OMER COUNT 2016 FULL

Since God is holy and Shavuot is about the encounter with God, we must ready and sanctify ourselves by performing the Omer count. Since Shavuot is the ultimate point of Passover (i.e., deliverance was given for the sake of the revelation of Torah), we are called to sanctify ourselves for personal revelation by engaging in these seven weeks of repentance. Normally a meditation is given for each of the 49 days to help you purge a sinful condition from your life in order to attain higher levels of purity (this process is sometimes called madregot ha-tahara, 'the stairs of purity'). Just as there are 49 levels of spiritual impurity (i.e., tumah, טוּמְאָה ), so there are said to be 49 levels spiritual of purity (i.e., tahora, טְהוֹרָה ). Note also that the Talmud starts the count of the omer on the evening of Nisan 16, preceding the day the Omer Offering (yom bikkurim) was actually brought to the temple.Īccording to some of the Jewish mystics, the Omer count represents the way of teshuvah, one day for each of the 49 'levels of sin' that the Jewish people had degraded into while being slaves in Egypt. The 33rd day of the count (the eighteenth of Iyar) is called called Lag B'Omer and is a minor holiday since the plague in Akiva's camp was said to have ended on that day during the revolt. Ordinarily, weddings, celebrations and even haircuts are avoided during this period. Note: The Omer period is considered a time of semi-mourning in memory of a devastating plague (or losses in battle) which killed thousands of the disciples of Rabbi Akiva during the Bar Kochba Revolt (130 CE). Each day a blessing is recited in anticipation of the climactic day of Shavuot. Since Shavuot ('Pentecost') is the ultimate point of Passover (i.e., deliverance was given for the sake of the revelation of Torah), we are called to sanctify ourselves for personal revelation by engaging in these seven weeks of repentance.

HaRachaman hu Yachazir Lanu ('O Compassionate One! May He return for us')Īvodat Beit HaMikdash Li'mekomo ('the Service of the Temple to its Place')īimhayra be'yameinu. This continues, day by day, until we reach the 49th day, when we say, 'Haiyom tishah v'arba'im yom, shehem shivah shavu'ot ba'omer' (today is forty-nine days, which are seven weeks of the omer).Īfter the blessing is recited and the count has been declared, it is customary to say this short prayer: For example, on the first day we say, 'Haiyom yom echad ba'omer' (today is one day of the omer), on the second day we say, 'Haiyom yom sheni ba'omer' (today is two days of the omer), but on the seventh day we say, 'Haiyom shivah yamim, shehem shavuah echad ba'omer' (today is seven days, which are one week of the omer), and on the eighth day we say, 'Haiyom shemonah yamim, shehem shavuah echad v'yom echad ba'omer' (today is eight days, which is one week and one day of the omer). The people were so eager for this revelation that after their deliverance they began counting the days: 'Now we have one day less to wait for the giving of the Torah!' This midrash attempts to explain why the Torah commands that the days from Passover to Shavuot are to be counted by claiming that the it commemorates the eagerness with which the Torah was received by the Israelites.Īfter reciting the blessing (above), we then declare the count of the omer in both days and weeks.

Jewish legend says that the Israelites were foretold that the Torah would be given to them exactly 50 days after their Exodus from Egypt. Psalm 67 is often recited because it is composed of 49 Hebrew words which correspond to the 49 days of the Omer count.Įvery evening, from the second night of Passover to the night before Shavuot, the following blessing is recited before stating the count of the omer: Every day during this season a special blessing is recited naming exactly how many more days are left before the 'seven weeks of days' are complete. This period of time is called Sefirat HaOmer ( סְפִירַת הָעוֹמֶר), or the 'counting the sheaves' ( Lev. The Torah instructs us to count forty nine days – seven weeks of days – from the day following Passover until Shavuot (i.e., Weeks or 'Pentecost'). Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the LORD' ( Lev.

You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath.

OMER COUNT 2016 FULL

'You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf (omer) of the wave offering.

Omer count 2016