Today is the 36th day of the counting of the omer. 36 is an important number in Judaism. Each Hebrew letter corresponds to a number. Aleph is one, bet is two, gimel is three. Thirty six is the numerical equivalent of double eighteen, double life. It is also said that there are 36 people, righteous people who sustain the world. This belief goes back to Talmudic times based on the text from Sanhedrin 97b, that 36 righteous greet the Shechinah. Another name for these special people is the nistraim, concealed ones and they are even concealed from each other. Each one is so humble that if you were to suggest that they were one of the lamed vavniks they would protest.

I was at a meeting recently where I was told I received special treatment. I answered that I thought this person, who knows from all accounts she could be a lamed vavnik, treated me nicely because I had treated her kindly. Isn’t that true, if you are nice, than others will be nice to you. It is a variant on Hillel’s statement, “Do not do unto others what you would not have them do to you. Love your neighbor as yourself; the rest is commentary. Go and study. ” This is really the foundation, the yesod of Judaism. Today, the 36th day is chesed b’yesod, the lovingkindness of the foundation. This is it; it doesn’t get more central. Jesus said it this way: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” We know it as the golden rule. Sounds simple, no? Apparently it is not so simple.

Earlier this week someone swore at me when I asked a question. “Frankly, rabbi, it is none of your g-dxxxxed business.” Now I have been know to use curse words–and I think I know them all, but using one to a rabbi, especially one that uses G-d’s name in vain, probably means that you are not a lamed vavnik and probably means you lose your place in the world to come. The person has some anger management issues, and some self-esteem issues, The person has had a hard life, no question, but the person seems angry and bitter most of the time. I think this person is trapped in fear.

My question remains, why do some people turn out to be lamed vavniks, truly one of the rigthous ones, while others wind up so bitter and angry that they swear at a rabbi for a farirly innoucous question?

Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav who I quoted yesterday has another take on the central thing: The whole world is a very narrow bridge and the central thing is to not be afraid. Maybe that is the secret. If we can conquer our fear and experience G-d’s loveingkindness, the chesed which is the foundational building block, then, then we can overcome the pain and disappointment in our lives. Otherwise, we are trapped in a building without a strong foundation. May we all find that chesd, G-d’s lovingkindnss so that we can live without fear. Then we will have discovered the foundation of Judaism.