Give thanks that you are given the gift of life. It is a way of symbolizing again our own journey from that which enslaves us, to a sense of personal freedom a “harvest” of our soul. It is, perhaps, not coincidence that this “omer” season comes between Passover, a moment of liberation from slavery and Shavuot, a festival when we celebrate the symbolic embrace of Commandments. Every day counts as another opportunity to strengthen relationships and to share love. It is known as Sefirat HaOmer ( Counting of the Omer ) since it begins on the day when an omer measure of barley was offered in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Every day counts as another opportunity to grow and seek our own sense of meaning. What Is the Omer Every evening from the second night of Passover to the day before Shavuot, we count another day, marking the 49 days (seven weeks) between these two holidays. The blessing of health, if we have it, helps make this “counting” even more precious. Too many of us are aware of friends and family, contemporaries of ours, who now deal with illness or situations that short circuit their dreams and hopes. The tradition is reminding us that each day “counts” and that we need to recognize it as another gift. So it is quite fitting that we can come to embrace this concept of counting the “omer” in a very practical way.
#Omer count 2016 full
The Jewish days begin at sundown, and we wait until full dark to count the Omer. The Omer may be counted in any language, as long as it is understood by the counter. Therefore, on the eighth day, we say, today is eight days, which are one week and one day in the omer. We are becoming grand-parents, we are transitioning from full time work to the next chapter (or whatever we call it this week), we are re-inventing our self and our life and, in each instance, we slowly become more and more aware that the days we have are more precious than ever. You shall count from the eve of the second day of Pesach, when an omer of grain is to be brought as an offering, seven complete weeks. (Sefira or Sefirah means counting in Hebrew) Get Omer reminders, Omer blessings, daily meditations and more. The mitzvah is to count both days and weeks. Omer Count 6 for Thursday Night April 28, 2016. It is best to count the Omer at nightfall, immediately after the evening prayer. So many of us are in a state of some transition. The Omer is counted from the second night of Passover through the night. Herein rests some of the newer interpretations of this concept of the “omer”. Of course, while many of us do not observe the literal “omer” sacrifice, we are aware, especially as boomers, that the days we have need to “count” for something. Another sign of a desire to re-interpret tradition. The blessing even has made it into the liberal prayer books as well. We count lovers, calories, sheep at night when we can’t sleep. There is a traditional blessing for this act and the ritual is still observed in various ways in synagogues. Counting is a powerful practice, and a deeply human thing. This reflects back to Torah and the charge to take a cutting of barley each day between Passover and Shavuot as a sacrifice. In Jewish tradition, this period between Passover and the festival of Shavuot is referred to as the “omer”. For all of us who yearn for healing of body, heart and spirit, may the Holy One walk with us on our journey out of Mitzrayim, step by step, one day at a time."Counting the Omer," by Holly Hayes, from.
As we learn from the wisdom of those who struggle with addiction and from the philosophy of 12 step programs, recovery is an ongoing journey, counted one day at a time, and sometimes one minute at a time.Īs we count the omer, let’s hold in our hearts all those in our lives and in our communities who are struggling with addiction and all those who are on a path of recovery, of any kind. This period between Pesach and Shavuot is a season of recovery that unfolds one day at a time. We hit our rock bottom and just before the point of no return, the Holy One took us out of Egypt, out of subservience to all of the negative powers that had laid us low, and led us to the forty-ninth level of wisdom so that we could receive Torah.Īs we count the omer for forty-nine days, we are reminded of God’s great kindness in leading us step-by-step out of the stuckness and straits of Egypt toward a life of expansiveness and possibility. According to the Zohar, when the Israelites were in Egypt, things were so tough within us and around us that we fell to the forty-ninth level of impurity.
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