![]() COUNTING THE OMER 2015 ANDROIDWhether you’re a world traveller or just a typical commuter, downloading Sfirat HaOmer apps for iOS and Android will help you keep on track. ![]() COUNTING THE OMER 2015 HOW TORabbis have even pondered how to keep your count straight if you happen to cross the International Date Line and your personal count differs from that of everyone around you. I will begin to get up early, give up an addicting behaviour, start a new project, or simply remember to number my days more often.”Īs for the count itself, there are rules about when to do it (after dark), how to do it (best while standing) and what to do if you miscount (it’s complicated – read the website). I do this by becoming conscious of how the day has been spent, and this process helps me to think of the evening as a prelude for the morning… I grow more aware as I count that seven weeks is a long time. “When I count the Omer, my intention is to empty myself of the day’s irritations, its problems, even its joys. You can read more essays about how each of the 49 days has its own unique quality as you embark on this spiritual guide.įor Rabbi Malka Drucker, this is a very special time with unique opportunities. “Is my love enduring? Do I give and withhold love according to my moods, or is it constant regardless of the ups and downs of life? Exercise for the day: reassure a loved one of the constancy of your love.” poses these practical questions in relation to that day. Each day and week is given its own mystical attribute such as chesed (loving-kindness), gevurah (restraint) and tiferet (beauty).įor example, the phrase for the fourth day of counting is Hod shel Chesed or Endurance in Lovingkindness. These sfirot denote the ascent from the 49 “gates” of impurity of the Egyptian bondage to the purity of the Revelation at Sinai. The Kabbalists’ interpretation of these 49 days was based on the various permutations (seven times seven) of the sfirot, or mystical emanations. From that day onward, it was necessary to count 49 days until Shavuot, the Festival of the Wheat Harvest ( Leviticus 23:15).Īfter the destruction of the Temple, the practice of bringing barley was discontinued, but Jews continued to count during the Omer period. Until that offering was made, no grain from the new year’s crop was to be eaten. So do we.īut just what is an “omer?” According to the Torah, an offering consisting of a specific measure of barley known as an omer was brought to the Temple on the second day of Passover. That person counts the days, and even the hours. Maimonides suggests that the countdown to receive the Torah can be compared to someone waiting to see his or her most intimate friend on a certain day. ![]() We echo their count thousands of years later. They were so eager for the arrival of the promised day that they began to count the days, saying each time, “Now we have one day less to wait for the giving of the Torah.” Why are we counting? According to tradition, as Rabbi Ronald Isaacs explains, the Torah would be given to the Israelites 50 days after the Exodus. ![]() This time of year is a fascinating one, long associated with spiritual, even kabbalistic growth. Sfirat HaOmer, the period of counting the Omer, culminates seven weeks later with Shavuot. ![]() T’s somewhat ironic that on the second night of Pesach, with the holiday barely under way, Jews will be begin to prepare themselves for yet another festival. ![]()
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