I pull out a recipe to get the exact measurements for baking powder or sugar. I reach for my scale or read through the “Nutrition Facts” label to count precisely how many calories I am consuming, careful to not take in more than I burn.

In the weeks between Passover and Shavuot, we “count the Omer,” the days leading up to receiving the Torah. I wonder, why do I count these days, as if the days will go quicker or slower, or stop at a certain point, due to my counting? Does my counting affect the day in any sense?

Counting the days leading up to the giving of the Torah doesn’t make the time go faster or slower, but it changes the status of the day. A routine day that happens to be between Passover and Shavuot transforms into a holy day—the day itself becomes a mitzvah. The commandment indicates that holiness is found not only in learning, praying or altruistic acts. By counting a day as the 14th or 33rd or 40th, one is actively elevating that day and is engaged in the holy work of transforming the physical into spiritual.

And it is women who are pros at permeating the mundane with holiness.1

Thoughtstream: Today, I will ensure that the day itself, not just the specific good deeds performed on this day, will have a taste of divinity.