![]() Vas far a qvestion! There’s a blessing for everything in Judaism. Is there a “bracha,” or blessing, made in connection with the Counting of the Omer? ![]() Is there a Sefirat HaOmer Calendar for this Year?įor a Calendar-like Chart linking English Dates to Sefirat HaOmer Counts for this year, see the Sefirat HaOmer Calendar. Seriously, the formula for counting each of the forty-nine nights of Sefirat HaOmer is given by the Transliterated (Alef Bet to English Alphabet) and Translated Sefirat HaOmer Counting Chart, (what a mouthful!) derived from The Seif Edition of the Transliterated Siddur (Weekday Version). OK! The chemical formula for table salt, an important ingredient in Jewish cooking, is NaCl, or Sodium Chloride. Stop! The Question was, “With what formula does one count Sefira?” Should a person be in any particular position when counting (sitting, standing, leaning (on one’s left side) lying down)?Įvery person who is able to, should stand while counting. Our act of accepting the Torah also represented our decision to dedicate our lives to the service of the one legitimate “master,” Hashem, the Creator. Shavuot, which commemorates the Giving of the Torah by G-d to Man, represents Spiritual Freedom, in that it raises man above idol worship, self-worship and superstition. Instead, it is like the “Yovel,” the Jubilee Year, the fiftieth year which follows seven Shemittah cycles, the Year of Freedom. The Count ends on the forty-ninth night, the night before the Festival of Shavuot. ![]() In the “Golah,” the Exile or Diaspora, it is the night of the Second Seder. In modern times, in Israel, this is the First Intermediate Night of Passover. The Count begins on the night of the sixteenth day of Nisan, preceding the day on which the Omer Offering was brought at the Temple. (What, after all, was Moshe doing for forty days and forty nights on Mount Sinai, if not learning and internalizing the Oral Law from the Master Teacher!) The beauty of “Halacha,” the Jewish way of life, which recognizes both the Written and the Oral Law as being of Divine Origin, is that it is able to harmonize statements which may appear unreasonable by themselves with the clarifying light and interpretation of the Oral Law, which also came from Sinai. The Oral Law would explain that a pre-existing flame, lit before Shabbat, was OK it was not the Torah’s intention that we should not have any flame, just that we should not light a flame! (How could we possibly have survived without hot chicken soup and cholent?) They accepted only the Written Law, but rejected the Oral Law.įor example, when the Torah says, “Lo teva’aru esh b’chol moshvoteichem b’Yom HaShabbat,” “Do not light any fire in all your dwellings on the Day of Shabbat,” they understood that to mean that Jews were to stay in cold, dark houses, and eat only cold food on Shabbat. They interpreted the Torah strictly literally, and insisted that HaShabbat, as in the above verse, meant only the Seventh Day for them, Shavuot therefore always fell on Sunday. There was a group, called the Tzedukim, who rejected the Traditions of the Rabbis. Thus, the day of the week on which Shavuot, the fiftieth day after the beginning of the count, falls, varies and is not always Sunday. “Holiday” here means the first day of Passover. Jewish Tradition interprets the words “Mi’Macharat HaShabbat,” as meaning “from the day after the holiday,” rather than the day after Shabbat, or Sunday. Until (but not including) the day after the Seventh Week, you shall count (until) the fiftieth day, and you shall bring a new Meal Offering to Hashem.” “And you shall count for yourselves – from the day after the holiday, from the day on which the waved Omer Offering is brought, seven complete weeks. “U’Sefartem lachem Mi’Mochorat HaShabbat,…” We find in the Third Book of the Torah, “VaYikra,” or Leviticus (so-called because much (but far from all) of its content is directed, for practical purposes, at the Tribe of Levi) Chapter 23, verses 15-16, the following:
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