And so the week of Hod begins as I return from lobbying legislators in Albany for Marriage Equality. Hod, which can been seen as humility, gratitude, surrender. And interestingly, splendor. Splendor is the result of wrapping oneself in light, it is the spiritual or atzilutic effect of wrapping oneself in tallit with the proper intention. The Divine wraps ItSelf in the material world. Most of the time we never see this. But when we are filled with humility and gratitude for this world, when we surrender ourselves to it, we see the splendor arise naturally out of everything. This is the mystery of Hod. It is the expansive experience that is born of what might appear to be something constricting.
This first day in the week of Hod is, of course, Chesed. And when we are deep within Hod in its positive expression, Chesed, loving kindness and compassion arise naturally. When we sing our prayers of gratitude they become love songs to the Divine. But because Hod, like Gevurah, which it sits under in the tree, does indeed have some constriction in it, Chesed in Hod is not the overwhelming boundary-less love of Chesed itself. It is a loving empathy that doesn't overwhelm at all, it is simple loving presence that demands nothing.
Obviously, there can be a negative side to this. There is a shadow side to everything on the Tree. And with Hod one can fall into co-dependency roles, caretaker roles in life if the focus is entirely outward. So as with all compassion, we must remember it begins with ourselves. How can we practice Chesed in Hod with ourselves?
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