Recall: That first day of the count is akin to the momentous exodus from Egypt.  The excitement can feel overwhelming—that first day (Chesed in Chesed) and this day of Chesed in Malchut.  You are ready for change—doubt is cleared and you are charged to fulfill on your commitment to change.  Feel the energy and envision what you are Chesed energy—expansive.  The change you are seeking and implementing will become laser focused tomorrow—but today consider and meditate on how this change affects all aspects of your life—for one change leads and is connected to yours and other’s change.

It is now the beginning of the 7^th week as we count up to Shavuot and this week is Malchut.

The definition of Malchut is sovereignty.  The opposite of a slave is the Pharoh—the master.  Of course, our journey on this path of spiritual growth is not about transforming the slave into the master—it is rather mastery over the slave mentality.  Rabbi Jacobson looks at Malchut as nobility –sovereignty and defines it as “a sense of belonging, of knowing you matter and make a difference.” Rabbi Kantrowitz explains Malchut as receiving—“recognizing our progress as we move to our spiritual harvest.” She compares Malchut to the Sabbath (7^th day = 7^th week) as a time for contemplation.  Both Jacobson and Kantrowitz point to Malchut as a state of being.

We will take a different approach—seeing Malchut as manifestation—a time of doing! We are still counting, actively living each day and now ready to reveal our mastery over the change that brings us to freedom. The resting or being is on the day that “counts itself’—Shavuot—the night followed by day that is not the culmination but rather the beginning of being in our new state of awareness.

Our way of looking at the Sefirot flow has been the creation of a plan for change (this could be seen as a material or spiritual change—but the move is to freedom).  Malchut then is actualizing our determination to change.  The past week of Yesod was a shedding of doubt—we have overcome Amalek (doubt) and can see the ‘destination’, we will be encamping—surrounding and surrounded by the mountain—the place of revelation.   In following our own journeys of freeing ourselves from ‘enslavement’ we also reflect on where the Israelites are on their journey toward Sinai.  They arrive in the Sinai desert at the outset of the week. On day 47 they camp as one.

In addition to meaning manifestation or expression, Malchut also implies responsibility.  The slave has no ‘responsibility’ as an inner sense—it is purely the command of the master. In the most trying depths of slavery there can be no sense of loyalty to others, no sense of responsibility for the other. The free person though knows that work on the self is also for the good of the whole—the good of the community.  This idea is beautifully expressed by the notion that the Jews encamped around Sinai “as one person with one heart.” It is one for all and all for one.

It is now time to manifest the hard fought truth or to let go completely (perhaps the plan is now seen in a different light). The plan for freedom is about to be actualized. Are you ready to manifest the change?  Today is declaring I am ready. I leave any vestige of doubt—traveling from Refidim into the Sinai desert for the encounter with the mountain and revelation.

For each week’s Sefirah you can ask yourself on this day of Yesod, have I done the inner work needed…to look at my doubts and my determination?  At this level of Yesod in Yesod we also have to look at our relationship with others—are we in consonance with them or struggling with them? As Moses held his arms up during the battle with Amalek they finally tired and two compatriots came to his support—literally—each one supporting an arm.  The image of two men supporting Moses’ arms is there to enforce that in the battle for determination over doubt we need the support of others and today is a day to reach out and ask for that support and encouragement.

Hod tempers the determination so doubt can yet again have a foothold (a heel hold) as one faces obstacles or outcomes that seem intractable to change.  The war rages on with Amalek (doubt) and yet we can suspend our need to have the outcome look just one way.  Perhaps Amalek is supposed to dominate so that we always remember that surrendering is part of the process of finding our truth.

The determination of Yesod is bolstered by the energy of Netzach to overcome any and all obstacles. Self-doubt is removed through the awareness that all can be accomplished even though the obstacles may now seem even more infinite as seen through the filter of doubt. There are many ways to overcome doubt—piling more doubt on top of the doubt  can sometimes have a paradoxical effect—reaching the depth of doubt—sure you cannot overcome—then you can.