TORAH WELLSPRING By Rabbi Ezra Friedman
Ascending to Greatness The most important aspect of spiritual health is often the most overlooked
In our preparation for Matan Torah, we’re not only required to count the days of omer, but also to make the days count. As the Nesivos Shalom, among many other sefarim, notes, the period of Sefiras Ha’omer is a time for us to pay attention to and improve our middos as a prerequisite for becoming a viable vessel for absorbing the Torah. 18
WELLSPRING / MAY 2023
We want to arrive at Matan Torah of 5783 having done the work to ready ourselves for receiving this momentous gift. So what is this work that’s required from us? These days are highly opportune for avodas hamiddos. It’s in this time period over three millennia ago that Klal Yisrael experienced the pinnacle of spiritual metamorphosis: they rose from the forty-ninth level of impurity to the peak of kedushah at Matan Torah. What does “forty-ninth level of im-