Today is day 14, two weeks of the omer. I went to Ben and Jerry’s for a free ice cream cone this afternoon.
“What,” you say, “weren’t you just talking about Weight Watchers?” Yes. Gevurah as we have learned this week means restraint or discipline. WeightWatchers also argues for discipline but it allows you 49 extra points to spend how you want to spend them. So all four of us drove to Palentine and delighted in having our ice cream cup. It was smaller than a kiddie cup at Sully’s in Chelmsford. Everyone felt satisfied. And happy. Almost giddy. There must be a bracha for this. Then we talked about restraint. It was just enough to make us feel good, but too much to make us feel bad. We didn’t even feel the need to go back for seconds. None of us ruined our diets. We showed restraint.
Now remember that Bostonians consume more ice cream per capita than anywhere else in the country. I have stood in line in sub-freezing weather just to get ice cream. I have been at Sully’s on March 1 when they reopen after the winter, just because they are reopening and it is a sign of spring. One of the first after a long dreary weather. I had a friend in college who believed that if you ate ice cream from Steve’s (the original Coldstone with mix-ins) three Shabbatot in a row the Messiah would come. That is what today was like. Perhaps if we get this balance right between discipline and having fun, between restraint and laughing and joking, then it will surely, like Shabbat be a foretaste of the world to come.
Some times we need to exercise restraint with our words. It is not always good to correct a child. It is not good for his or her self-esteem. It is not always good to correct our spouse, a co-worker or a even, dare I say it, a board member. Sometimes we need to exercise restraint. Sure, if I were queen of the world I would get the whole thing right, all the time. I am sure of it. But sometimes I need to exercise restraint.
So for me, this is what today is about. The kingdom of discipline is about just enough but not too much. It is OK to have fun. It is OK to feel good. It is OK to laugh, to joke, to play. And then go back to work.