WHAT IS SEFIRAT HA-OMER - The Counting of the Omer?

WHAT IS SEFIRAT HA-OMER - The Counting of the Omer?

“When you take this people out of Egypt,” said G-d to Moses when He revealed Himself to him in a burning bush at the foot of Mount Sinai, “you shall serve G-d on this mountain.”

The mechanism to connect the Exodus with the giving of the Torah is a simple one-counting the days. In Leviticus 23:15-16 we are commanded to bring an omer, "a measure of grain" and then to count seven weeks, a total of fifty days from the second day of Pesach (as the Rabbis interpret these verses). In fact, this counting provides the name for the holiday for the giving of the Torah, Shavuot, meaning "weeks." So important is this counting that we thank God for commanding us to do it, saying a blessing before we mention the number each night until Shavuot. The process is called S'firat HaOmer, the Counting of the Omer.

And so, each year, we retrace this inner journey with our “Counting of the Omer”, in Hebrew called S’firat HaOmer.

It took seven weeks to reach the mountain. The people of Israel departed Egypt on the 15th of Nissan (the first day of Passover); on the 6th of Sivan, celebrated ever since as the festival of Shavuot, they assembled at the foot of Mount Sinai and received the Torah from G d.

The mystics offer an opinion that the 49 days that connect Passover with Shavuot correspond to the 49 drives and traits of the human heart. Each day saw the refinement of one of these traits, bringing the people of Israel one step closer to their election as G d’s chosen people and their receiving of His communication to humanity.

My Creator, please, through the counting, let me find the light within myself. Show me how to fill my mind with the needs of others so that I can step away from self-absorption and grow. Show me how to love other people as You want me to and realign me on a spiritual pathway. Help me to illuminate the world and others with a brilliant spiritual light of caring and selflessness.  

Each year, we retrace this inner journey with our “Counting of the Omer.” Beginning on the second night of Passover, we count the days and weeks: “Today is one day to the Omer”; “Today is two days to the Omer”; “Today is seven days, which are one week to the Omer”; and so on, till “Today is forty-nine days, which are seven weeks to the Omer.”

Shavuot, the “Festival of Weeks,” is the product of this count, driven by the miracles and revelations of the Exodus but achieved by a methodical, 49-step process of self-refinement within the human soul.

BA-RUCH A-TAH ADO-NAI E-LO-HE-NU ME-LECH HA-OLAM ASHER KID-E-SHA-NU BE-MITZ-VO-TAV VETZI-VA-NU AL SEFI-RAT HA-OMER.
 

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the counting of the Omer.