7 days, counted 7 times, they saw a parallel to the sefirot, Divine attributes of Kabbalistic understanding. Each week, then, was dedicated to a particular attribute, and each day of that week focusing on the intersection of 2 Divine attributes. This week, we focus on yesod: rootedness and foundation.
Today is the 38th day of the Omer.
Tiferet she-b’yesod: Balance in foundation
As a general rule of the matter one should follow the tendency of the middle-course of each and every disposition to the end that all of one’s tendencies will be firmly in the center, which is as Solomon said: “Balance well the track of your foot, and let all your ways be firmly right.” (Prov. 4.26).
— Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Human Dispositions 2:7
While the Golden Mean is usually associated with either Aristotle or Buddhist philosophy, this idea of mediating between the extremes of our personality is deeply embedded in our tradition as well. Even before Maimonides writes about human dispositions in the 12th century, our sages teach about the yetzer tov—our better inclination and the yetzer ra—our lesser inclinations.
I always picture the devil and the angel of old cartoons on my shoulder. The difference, I think, is that our tradition understands that both of these inclinations—towards the good and towards the lesser—have something to teach us. We can learn from each, and perhaps that is our task.
Each of them, our tradition understands, exists within us; part of our work on ourselves is to balance these urges, to use each one towards our best selves. This is a version, a vision, of tiferet she-b’yesod—balance in our very foundations.
— Rabbi Sari Laufer