Counting the Omer Day 38: Tiferet of Yesod

Tiferet is balance – love and discipline in just the right measures, also beauty. The trait for this week is yesod, bonding, the foundation. We often think of our bonds with other people as being driven entirely by love, but discipline and judgement may also be part of the equation. The Talmud tells us “Love without criticism is not love.” If you love someone, you care enough to want them to be their best possible self. We all have aspects where we can do better. If our friends don’t point them out, who will? If someone who’s not a friend points them out, would we listen? But clearly any criticism, no matter how helpful, of a friend must also be done with love, and that’s tiferet. All criticism, unaccompanied by love, and the bond will be destroyed.