Counting the Omer

Starting on the 2nd day of Passover, there is a 50 days period, which brings us to the holiday of Shavuot, which commemorates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. The date of Shavuot is never mentioned in the Torah, it’s just recorded as 50 days after Passover.

The Torah commands us to “count 50 days”, known as the counting of the Omer. So every night in the evening prayers, we say a special blessing and then “count the days”. “This is day one of the Omer”, “This is day 10, which is 1 week and 2 days of the Omer”.

Counting the days leading up to a big event is not uncommon (and what event could be bigger than encountering G-d, as we did at Mount Sinai). The difference is that we generally count down to a bid day; “5 more days until my birthday”, “6 more days until we get our new car”. But with the Omer, we count up, adding one each day until we reach day 50. What can we learn from this?

The sages teach, that there are 50 levels of holiness. While in Egypt, the Jews slipped all the way down to the 2nd lowest level (had we slipped all the way to the lowest level, we’re told that we would not have been redeemed from Egypt). Being on such a low level, it would have been impossible for us to receive the Torah. We needed to elevate ourselves to the highest level of holiness.

Each day we peel away another layer of gunk revealing the original, pure soul that we each possess. So we’re not counting down the days to the big event; we’re counting how many layers we’ve peeled away, we’re counting how many stairs on the staircase to the heavens we’re climbed.

This is just as applicable to us today, as it was when we left Egypt. We all have spiritual growth that we can do. A major impediment to growth is the feeling of being overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task. But Judaism is not all-or-nothing. If I cannot have 1,000 gold coins, does that mean I should not strive to have even one?! The key to growth is to know what direction you want to go in, and be sure to stay on the path. The Kabbalists say that spiritual growth is "two steps forward and one step back." We will inevitably have setbacks. What's important is that we're heading in the right direction.

Jewish holiness is about striving to be closer to G-d. So it doesn’t matter which stair you’re on, what matters is which direction you are heading.

Ideally, at the end of the Omer process, we will have experienced a journey of self-improvement and be ready to receive the Torah. The holiday we're working toward is called "Shavuot," which means "weeks." The name itself tells us that without the weeks of preparation beforehand, there is no Shavuot. So don't just count the Omer -- make the Omer count.