The Baal Shem Tov, or Besht —  the founder of Chasidism — 
met the soul of the Messiah during an ascent to heaven. 
The Besht asked him, "When will the Master come?" 
The Messiah answered, "When your wellsprings break forth to the outside!" 
(from a letter written by the Besht to his brother-in-law about one of his soul ascents) 


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How to count the omer!

L'ilui Nishmat Azriel Godel ben Efraim Halevi v'Yedidyah
Every night during the omer we say a blessing for doing a mitzvah and then say the count which leads us from Passover to Shavuot, from the barley harvest to the wheat harvest and, ultimately, to the first offering on Shavuot itself of wheat from the new harvest, in the form of 12 loaves. During the time the omer was counted wheat from each week would be brought into the Temple and waved as an offering, really as a prayer that the harvest would come in successfully. A possible reason why there is a custom not to shave or cut our hair during this time is to pray with our bodies for the growth of the wheat.

Each day between the beginning of Passover and Shavuot gets counted, 49 days in all, 7 weeks of seven days. That makes the omer period a miniature version of the Shmitta and Yovel (Jubilee) cycle of 7 cycles of seven years. Just as that cycle is one of resetting society's clock to align ourselves with freedom and with the needs of the land, this cycle too is a chance to align ourselves with the rhythms of spring and the spiritual freedom represented by the Torah.

The omer count is made starting the evening of each day – when the count happens at night the blessing is said and when the count happens during the daytime the blessing is not said. Here's the blessing:

  more for the Omer:
Get the Omer Widget | iPhone /mobile version | Blessing the Fruit Trees | Lag B'Omer (+ Rainbow Day) | Counting Nigun | Ana B'Khoach | The Sefirot | Shavuot | Omer podcast from IJS | Yom Ha'atzma'ut | Neohasid's homepage | Join our list
Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha-olam
asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu al s'firat ha-omer
"Blessed be You Yah our God Ruler of space and time, who made us holy through commandments and commanded us about counting the Omer."
Ana
B'khoach
Skolyer		 Click to pause:
For the Hebrew words for tonight's count, see Pauline Frankenberg's illustration to the left (click here to see the daytime or previous day's count), or go to Chabad.org for a complete liturgy (according to Chasidic nusach). [Note that most Ashkenazim say "ba'omer" while Sefardim and Chasidim say "la'omer" when counting.] Derekh agav, according to some halakhic opinions, English works fine for doing the mitzvah of counting.

After the blessing the day is counted by absolute number and by its number within each week, i.e., "Today is the thirty-third day of the omer, which is four weeks and five days" – that's Lag B'omer (lamed plus gimel = 33). Because there are seven lower Sefirot in Kabbalah associated with days of the week (and probably because of the homonym "sefirah", which also means counting), there is also a custom to say which Sefirah is connected with that day and that week, i.e. for Lag B'omer, the fifth day of the fifth week, or Hod sheb'Hod (Hod within Hod, Majesty squared). For the first night one would therefore add: Chesed sheb'Chesed ~ "Love within Love."

We travel from Chesed within Chesed on the second night of Passover, the night of true lovingkindness, to the 49th day of the omer, Malkhut within Malkhut, the radiance of Shekhinah. The significance of Hod within Hod is that it is the point in which physical manifestation (i.e. of the Torah or God's presence) begins. On a mystical level this is about the Torah being prepared to be given to the people, while on the natural level it's about the manifestation of divine blessing in the wheat crop itself.

After the count, it's a custom to recite Ana B'khoach, a fantastic mystical prayer that you can print out, download, and/or listen to on neohasid.org.

The biggest challenge of counting the omer is that it is one long mitsvah lasting 49 days. What that means is that if you go one whole night and day without counting, the halakhah is to no longer say the blessing. Making it all the way through seven weeks without missing a day is not easy for most of us! Hence, the proliferation of calendars, websites, and widgets for counting the omer. (Actually, this may be the first widget!)

Many blessings, in every sense,

Rabbi David Seidenberg


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Design in progress © Rabbi David Mevorach Seidenberg 2006