| Counting of the Omer | |
|---|---|
 Omer Calendar | |
| Observed by | Jews (In various forms also by:Samaritans;Messianic Jews and otherChristians,some groups claiming affiliation with Israelites) |
| Type | Jewish and Samaritan, religious |
| Begins | 16 Nisan |
| Ends | 5 Sivan |
| 2024 date | Sunset, 23 April – nightfall, 11 June |
| 2025 date | Sunset, 13 April – nightfall, 1 June |
| 2026 date | Sunset, 2 April – nightfall, 21 May |
| 2027 date | Sunset, 22 April – nightfall, 10 June |
| Related to | Passover,Shavuot |
| Part ofa series on |
| Judaism |
|---|
   |
Counting of the Omer (Hebrew:סְפִירַת הָעוֹמֶר,Sefirat HaOmer, sometimes abbreviated asSefira) is a ritual inJudaism. It consists of a verbal counting of each of the 49 days between the holidays ofPassover andShavuot. The period of 49 days is known as the "omer period" or simply as "the omer" or "sefirah".[1]
The count has its origins in the biblical command of theOmer offering (or sheaf-offering), which was offered on Passover, and after which 49 days were counted, and the Shavuot holiday was observed. The Temple sacrifices have not been offered since the destruction of theTemple in Jerusalem, but the counting until Shavuot is still performed. Shavuot is the only major Jewish holiday for which no calendar date is specified in the Torah; rather, its date is determined by the omer count.[1]
The Counting of theOmer begins on the second day of Passover (the 16th ofNisan) forRabbinic Jews (Orthodox,Conservative,Reform), and after the weeklyShabbat during Passover forKaraite Jews. According to all practices, the 49-day count ends the day before Shavuot, which is the 'fiftieth day' of the count.
Theomer ("sheaf") is an oldBiblical measure of volume of unthreshed stalks ofgrain, the amount of grain used for the Temple offering.[2]
The commandment for counting the Omer is recorded within the Torah inLeviticus 23:9–21:
When ye are come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring the sheaf (omer) of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest. And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you; on the morrow after the day of rest the priest shall wave it. ... Andye shall count unto you from the morrow after the day of rest, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the waving; seven weeks shall there be complete; even unto the morrow after the seventh week shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall present a new meal-offering unto the LORD. ... And ye shall make proclamation on the selfsame day; there shall be a holy convocation unto you; ye shall do no manner of servile work; it is a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
As well as inDeuteronomy 16:9–12:
Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee;from the time the sickle is first put to the standing corn shalt thou begin to number seven weeks. And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God...
The obligation in post-Temple destruction times is a matter of dispute, as the Temple offerings which depend on the omer count are no longer offered. WhileRambam (Maimonides) suggests that the omer count obligation is still biblical, most other commentaries assume that it is of a rabbinic origin in modern times.[3]
As soon as it is definitely night (approximately thirty minutes after sundown), the one who is counting theOmer recites this blessing:
Barukh atah, A-donai E-loheinu, Melekh Ha-ʿolam, asher qid'shanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu ʿal S'firat Ha-ʿomer.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to count the Omer.
Then he or she states theOmer-count in terms of both total days and weeks and days. For example:
The wording of the count differs slightly between customs: the last Hebrew word is eitherlaomer (literally "to the omer") orbaomer (literally "in the omer"). Both customs are valid according tohalakha.[4]
The count is generally inHebrew; it may also be counted in any language, however one must understand what one is saying.[5]
The counting is preferably done at night, at the beginning of the Jewish day. If one realizes the next morning or afternoon that they have not yet counted, the count may still be made, but without a blessing. If one forgets to count a day altogether, he or she may continue to count succeeding days, but without a blessing.[6]
In the rabbinic chronology, the giving of the Torah atMount Sinai happened on Shavuot. Thus, the omer period is one of preparation and anticipation for the giving of the Torah.[7] According toAruch HaShulchan, already in EgyptMoses announced to the Israelites that they would celebrate a religious ceremony atMount Sinai once 50 days had passed, and the people was so excited by this that they counted the days until that ceremony took place. Homiletically, in modern times when the Temple sacrifices of Shavuot are not offered, counting the omer still has a purpose as a remembrance of the counting up to Sinai.[8]
One explanation for the Counting of the Omer is that it shows the connection between Passover and Shavuot. The physical freedom that the Hebrews achieved at the Exodus from Egypt was only the beginning of a process that climaxed with the spiritual freedom they gained at the giving of the Torah on Shavuot. TheSefer HaChinuch states that the Israelites were only freed fromEgypt at Passover in order to receive the Torah.[9] The Counting of theOmer demonstrates how much a Jew desires to accept the Torah in their own life.
