Between Two Lions

Today's Hebrew date is:
Montag 13. Aw 5780 - August 3, 2020






Jill Hammer, Jewish Book of Days. A Companion for All Seasons:




Between Two Lions




The Astrological sign of Av is the lion (Sefer Yetzirah 5 : 4), and the lion is also the sacred animal of this summer season. In Jewish sources the lion has a double edge. In the Bible and elsewhere, the lion is a symbol for the brutal enemy. The lion or lioness is also a symbol for Israel, for Jerusalem, and even for the Holy One. In a passage from the Zohar, the Shekinah, mother and protector of Israel, has the strength of both lion and lioness.





In this season of lions, we move from grieving as victims to claiming our own lion selves: We are proud beings who will not bow to evil. At the middle of the month of Av, the month of the lion, we face both halves of our existence - the part of us constrained by past events and the part of us free to discover the future.






The Shekhinah, though she is fallen, is strong like a lion and a lioness



Zohar I : 237B