Cantors Corner
Torah Explorer – Parshat Emor – Sefirat Ha-Omer
Thursday, May 4, 2023
I’m down for the count!
Right now, we are in the middle of counting the days, the 49 days or 7 weeks between the Festivals of Passover and Shavuot, known as Sefirat Ha-omer. We Jews have a thing about counting days – the 10 Days of Repentance, beginning with Rosh Hashana and ending with Yom Kippur; the 9 days (of Av) leading up to the fast of Tisha B’Av; the 7 days of Shiva, or mourning after the burial of a loved one; Sh’loshim — the 30 days of mourning after a burial; the 7 days of Niddah (a woman’s impurity from menstruation), and so forth. We are supposed to count our blessings – and recite at least 100 a day to express our gratitude. We are counted in a minyan, the requisite 10 adult Jews to form a quorum for prayer. We count the days and nights of Chanukah as we fill the menorah with more candles each evening. There is also the Jewish superstition to NOT count, by looking around the room to see if there is a minyan present, saying, not 1, not 2, not 3. . .
So, why the practice of counting the days between Passover and Shavuot? Most prominently, it is in this week’s Torah portion, Emor: “You shall count off seven weeks. They must be complete: you must count until the day after the seventh week – fifty days; then you shall bring an offering of new grain to the Lord.” (Lev. 23:15-16) “[Certain] rabbinic sources link the omer count to the Israelites’ experience in the desert. According to these sources, at the time of the Exodus, Moses announced that 50 days later they would celebrate a religious ceremony at Mount Sinai. The populace was so excited by this that they counted the days until that ceremony took place. Later (according to the sources), when the Temple was destroyed and the omer offering ceased, the rabbis instituted omer counting as a remembrance of the counting up to Sinai.” [Aruch Hashulchan Orach Chaim 489:2; quoting Ran, end of Pesachim] As with many of our observances and practices, the origins were agricultural. Today, among its several names, Shavuot is called, “Z’man Matan Torateinu,” the time of giving & receiving Torah at Sinai. In order to prepare ourselves to receive the Torah, we observe a simulated period of mourning and self-introspection during Sefirah – refraining from cutting our hair, shaving beards, listening to live music, holding weddings, and more. Historically, Sefirah is linked to a plague of Rabbi Akiva’s students, some 24,000 who perished, as well as the yahrtzeit of one of Akiva’s most famous students, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Only on Lag B’Omer (the 33rd day of the counting) did the plague cease. Lag B’omer has no true rituals or liturgy associated with the day. Celebrations include first haircuts for 3-year-old boys, picnics, bonfires, BBQ’s, and for some reason, shooting a bow & arrow!
Here is a beautiful melody set to the blessing of counting the Omer, by Rabbi Yosef Goldman. (You can always count on me to include a tune or two in the weekly Torah Explorer!)
Shabbat Shalom!
Cantor Carol Chesler