THOUGHTS ON COUNTING THE OMER
I previously talked about Passover being a recognition of a state of slavery and bondage, waking up to our condition, and making a decision to move out of slavery into freedom. The state of slavery (to negative thoughts, bad habits, unhealthful ways of being, letting ego be in control…) could be described spiritually as a katnut, a state of smallness and limitation, an immaturity. Passover challenges us to literally birth ourselves out of that small, narrow space and burst out into the light where we can begin to grow into maturity.
Slaves don’t have to question or think for themselves; they are told what to do and driven by the taskmaster, whether it be a real person (such as my father was), an addiction, or something in between. Becoming liberated is no easy task. When we do finally have the courage to break free, we are like children, immature. We need time to grow and learn and find our legs to stand on and our feet to walk.
That’s where we find ourselves now in our calendar. Passover has ended, and we are free. Our next major holiday observance is Shavuot, lesser known, but a pivotal remembrance. This is the time in between, the time when we are commanded to count the Omer. Sefirat HaOmer. Omer means “a sheaf.” It refers to the measure of grain that was once offered at the Temple in Jerusalem.
I previously talked about Passover being a recognition of a state of slavery and bondage, waking up to our condition, and making a decision to move out of slavery into freedom. The state of slavery (to negative thoughts, bad habits, unhealthful ways of being, letting ego be in control…) could be described spiritually as a katnut, a state of smallness and limitation, an immaturity. Passover challenges us to literally birth ourselves out of that small, narrow space and burst out into the light where we can begin to grow into maturity.
Slaves don’t have to question or think for themselves; they are told what to do and driven by the taskmaster, whether it be a real person (such as my father was), an addiction, or something in between. Becoming liberated is no easy task. When we do finally have the courage to break free, we are like children, immature. We need time to grow and learn and find our legs to stand on and our feet to walk.
That’s where we find ourselves now in our calendar. Passover has ended, and we are free. Our next major holiday observance is Shavuot, lesser known, but a pivotal remembrance. This is the time in between, the time when we are commanded to count the Omer. Sefirat HaOmer. Omer means “a sheaf.” It refers to the measure of grain that was once offered at the Temple in Jerusalem.
As
of the second night of Passover, we declare ourselves to have been
liberated from the bonds which held us back, and now we learn how to
live as a free people. Passover is the remembrance and celebration of
our physical liberation; Shavuot is about our spiritual
liberation. In anticipation, just as in our lives today we count the
days until special occasions, we count the Omer, the days, and weeks, in between Passover and Shavuot.
Counting the Omer begins on the second night of Passover. The journey began with our liberation from Egypt, and it builds to a climax with the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. Each and every day is counted, purposefully, intentionally, one day at a time. It is a long journey in uncharted territory. We are growing from child-slaves into free-thinking, mature adults.
Of special note to us is the fact that Shavuot is unique among the Jewish holidays. The Torah does not assign a calendar date for this day. It is instead celebrated the day after the counting of the Omer is concluded. It is observed on the fiftieth day.
This made me ponder about this journey to revelation, to the mountaintop of Sinai we commemorate on Shavuot. Is it not assigned a day perhaps because it is a journey we are always on? Wayne Dyer used to say, “There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.” In a similar manner, there is no day of revelation; the journey is the revelation. There is no single particular calendar day assigned to Shavuot because the journey is the revelation.
We gain maturity and spiritual growth and insight on the journey. It is on the journey that we grow from katnut, smallness, into gadlut, maturity. We learn to stand, and walk, on our own two feet, unshackled by ego. These seven weeks of journey give us time to develop and rebuild ourselves into responsible adults, so that we will be spiritually prepared for the revelation of Mt. Sinai at Shavuot.
Before we can reach the mountaintop, we tend to the daily minutiae. We count the Omer. Like children, we learn to count. We learn the basics. Numbers, colors, and A,B,C’s. We keep it simple. One day follows another. And then, at some point, if we remain open to the Holy, we reach the mountaintop, where we are now mature enough to receive the revelation that is loud and strong and unmistakably important. We cannot receive the revelation in a state of smallness, of katnut.
So we walk forward, and we count. At times, the journey may seem long and unending, and we fear running out of gas in the middle of nowhere in the darkest part of the night. Our destination uncertain and not at all within sight, counting the Omer reminds us to take it one day, one moment, one simple doable count of one at a time. One foot in front of the other. The journey of a thousand steps begins with just one. Counting the Omer is a very mindful, intentional action.
