Seventeen days, making two weeks and three days of the Omer: Tiferet Squared

As the Scarecrow said to Dorothy, "Of course, some people do go both ways."

So here we are on the 17th Day: Tiferet of Tiferet, the heart of compassion. And once again, what better image to call up than Avalokiteshvara / Kuan Yin.

Well, I guess most Jews would disagree, given that this is, after all, a graven image!

But I am more concerned with the principle, the meaning, not the statue itself.

Previously I mentioned the fact that in the movement of Buddhism from India further east to China and Japan, the boddhisattva transformed from male to female.

Some see this as Compassion That Transcends Duality. And that feels like the right energy for this day in the Omer count.

This is a compassion that calls us out of our old patterns, to free us from the slavery of creating enemies. Nice work if you can get it. But as Gershwin wrote, you can get it if you try.