According toMaharal, there is a symbolic contrast between theomer offering (offered on Passover) and the Shavuot sacrifice (shtei halechem) offered upon conclusion of the omer. The former consists of barley, which is typically an animal food, and represents the low and passive spiritual level of the Israelites immediately upon leaving Egypt; while the latter consists of wheat and represents the high and active spiritual level of the Israelites upon receiving the Torah.[10]
In Israel, the omer period coincides with the final ripening period of wheat before it is harvested around Shavuot. In this period, the quality of the harvest is very sensitive, and can easily be ruined by bad weather.[11] Thus, the omer period stresses human vulnerability and dependence on God.[12]
According toNahmanides, Passover and Shavuot effectively form one extended holiday, with the seven weeks of the omer paralleling the seven days of Passover orSukkot, and the omer period parallelingChol Hamoed.[13]
Karaite Jews andIsraelite Samaritans begin counting theOmer on the day after the weekly Sabbath duringPassover, rather than on the second day of Passover (the 16th of Nisan).
This is due to differing interpretations ofLeviticus 23:15–16, where the Torah says to begin counting from the "morrow after the day of rest".[14] Rabbinic Jews interpret the "day of rest" to be the first day of Passover, while Karaites and Samaritans understand it to be the first weekly Sabbath that falls during Passover. Thus, the Karaite and Samaritan Shavuot is always on a Sunday, although the actual Hebrew date varies (which complements the fact that a specific date is never given for Shavuot in the Torah, the only holiday for which this is the case).[15][16][17] Historically, Karaite and Karaite-adjacent religious leaders such asAnan ben David,Benjamin Nahawandi,Muhammad ibn Isma'il,Musa of Tiflis (founder of a 9th-century Jewish movement in Babylon); and Malik al Ramli (founder of a 9th-century Jewish movement in the Land of Israel) concluded that Shavuot should fall out on a Sunday.[18] This is also the opinion ofCatholics[19] and the historicalSadducees andBoethusians.
The counting of Karaite and Rabbinic Jews coincides when the first day of Passover is on the Sabbath. Samaritan Judaism has an additional difference: because the date of the Samaritan Passover usually differs from the Jewish one by approximately one lunar month,[20] the Karaite and Samaritan counting rarely coincides, despite each beginning on a Sunday.
Ethiopian Jews traditionally had yet another practice: they interpreted the "day of rest" to be thelast day of Passover, rather than being the first day (as in rabbinic tradition) or else the Sabbath (as for Karaites).
"Omer-counters" (לוּחַ סְפִירָת הָעוֹמֶר) are devices which aid in remembering the correct day of the omer count. They are often on display insynagogues for the benefit of worshippers who count theOmer with the congregation at the conclusion of evening services.Omer-counters come in varying forms such as:
Reminders to count theOmer are also produced for tablet computers and viaSMS formobile phones.
An omer counter from the 19th century inLancaster, Pennsylvania is preserved at theHerbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies.[21]
The omer period has developed into a time of semi-mourning in Jewish custom.
