Sefirat HaOmer

Jewish Calendar

Sefirat HaOmer (literally, "the counting of the Omer") is the period of 49 days between Passover and Shavuot. Each day is verbally counted off. Traditionally, this period of time is a solemn one, and many avoid celebrations during this calendar period.

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Counting Grain

COMMENTARY

The seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot are marked by counting a measure, an omer, of grain. Biblical commentator Rabbi Ovadia ben Ya’akov Seforno (16th century, Italy) explains one reason that the omer is associated with this time period.

מהחל חרמש בקמה, in the standing barley, which is to serve as the Omer offering. We know already from Exodus 9,31 that the barley crop ripens in spring (in the latitudes which include Egypt and the Land of Israel. Ed]. Seven weeks elapse between the beginning of the barley harvest and that of the wheat harvest. Hence you are to count these seven weeks.

Sforno on Deuteronomy 16:9

Why This Harvest?

HALAKHAH

It takes 49 days to count the omer, starting from the night of the second day of Passover. This early 21st-century anthology of Jewish law explains the significance of the start date.

We begin to count the omer on the night of the sixteenth of Nisan, as it says, “You shall count off seven weeks; start to count seven weeks from when the sickle is first put to the standing grain” (Devarim 16:9-10). “From when the sickle is first put to the standing grain” refers to the omer harvest, so called because the first harvest of the yearly produce is designated for the omer offering. The omer harvest took place on the night after the first day of Pesaḥ, which is the sixteenth of Nisan. As a result, that is when we begin to count the omer.

Peninei Halakhah, Zemanim 2:5:2

Let Me Count the Days

MIDRASH

Have you ever been so excited about a momentous event or occasion that you’ve found yourself counting down the days? In this excerpt from Otzar Midrashim, a 20th-century anthology of rabbinic interpretations of the Torah, the time leading up to the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai was just one of those situations for the people of Israel.

And [R. Avraham Saba] also explains the reason for the counting of the omer in Parashat Emor, and these are [his] words: And in the Midrash HaGalui, "'And you shall count seven weeks' - this counting is because the Lord, may He be blessed, said to Moshe (Exodus 3:13), 'When you take the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God' (and receive the Torah). And since the Torah was beloved to them, they counted the days, the nights and the moments until the time would come. It can be compared to a man who will be receiving a desired object or marrying a woman at the end of fifty days…

Otzar Midrashim, Midrash HaGalui 3

Do the Wave

MIDRASH

The omer offering has a very specific choreography: it is meant to be waved. This early medieval compilation of interpretations on the book of Leviticus explains both the method and the symbolism of this waving.

“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When you come to the land that I am giving to you, and you reap its harvest, you shall bring a sheaf of the first of your harvest to the priest” (Leviticus 23:10).
“Speak to the children of Israel…you shall bring a sheaf of the first of your harvest to the priest” – that is what is written: “What advantage is there for man in all his toil that he toils under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:3). Rabbi Binyamin ben Levi said: They sought to suppress the book of Ecclesiastes because they found in it matters that tend toward heresy…

Vayikra Rabbah 28:1

A Mystical Path to Understanding

KABBALAH

What is the deeper spiritual meaning of counting 49 days? The seminal work of Kabbalah, the Zohar, associates these 49 days with the mystical concept of the fifty gates of binah (understanding), inspiring a spiritual practice related to counting the omer.

We have learnt, too, that the Jubilee in which slaves go forth to freedom is attached to this Brain, and the fifty days of the Jubilee further correspond to the fifty days of the Omer. Thus He stands for the appeasement of the spirit and its going forth to freedom, and thus the going forth from Egypt depends on this compartment and on the letter He of the Holy Name, as has been explained.

Zohar, Vaetchanan 8:44

The Day After…

TALMUD

Although the common practice is to begin counting the omer from the second day of Passover, it isn’t entirely clear from the Torah when the counting should begin. This passage from the Babylonian Talmud walks through various interpretations of the verse in Leviticus about counting.

The baraita continues: From the morrow after the day of rest [hashabbat], this means from the morrow after the festival of Passover. Or perhaps this is not the meaning of the verse, but rather it means after the Shabbat of Creation, i.e., Sunday. Rabbi Yosei bar Yehuda says: This cannot be correct, as the verse states: “Even until the morrow after the seventh week you shall number fifty days” (Leviticus 23:16). This teaches that all the countings that you count shall be only fifty days.

Menachot 65b:11

The Essence of Counting

RESPONSA

Anticipation builds as the numbers go up and Shavuot draws closer. Rabbi David ben Shlomo ibn Zimra (16th century, Spain) explains that this anticipation determines which blessing is recited during the counting ritual.

Question: You asked why they did not decree [the recitation of the blessing,] shehechaynu (who has kept us alive) with the counting of the omer. Answer: The early rabbis (Rishonim), may their memory be blessed, already spoke about this. And the Ran (Rabbenu Nissim) wrote in the Laws of Sukkot - and these are his [words] - "I have seen someone write that if one does not count at night, he may not count during the day; as it is taught (in a mishnah), 'The entire night is suitable for the counting of the omer.' It is implied that during the day, however, it is not…

Teshuvot HaRadbaz Volume 4 1327:1-2

Old or New?

HALAKHAH

Although we might usually think that new things are preferable, the Torah specifies that “old” grains are required when making bread products before the day on which the omer offering is brought. Explore the reasoning behind this mitzvah in the Sefer HaChinukh, a 13th-century explanatory work discussing the 613 commandments.

From the laws of the commandment is that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Menachot 70a) that there are only five grains that are included in the prohibition of the new [grain]. And they are wheat, barley, spelt, oats and rye. And at the time of the [Temple] from the time that the omer was offered on the sixteenth of Nissan, the new [grain] was permitted in Jerusalem. And in places distant [from it], they would permit [it] after midnight, since the court would not be lazy with it until after midnight…

Sefer HaChinukh 303:3

Harvest and History

COMMENTARY

History and agriculture each play a role in determining which holiday should come first in the Jewish year. Rabbi Avraham ibn Ezra (12th century, Spain) explains the Torah’s ordering of the holidays in his commentary on the book of Leviticus.

IN THE SEVENTH MONTH. We begin the count of months from Nisan, for we then left Egypt. Furthermore, the festival of the new ears of barley comes first, next come the first-fruits of wheat harvest (Ex. 34:22), and then the time when you gather in the produce of your work (Deut. 16:13). These festivals are contingent upon the days that are mentioned.

Ibn Ezra on Leviticus 23:24:1

Counting of the Omer, Altona Haggadah. Isaac Abravanel, Altona Germany, 1763. Jacob M. Lowy Collection. Library and Archives Canada, e007912451

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