On the second night of Pessah we will start counting the omer. The omer is understood as a measure of the first harvest of barley to be brought, in ancient times, to the Temple as an offering of gratitude. In an agricultural society, so dependent on the productivity of the land, counting and bringing the omer was a clear expression of understanding that a productive soil was the ultimate gift God could give the people. It was also an acknowledgement that prosperity is only possible when God’s gifts are coupled with people’s ingenuity.
Since the destruction of the Temple, and because most of us do not depend exclusively on the bounty of the soil, we must find a different understanding of this mitzvah. For me, sfirat ha’omer (the counting of the omer) is a period of strong spiritual examination. S’firat ha’omer links Pessah to Shavuot. Shavuot does not have a specific date listed in the Torah, only a mention that it comes seven weeks after Pessah. The counting of these seven weeks connects the experience of leaving slavery and the moment of Revelation at Sinai. We move from a space where we had no choices and no opportunity to rest to the time in which we received the document that defines our relationship with the Divine through the give and take of discussion and interpretation. S’firat Ha’omer links the experience of freedom from human oppression to the ultimate spiritual experience, the moment of revelation. It is a daily reminder, during those seven weeks, that for us to achieve a balanced spiritual life we must go through a process of transformation.
Jewish mystics interpreted this period as one of spiritual purification.
In order to receive the Torah fully and with open hearts in Shavuot, we have to shed the vestiges of our slavery to things and events that do not give us the freedom to live in relationship with God. The Jewish mystics envisioned a system where, through combining the seven lower sefirot (emanations of God’s energy according to the kabbalah) of the Tree of Life we would gain a more encompassing view of our lives, by understanding the interconnection of living beings, God, and creation. The seven lower sefirot are Hessed (love, kindness, loyalty to covenant), G’vurah (judgment, power, strength), Tiferet (harmony, beauty, mercy), Netzah (time, eternity, victory), Hod (glory, grateful acknowledgement, refinement), Yessod (foundation, connection), and Malhut (sometimes also referred as Shehinah, meaning presence, sovereignty, and making ideas into reality). Every week of the seven is ruled by one of the aspects, and every day we combine one of the aspects with that main aspect of the week.
During the sefirah (the counting of the omer) we take a few minutes every day to examine how the combination of different Divine attributes can help us interpret what is happening in our lives with equanimity and tranquility. Many feelings will arise from these daily meditations, even ones that are conflicting. Our mystical tradition invites us to be with these feelings, to explore them, to sit with the discomfort and welcome the moments of ease and calm that will invariably happen. The end goal of this process is to arrive in Shavuot different than we were at Pessah.
My hope for everyone this year, as we count the omer, is spiritual growth, the development of a more grateful heart, and the feeling that every step we take is bringing us closer to an era of peace and understanding. May we arrive at the holiday of Shavuot changed and renewed, ready for the true freedom resulting from a deep relationship with the Divine.