Part of the power of the Twelve Step programs in breaking free of addictions is to let go of the yesterdays and tomorrows and focus on just for today. In the same way, counting the Omer brings our focus back to the here and now. Today is day one. It is just a day and no more. We need do nothing more than we can reasonably do in this one day.
Before we know it, what felt impossible, what seemed like a desert wandering without water on a journey too long and impossible to complete, we find ourselves at the mountain of revelation. And in our counting, we are now ready to stand and BE counted as spiritually mature and responsible adults.
In counting the Omer, we do not mark it off on a calendar. We count it out loud, each day, naming the number of days and weeks, blessing it. We make space in our consciousness to affirm this one day and elevating it to a holy intention and attention. We make each ordinary day special because we name its number.
The Omer teaches us to count the days, one day at a time. And when we count the days, one day at a time, we also learn how to make every day count. In the process, we also lean how to be counted upon and accountable.
Wednesday, April 19th at sundown is Omer Day 9, one week and 2 days of the Omer.
Blessed be you, creator of space and time, who makes us holy and commands us to count the Omer.
May our days of counting make us more holy.
Amein.
Counting the Omer begins on the second night of Passover. The journey began with our liberation from Egypt, and it builds to a climax with the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. Each and every day is counted, purposefully, intentionally, one day at a time. It is a long journey in uncharted territory. We are growing from child-slaves into free-thinking, mature adults.
Of special note to us is the fact that Shavuot is unique among the Jewish holidays. The Torah does not assign a calendar date for this day. It is instead celebrated the day after the counting of the Omer is concluded. It is observed on the fiftieth day.
This made me ponder about this journey to revelation, to the mountaintop of Sinai we commemorate on Shavuot. Is it not assigned a day perhaps because it is a journey we are always on? Wayne Dyer used to say, “There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.” In a similar manner, there is no day of revelation; the journey is the revelation. There is no single particular calendar day assigned to Shavuot because the journey is the revelation.
We gain maturity and spiritual growth and insight on the journey. It is on the journey that we grow from katnut, smallness, into gadlut, maturity. We learn to stand, and walk, on our own two feet, unshackled by ego. These seven weeks of journey give us time to develop and rebuild ourselves into responsible adults, so that we will be spiritually prepared for the revelation of Mt. Sinai at Shavuot.
Before we can reach the mountaintop, we tend to the daily minutiae. We count the Omer. Like children, we learn to count. We learn the basics. Numbers, colors, and A,B,C’s. We keep it simple. One day follows another. And then, at some point, if we remain open to the Holy, we reach the mountaintop, where we are now mature enough to receive the revelation that is loud and strong and unmistakably important. We cannot receive the revelation in a state of smallness, of katnut.
So we walk forward, and we count. At times, the journey may seem long and unending, and we fear running out of gas in the middle of nowhere in the darkest part of the night. Our destination uncertain and not at all within sight, counting the Omer reminds us to take it one day, one moment, one simple doable count of one at a time. One foot in front of the other. The journey of a thousand steps begins with just one. Counting the Omer is a very mindful, intentional action.
Part of the power of the Twelve Step programs in breaking free of addictions is to let go of the yesterdays and tomorrows and focus on just for today. In the same way, counting the Omer brings our focus back to the here and now. Today is day one. It is just a day and no more. We need do nothing more than we can reasonably do in this one day.
Before we know it, what felt impossible, what seemed like a desert wandering without water on a journey too long and impossible to complete, we find ourselves at the mountain of revelation. And in our counting, we are now ready to stand and BE counted as spiritually mature and responsible adults.
In counting the Omer, we do not mark it off on a calendar. We count it out loud, each day, naming the number of days and weeks, blessing it. We make space in our consciousness to affirm this one day and elevating it to a holy intention and attention. We make each ordinary day special because we name its number.
The Omer teaches us to count the days, one day at a time. And when we count the days, one day at a time, we also learn how to make every day count. In the process, we also lean how to be counted upon and accountable.
Wednesday, April 19th at sundown is Omer Day 9, one week and 2 days of the Omer.
Blessed be you, creator of space and time, who makes us holy and commands us to count the Omer.
May our days of counting make us more holy.
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