Dear Readers,
On the second night of Passover, Thursday evening, we begin to count the omer until Shavuot, 49 days.
I love counting the Omer! I keep a reminder on my phone for the entire time and hope that I remember each night to count because the challenge is if you forget a night, you can still count, but without the counting the omer blessing. A challenge for our memories!
It’s the April- May challenge!
Can you get to the end of the Omer
without losing the count?
More on the meaning of counting the Omer ( please do open the links at the bottom of this page) but for now a challenge to you and to me.
For each day of the Omer can you find something to be grateful for? Something different each and every day? 49 distinct thoughts about something you value? This is a perfect time, as spring comes, to be mindful and pay attention to what is around us and to show appreciation.
Don’t forget to jot what you are grateful for down so that you don’t forget and can look back at what you have already shown gratitude for!
No need to share it with anyone; this is a personal challenge!
Let's take it together!
Chag Sameach and Happy Counting!
Leann
This comes from My Jewish Learning on counting the omer:
The counting of the omer begins on the second night of Passover. Jews in the Diaspora generally integrate this counting into the second seder.
The omer is counted each evening after sundown. The counting of the omer is generally appended to the end of Ma’ariv (the evening service), as well.
One stands when counting the omer, and begins by reciting the following blessing:
Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu Melekh ha’Olam asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tizivanu al sefirat ha’omer. Blessed are you, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the Universe, who has sanctified us with your commandments and commanded us to count the omer.
After the blessing, one recites the appropriate day of the count. For example:
Hayom yom echad la’omer Today is the first day of the omer.
After the first six days, one also includes the number of weeks that one has counted. For example:
Hayom sh’losha asar yom, she’hem shavuah echad v’shisha yamim la’omer Today is 13 days, which is one week and six days of the omer
The blessing for counting the omer, as well as the language for each day of counting, appears in most prayer books at the end of the text for the evening service.
Because the blessing should precede the counting (and not the other way around), many Jews will not say what day of the omer it is until after the ritual counting. Thus, the reminder about what day to count is often phrased as “yesterday was the fifth day of the omer.”
Many people precede the counting of the omer with a meditation that states one’s intention to fulfill the commandment. This meditation serves to focus the individual on the task at hand and to remind him/her of the biblical basis of the commandment:
Hineni muchan um’zuman l’kayem mitzvat aseh shel s’firat ha’omer k’mo shekatuv baTorah: Us’fartem lakhem mimaharat hashabbat miyom havi’echem et omer hat’nufa, sheva shabbatot t’mimot tihiyenah. Ad mimaharat hashabbat hash’vi’it tisp’ru chamishim yom. Behold, I am ready and prepared to fulfill the mitzvah of counting the omer, as it says in the Torah: You shall count from the eve of the second day of Pesach, when an omer of grain is to be brought as an offering, seven complete weeks. The day after the seventh week of your counting will make fifty days.
For more on counting the Omer:
