Tiferes ShebeHod: Harmony of Acknowledgement

Tonight is the 31st day of the omer (count it here), which corresponds to sefirah-permutation of Tiferes ShebeHod, Harmony of Acknowledgement, or Compassion of Humility.

Tiferes is the Harmony between the opposites of kindness and severity, which usually manifests as Compassion. There is an awareness that there is darkness, but the reaction is to feel pity and compassion for the divine soul that it must endure such exile and be trapped in such a coarse physical body. This bitterness leads one to strive to rise from the dust to cleave to our Father the King, with fiery longing, with all one's heart, even to the point of expiry of the soul.

Hod is Acknowledgement, which requires the Humility to see oneself accurately. This must happen both independent of other people and in regard to others:

1) Independent of others, because we are commanded to "be holy because I [G‑d] am holy." (Lev. 19:2) We must not be satisfied with being "holy enough" for everyone else, but strive always to reach the Infinite. Our standard of holiness is G‑d's holiness (Ramban ibid.).

2) Also, with relation to others, because we must not trick ourselves into a false sense of superiority, since "even the flea was created before you" (Midrash Rabba Vayikra 14:1) and we should "be lowly of spirit before all men." (Avos 4:10) It is said that when the Baal Shem Tov spoke with other people, he considered the Shechinah Herself to be speaking with him through the mouth of his fellow. He taught that everything we experience is for our own edification, and was Divinely meant for us to notice.

Thus, Tiferes ShebeHod is when we rectify and improve our humility through compassion. Compassion leads one to recognize the positions of others and acknowledge them. With regard to our own souls, it leads to a recognition that our souls are still exiled in a "doubled and redoubled darkness" within physicality, and that much refinement is needed to return to the pure place below the Throne of Glory from which our souls were hewn, and thence transcend that, for "every descent is for the purpose of ascent."