What’s an Omer, and Why are We Counting Them?
Rabbi Sara Brandes is a member of the Shekhina Council of At The Well, and Executive Director at the Or HaLev: Center for Jewish Spirituality and Meditation. She makes her home with her family on Kibbutz Hannaton, in the Lower Galili and is author of Magical World: Stories, Reflections, Poems.
Counting is a powerful practice, and a deeply human thing. We count lovers, calories, sheep at night when we can’t sleep.
In a ritual known as “The Counting of the Omer” sefirat ha’omer in Hebrew, the Torah instructs us to number off every day of the 49 days that separate Passover, our festival of freedom, from Shavuot, the day we celebrate the receiving of the Torah. Like all Biblical holidays, all three - Passover, the Omer, and Shavuot (and Sukkot as well) - have agriculturally connections, so an “Omer” is a sheaf of grain, and the “counting of the Omer” happens during the seven weeks that separate the wheat and barley harvest from the First Fruits offerings on Shavuot.
So, why counting and why these days?
The answer is found in the secret of the number seven.
The number seven is code for two things in the Torah - wholeness and holiness - and its the base unit for the way sacred time is arranged in the biblical view. The seventh day is the day of rest. When the priests get the tabernacle ready to be God’s house, they do a seven day ritual to prepare. Harvest festivals last seven days, and a baby boy gets seven days in the world before undergoing circumcision. When we count the omer, we count seven sets of seven, each week building on the one before, like a spiral staircase, helping us to make the climb up to wherever it is that revelation happens for us.
To support us on our way, the 16th century Kabbalists offered a special intention for each week, each inspired by one of the sefirot or attributes of the Divine.
Week One - “Hesed” (Loving Kindness)
What it would it feel like to look at your life through the lens of love, to just love it all, no matter what?
Week Two - “Gevurah” (Heroic Discipline)
This is the week that you work the power of setting limits and knowing just how and when it’s time to say “no.”
Week Three - “Tiferet” (Splendor)
This is the week to say “Hineni - Here I am, world.” I walk with love, I know my limits, and I’m here on a mission.
Week Four - “Netzah” (Eternity)
This is the week of wrestling with our egos, of feeling the ways that we are finite and the ways that we are limitless, an important step in claiming our power.
Week Five - “Hod” (Beauty)
This is the week for deep inner beauty, as Hod is all about humility and finding the courage to ask for help when we need it.
Week Six - “Yesod” (Foundation)
This is the week of fire and of feeling our sexual power. Our journey is going to come together next week, with the Divine union of spiritual and physical, but to get there, we get to spend the week honoring the yearning all creatures feel for connection.
Week Seven “Shekhina”
We’ve climbed the inner ladder to find the Goddess Herself awaiting us there. This is the week we look for Her face in all things, and in ourselves.
what’s wholeness to you?
So, the question for you during this season of the Counting of the Omer is, what’s wholeness to you, and what’s keeping you from getting there? Can you use the ancient biblical practice of numbering off these first days of spring to plant seeds of wholeness? Can you water them every day, by counting that day and making it count, so that when the first fruits festival arrives, it can be you who is harvested?
Today is the 17 day of the Omer, which is 2 weeks and 3 days of the Omer. Tiferet of Tiferet, or, the day you are called to show up in the world, fully as the rockstar you are!
If you want more guidance on counting, Like the Gene-sis on Facebook for daily Omer intentions from wise woman Rishe Groner, or for weekly guidance check out Sara’s eCourse linking “The Awakened Body” to the Counting of the Omer here.