Counting of the Omer

April 7–May 26, 2012

Each year we retrace this inner journey. We count the days and weeks. The 50th day is the holiday of Shavuot, when we receive the Torah once again. We call it the “Counting of the Omer.”

The Torah writes: "And you shall count for yourselves from the morrow of the Shabbat, from the day that you bring the omer [offering] that is raised, seven complete weeks there shall be until the morrow of the seventh week you shall count fifty days" ...

Numbers are funny things

One morning, just before daybreak, the stranger took the people to the edge of the valley, and when the early morning breezes drove away the dark clouds, they saw far off in the distance, as if illuminated by a flash of lightning, a green-covered plateau ...

If chametz is so intolerable, why do we eat it all year round? And what is the significance of the unexpected appearance of "wet matzah" on the eighth day of Passover?

We seek specialness. Everything else just is, and as such, is unworthy of our energy or attention. But is that how we really are? Or is there another, perhaps deeper, self that thrives on routine and regularity?

Leviticus 23:15 "And you shall count for yourselves...seven weeks" Shani's cousin, Nava, was coming to visit from Eretz Yisrael. Shani was so excited, she could hardly wait for the day of her arrival. She had never met Nava, but her parents had told her ...

Each Person as an Individual As has been mentioned,See the sichah to Parshas Shemini in this series and the sources cited there. the counting of the omer is a preparation for the giving of the Torah. Therefore, directly after the 49 days of the omer, we ...