What is the Omer? - text study

LilyFish Gomberg

A Biblical Commandment:

Leviticus 23:15:

And you shall count for yourselves from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that you brought the ῾omer of the wave offering; seven complete sabbaths shall there be:

וּסְפַרְתֶּ֤ם לָכֶם֙ מִמׇּחֳרַ֣ת הַשַּׁבָּ֔ת מִיּוֹם֙ הֲבִ֣יאֲכֶ֔ם אֶת־עֹ֖מֶר הַתְּנוּפָ֑ה שֶׁ֥בַע שַׁבָּת֖וֹת תְּמִימֹ֥ת תִּהְיֶֽינָה׃


Deuteronomy 16

8 Six days shall you eat matzoth [i.e., You may eat matzoth of the new grain (after the omer offering on the second day) and you may eat it seven days from the old grain], and on the seventh day is a holding back [from labor] for HaShem your G!d; you shall do no work. 

9 Seven weeks shall you count for yourself; from the beginning of the sickle in the standing corn [i.e., from the cutting of the omer, which is the beginning of the harvest] shall you begin to count seven weeks. 

10 And you shall make a festival of weeks (shavuoth) to HaShem your G!d, the sufficiency of the offering of your hand, which you shall give as HaShem your G!d shall bless you [i.e., In accordance with the amplitude of G!d’s blessing, bring peace-offerings of joy and invite guests for the repast.]

8 שֵׁ֥שֶׁת יָמִ֖ים תֹּאכַ֣ל מַצּ֑וֹת וּבַיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֗י עֲצֶ֙רֶת֙ HaShem אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ לֹ֥א תַעֲשֶׂ֖ה מְלָאכָֽה׃

9 שִׁבְעָ֥ה שָׁבֻעֹ֖ת תִּסְפׇּר־לָ֑ךְ מֵהָחֵ֤ל חֶרְמֵשׁ֙ בַּקָּמָ֔ה תָּחֵ֣ל לִסְפֹּ֔ר שִׁבְעָ֖ה שָׁבֻעֽוֹת׃

10 וְעָשִׂ֜יתָ חַ֤ג שָׁבֻעוֹת֙ לַHaShem אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ מִסַּ֛ת נִדְבַ֥ת יָדְךָ֖ אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּתֵּ֑ן כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר יְבָרֶכְךָ֖ HaShem אֱלֹהֶֽיךָ

Tachlis:

Menachot 65b:10 


The Sages taught in a baraita: The verse states: “And you shall count for you from the morrow after the day of rest [hashabbat], from the day that you brought the sheaf of the waving; seven weeks there shall be complete” (Leviticus 23:15). The phrase: “And you shall count for you,” teaches that the mitzva of counting is not a communal obligation. Rather, there should be a counting by each and every person.

תנו רבנן (ויקרא כג, טו) וספרתם לכם שתהא ספירה לכל אחד ואחד



Brachot


בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָֽׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו, וְצִוָּֽנוּ עַל סְפִירַת הָעֹֽמֶר.

Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu Melekh ha’Olam asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tizivanu al sefirat ha’omer.

Blessed are you, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the Universe, who has sanctified us with your commandments and commanded us to count the omer


הַיּוֹם יוֹם [אֶחָד] לָעֹֽמֶר.

Hayom yom [echad] la’omer

Today is the [first] day of the Omer

A Time of Mourning:

Yevamot 62B:9

They said by way of example that Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of students in an area of land that stretched from Gevat to Antipatris in Judea, and they all died in one period of time, because they did not treat each other with respect.

אָמְרוּ שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר אָלֶף זוּגִים תַּלְמִידִים הָיוּ לוֹ לְרַבִּי עֲקִיבָא מִגְּבָת עַד אַנְטִיפְרַס וְכוּלָּן מֵתוּ בְּפֶרֶק אֶחָד מִפְּנֵי שֶׁלֹּא נָהֲגוּ כָּבוֹד זֶה לָזֶה



Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayim 493

The minhag is not to marry a woman between Pesach and Shavuot until Lag baomer (33rd day) because during that time the students of Rabbi Akiva died. But to get engaged it’s allowed. And if someone does marry we don’t punish him and after Lag Baomer it is all permitted.

נוהגים שלא לישא אשה בין פסח לעצרת עד ל"ג בעומר מפני שבאותו זמן מתו תלמידי ר' עקיבא אבל לארס ולקדש שפיר דמי ונשואין נמי מי שקפץ וכנס אין עונשין אותו: הגה מיהו מל"ג בעומר ואילך הכל שרי (אבודרהם וב"י ומנהגים): 

Kabbalistic Interpretations:

The period of the counting of the Omer 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.


In Kabbalah, each of the seven weeks of the Omer-counting is associated with one of the seven lower sefirot:


Each day of each week is also associated with one of these same seven sefirot, creating forty-nine permutations. The first day of the Omer is therefore associated with "chesed that is in chesed" (loving-kindness within loving-kindness), the second day with "gevurah that is in chesed" (might within loving-kindness); the first day of the second week is associated with "chesed that is in gevurah" (loving-kindness within might), the second day of the second week with "gevurah that is in gevurah" (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. Rabbi Simon Jacobson (b. 1956), a Chabad Hasidic teacher, explains these 49 levels in his book, The Spiritual Guide to Counting the Omer, as do Rabbi Yaacov Haber and Rabbi David Sedley in their book Sefiros: Spiritual Refinement through Counting the Omer. A meditative approach is that of Rabbi Min Kantrowitz in Counting the Omer: A Kabbalistic Meditation Guide which includes meditations, activities and kavvanot (proper mindset) for each of the kabbalistic four worlds for each of the 49 days.


The forty-nine-day period of counting the Omer is also a conducive time to study the teaching of the Mishnah in Pirkei Avoth 6:6, which enumerates the "48 ways" by which Torah is acquired. Rabbi Aharon Kotler (1891–1962) explains that the study of each "way" can be done on each of the first forty-eight days of the Omer-counting; on the forty-ninth day, one should review all the "ways."