Traditionally, the mourning is in memory of the death ofRabbi Akiva's 24,000 students, as described in theTalmud.[22] (According to the Talmud they died in a "plague" as punishment for not honoring one another properly, but the Sephardic manuscript ofIggeret of Rabbi Sherira Gaon describes them as dying due to "persecution" (shmad), and based on this some modern scholars have suggested that they died in theBar Kokhba revolt.[23]) RabbiYechiel Michel Epstein (author ofAruch HaShulchan) postulates that the mourning period also memorializes Jews who were murdered during theCrusades,pogroms, andblood libels that occurred inEurope.[24] The observance of mourning customs was strengthened after theRhineland massacres andCossack riots which occurred in the Omer period.[25] In modern times,the Holocaust is generally included among those events which are memorialized, in particularYom HaShoah is observed during theOmer.[26]
Mourning practices are observed for only part of the Omer period, with different communities observing different parts. Some families listen to music during the week ofPassover and then commence the period of mourning until Lag BaOmer. SomeSephardic Jewish families begin the period of mourning from the first day of the Hebrew month ofIyar and continue for 33 days until the third ofSivan. The custom among Jerusalemites (minhag Yerushalmi) is to follow the mourning practices during the entire Counting of the Omer, save for the day ofLag BaOmer and the last three days of the counting (sheloshet yemei hagbalah) prior to the onset ofShavuot. ManyReligious Zionists suspend some or all of the mourning customs onYom Ha'atzmaut (Israel's Independence Day). The extent of mourning is also based heavily on family custom, and therefore Jews will mourn to different degrees.
Lag BaOmer, the thirty-third day of the Omer, is considered to be the day on which the students stopped dying, so all the rules of mourning are lifted. SomeSephardi Jews, however, continue the mourning period up until the 34th day of theOmer, which is considered by them to be the day of joy and celebration.Spanish and Portuguese Jews do not observe these customs.
During the days of mourning, custom generally forbids haircuts, shaving, listening to live music, or conducting weddings, parties, and dinners with dancing.[27] Some religious Jews shave each Friday afternoon during the mourning period of theOmer in order to be neat in honor of the Shabbat, and some men do so in order to appear neat in their places of employment.
According to someRishonim, it is the day on which the plague that killedRabbi Akiva's 24,000 disciples came to an end, and for this reason the mourning period ofSefirat HaOmer concludes on Lag BaOmer in many communities.[28]
According to modernkabbalistic tradition, this day is theCelebration ofSimeon ben Yochai and/or the anniversary of his death. According to alate-medieval tradition, Simeon ben Yochai is buried in Meron, and this association has spawned several well-known customs and practices on Lag BaOmer, including the lighting ofbonfires and pilgrimages toMeron.[29]
The period of the counting of theOmer is considered to be a time of potential for inner growth—for a person to work on one's good characteristics (middot) through reflection and development of one aspect each day for the 49 days of the counting.
InKabbalah, each of the seven weeks of theOmer-counting is associated with one of the seven lowersefirot (Chesed,Gevurah,Tiferet,Netzach,Hod,Yesod,Malkuth). Similarly, each day of each week is associated with one of these same sevensefirot, creating forty-nine permutations. The first day of theOmer is therefore associated with "chesed that is inchesed" (loving kindness within loving kindness), the second day with "gevurah that is inchesed" (might within loving kindness); the first day of the second week is associated with "chesed that is ingevurah" (loving-kindness within might), the second day of the second week with "gevurah that is ingevurah" (might within might), and so on.
Symbolically, each of these 49 permutations represents an aspect of each person's character that can be improved or further developed. Recent books which present these 49 permutations as a daily guide to personal character growth have been published by RabbiSimon Jacobson[30][31] and RabbiYaacov Haber and David Sedley.[32][33] The workCounting the Omer: A Kabbalistic Meditation Guide[34] includes meditations, activities andkavvanot (proper mindset) for each of the kabbalistic four worlds for each of the 49 days.
The 49-day period of counting the Omer is also a conducive time to study the teaching of theMishnah inPirkei Avot 6:6, which enumerates the "48 ways" by which Torah is acquired. RabbiAharon Kotler (1891–1962) explains that the study of each "way" can be done on each of the first forty-eight days of theOmer-counting; on the forty-ninth day, one should review all the "ways."[35]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
