Counting of the Omer

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Counting of the Omer (or Sefirat Ha'omer, Hebrew: ספירת העומר, literally, "Counting of the Sheaves") is a verbal counting of each of the 49 days between the Jewish holidays of Passover and Shavuot. This mitzvah derives from the Torah commandment to count 49 days beginning from the day on which the Omer, a measure of barley, was offered in the Temple in Jerusalem, up until the day before an offering of wheat was brought to the Temple on Shavuot. The Counting of the Omer begins on the second day of Passover and ends the day before the holiday of Shavuot.

The idea of counting each day represents spiritual preparation and anticipation for the giving of the Torah, which was given by God on Mount Sinai on the 50th day, Shavuot. The Sefer HaChinuch states that the Jewish people were only freed from Egypt at Passover in order to receive the Torah at Shavuot and to fulfill its laws. Thus the Counting of the Omer demonstrates how much a Jew desires to accept the Torah in his own life.

1 Source
2 Background
3 The count
4 Deeper symbolism
5 As a period of semi-mourning
6 Lag Ba'omer
7 External links

[edit] Source

The commandment for counting the Omer is recorded in Leviticus 23:15-16:

15. And you shall count for yourselves, from the morrow of the rest day from the day you bring the Omer as a wave offering, seven weeks; they shall be complete.

16. You shall count until the day after the seventh week, [namely] the fiftieth day, [on which] you shall bring a new meal offering to the Lord.

[edit] Background

The omer is a Biblical measure of volume of grain. On the second day of Passover, an omer of barley was offered in the Temple, signalling the allowance of the consumption of chadash (grains from the new harvest). On the 50th day after the beginning of the count, corresponding to the holiday of Shavuot, two loaves made of wheat were offered in the Temple to signal the start of the wheat harvest.

In keeping with the themes of spiritual growth and character development during this period, the Jewish sages compare the process of growth to the two types of grain offered at either pole of the counting period. In ancient times, barley was an animal food and wheat, a human food. At Passover, the Jews were raised out of the Egyptian exile although they had sunken almost to the point of no return. The Exodus was unearned, a gift from God, like the food of animals who are not expected to develop their spiritual potential. For the next 49 days, however, the Jewish people worked on themselves to be able to receive the Torah on their own merit. The receiving of the Torah required spiritual elevation and active cooperation. Thus the Shavuot offering is "people food"[1].

[edit] The count

As soon as it is definitely night (approximately 30 minutes after sundown), the one who is counting the Omer recites this blessing:

"Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech HaOlam asher kidishanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu al Sefirat Ha'omer"

("Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to count the Omer.")

Then he or she states the Omer-count in terms of both total days and weeks and days. For example, on the 23rd day the count would be stated thus: "Today is twenty-three days, which is three weeks and two days of (or "in"[2]) the Omer." The count is said in Hebrew.

According to the Halakha, a person may only recite the blessing while it is still night. If he or she remembers the count the next morning or afternoon, the count may still be made, but without a blessing. If one forgets to count a day altogether, he or she may continue to count succeeding days, but without a blessing.

"Omer-counters" are typically offered for sale during this time, and are displayed in synagogues for the benefit of worshippers who count the Omer with the congregation at the conclusion of evening services. Omer-counters range from decorative boxes with an interior scroll that shows each day's count through a small opening; to posters and magnets in which each day's count is recorded on a tear-off piece of paper; to calendars depicting all seven weeks and 49 days of the Omer (a small pointer is advanced from day to day); to pegboards that keep track of both the day and the week of the Omer. Reminders to count the Omer are also produced for hand-held computers and via SMS services for cell phones.

[edit] Deeper symbolism

In Kabbalah, each of the seven weeks of the Omer-counting is associated with one of the seven lower sefirot (#4-10): Chesed, Gevurah, Tipheret, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut. Each day of each week is also associated with one of these same seven sefirot, creating 49 permutations. The first day of the Omer is therefore associated with "chesed that is in chesed", the second day with "gevurah that is in chesed"; the first day of the second week is associated with "chesed that is in gevurah," the second day of the second week with "gevurah that is in gevurah," and so on. Symbolically, each of these 49 permutations represents an aspect of each person's character that needs to be rectified. Rabbi Simon Jacobson explains these 49 levels in his classic book, The Spiritual Guide to Counting the Omer. [3].

The 49-day period of counting the Omer is also a conducive time to study the teaching of the Mishna in Pirkei Avoth 6:6, which enumerates the "48 ways" by which Torah is acquired. Rabbi Aharon Kotler explains that the study of each "way" can be done on each of the first 48 days of the Omer-counting; on the 49th day, one should review all the "ways"[4].

[edit] As a period of semi-mourning

The period of counting the Omer is also a time of semi-mourning, during which the Halakha forbids haircuts, shaving, listening to music, or conducting weddings, parties, and dinners with dancing, in memory of a plague that killed the 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva. According to the Talmud, 12,000 chavrusas (pairs of study partners) were divinely killed during the days of the Omer-counting for not honoring one another properly. Their death was a tremendous blow to the future leadership of the Jewish nation, and thus called for a national period of mourning. The plague only ceased on Lag Ba'omer, the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer, so on that day, all the rules of mourning are lifted (some Sephardim, however, continue the mourning period up until the 34th day of the Omer, which is considered by them to be the day of joy and celebration).

In practice, different Jewish communities observe different periods of mourning. Some families listen to music during the week of Passover and then commence the period of mourning until Lag Ba'omer. Some Sephardic Jewish families begin the period of mourning from the first day of the Hebrew month of Iyar and continue for 33 days until the 3rd of Sivan. The custom among Jerusalemites (minhag Yerushalmi) is to follow the mourning practices during the entire Counting of the Omer, save for the day of Lag Ba'omer and the last three days of the counting (sheloshet yemei hagbalah). The extent of mourning is also based heavily on family custom, and therefore Jews will mourn to different degrees.

Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein, author of Aruch Hashulchan, postulates that the mourning period also memorializes Jews who were murdered during the Crusades, pogroms and blood libels that occurred in Europe 1,000 years after the Torah was given[5].

Non-traditional theorists suggest that the period of mourning was borrowed from the Roman superstition that May is an unlucky month, and that the associations with the plague and Crusades are later developments. The Romans had a similar custom of not marrying during the month of May, as that was the time of the Feast of the Lemures.

One Reconstructionist rabbi claims that since the first spring grain harvest is quite vulnerable during this period, the tone of anxiety naturally felt by Middle Eastern farmers at this time of year needed to be reflected in the ritual calendar[6].

[edit] Lag Ba'omer

Main article: Lag Ba'omer

Besides being the day on which the plague affecting Rabbi Akiva's students ceased, Lag Ba'omer marks the yahrzeit of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. After the death of Rabbi Akiva's 24,000 students, Rabbi Akiva taught five students, among them Rabbi Shimon. The latter went on to become the greatest teacher of Torah in his generation. On the day of his death, he revealed the deepest secrets of the Torah in a Kabbalistic work called the Zohar.

According to the Zohar, Rabbi Shimon's house was filled with fire and light that entire day as he taught his students. At the end of the day, the fire subsided and Rabbi Shimon died[7]. On successive years, his students sought to recreate that experience of light and mystical revelation by kindling bonfires and studying the Zohar in the light of the flames.

Although the anniversary of the death of a tzaddik is usually a mournful day, the anniversary of Rabbi Shimon's death on Lag Ba'omer is a festive one. Bonfires are lit and people sing and dance by the flames. Weddings, parties, listening to music, picnics, and haircuts are commonplace.