A word of Torah: 
        During the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot, there is a tradition of focusing on the seven sefirot/qualities of God. These qualities are also found in human beings. We began with love/hesed for that is how creation begins. God created the world as an act of love for human beings. Humans create new human beings through love.
         Last week, we focused on Gevurah, the sefirah of “limitations.” While love is free-flowing, it needs a container, a structure to hold it. Without limits, love can be overwhelming, leaving no space for the object of that love. Gevurah has an aspect of respect/kavod. Unlike love, respect intrinsically recognizes the worth of the other. Gevurah is discipline. Gevurah involves contraction of self to leave space for others. It calls for focus in place of the boundless nature of love.
        This week we explore the aspect of tiferet, “compassion or beauty,” also known as emet, “truth.” Tiferet blends and harmonizes hesed and gevurah. The first two sefirot are opposites. The third sefirah is a synthesis of their qualities. We cannot always be full of love nor can we always be cautious and set limits. Our lives consist of a moving between different balances of love and limits. Tiferet enables us to see this internal and eternal dynamic. It is not easy to balance hesed and gevurah. It is like striving to learn Torah while standing on one foot. Understanding that we are always in motion helps us cultivate a compassionate heart. With tiferet we can feel compassion toward people by perceiving their totality—their strengths and their weaknesses—and accepting them. The same is true regarding ourselves. This is why this sefirah is also known as truth/emet.  The truth is that we are all imperfect. We also are striving to be kind and loving. Tiferet is compassionate acceptance.
        Tiferet is often translated as “beauty” because when we look at the totality of the world and of life, we see astonishing beauty in nature, art, and music. In fact, beauty takes many forms. When we look with tiferet, which is the heart, we can perceive beauty in an ever-expanding number of things and people. This is tiferet, a heart of compassion.
 
Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it---Confucius