Tuesday night began the counting of the omer, the period between the second night of Passover and Shavuot, 49 days later. It is a journey, a process, mirroring the journey of the Israelites in the wilderness. There are lots of ways to count the omer. There is the traditional blessing, “Al Sephirat HaOmer” and then counting, “This is Day One of the Omer”. There are some lovely meditations written every year. Here are some of my favorites: I’ve got a beautiful collection of Omer-counting books here on my desk: Rabbi Yael Levy’s Journey Through the Wilderness: A Mindfulness Approach to the Ancient Jewish Practice of Counting the Omer, Shifrah Tobacman’s Omer / Teshuvah: 49 Poetic Meditations for Counting the Omer or Turning Toward a New Year, Rabbi Jill Hammer’s Omer Calendar of Biblical Women, Rabbi Min Kantrowitz’s Counting the Omer: A Kabbalistic Meditation Guide, Rabbi Simon Jacobson’s A Spiritual Guide to The Counting of the Omer.
Last year my lead teacher, Esther Kaufman and I made omer counters at a Junior Congregation Shabbat with the kids out of Kosher L’Pseach chocolate. I admit, it seemed a little too much like an advent calendar but the kids had fun. There is even an Homer Simpson Omer calendar with which kids of all ages can have fun
. http://homercalendar.net/Welcome.html.

But what is the Omer and why does it matter? Omer is a measure of wheat or barley that was offered in the Temple as part of the first fruits. My favorite way to count the omer, based on teachings of Rabbi Everett Gendler, is to plant winter wheat or rye at Sukkot. It comes up briefly and then lies fallow over the winter. Then each week of the Omer we harvest just a little bit to show how the earth renews itself and grows.
This year was no exception. The students at Congregation Kneseth Israel planted winter rye at Sukkot along with yellow tulips for our Yom Hashoah observance. I looked on Sunday. Nothing up yet. It snowed again, not much, just enough to make it look more like Chanukah than Passover. We counted the Omer at the Community Seder and on my way home I went out to see what was happening in the garden. And there they were, first tender little shoots. By the light of the beautiful full Pesach moon I could see them. They bring me hope.
Rabbi Katy Allen has another way of counting. This year she will be posting a picture of nature showing how the earth is marching towards spring. I already sent her a picture of crocuses trying to appear.
Every year I take on an omer project. Some years they have been simple–remembering to wear my seat belt or unpacking and sorting a box. Some years more complex, reading a certain book like The Gift of a New Beginning or Rabbi Jill Hammer’s Book of Days. This year I don’t have a specific one. I have decided to try to count every day and to live intentionally. Usually I write about this for Rosh Hashanah. Thoreau went to the woods to live deliberately. Even in his time, intentionality could get lost in the busyness of our lives. Certainly true in our time.

The mystics saw the counting of the omer as a way to reconnect with the divine. They divided the seven weeks into seven of the sephirot and spent time working on each one. is similar to what Benjamin Franklin did with his journal taking on a character trait each week. This week is about chesed. Today is chesed b’chesed. Chesed is a very difficult word to translate. Nothing quite captures it as Nelson Glueck wrote in his PhD thesis on this word. But it is something like abundant lovingkindness, unconditional love. Today then represents a double dose of lovingkindness and compassion. I admit this is a concept in my own life I struggle with. How do I know that I am worthy of being loved. How do I know that I am loved? The answer for me lies in my own Bat Mitzvah portion which we read on Pesach. Exodus 34 gives us the 13 Attributes of the Divine. Only two words appear twice. Adonai, Adonai at the beginning and Chesed. Every year it comes to teach me that yes, I can be loved. That G-d is a G-d of love and loves each and every one of us. My hope is that we can all find that love as we journey towards Sinai.

So every morning I will try to write something and see what comes up. Something already did in this writing.