When and Why Do We Count Days? 5/8/25
I wrote most of the following 3 years ago for the May 2022 newsletter.
It doesn’t hurt to be reminded.
At that time there were 327 addresses in our Mailchimp audience.
Today there are 488, but who’s counting? (Pun intended) 😉
Jewish tradition offers us many opportunities to connect with the earth and her cycles, to remember and relive mythical and historical events, and to use designated days and periods of time for reflection and spiritual development.
Sefirat HaOmer – the counting of the Omer is a process that begins on the 2nd night of Passover and leads up to the festival of Shavuot, 50 days later. An omer is a sheaf. In the Torah we are commanded to bring our sheaves of barley to the Temple. After 50 days, the wheat will be ready to harvest. Today we are exactly halfway through this period.
Later, the Rabbis understood these 7 weeks to be the period between Liberation (leaving Mitzrayim aka Egypt) and Revelation (receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai).
The practice of counting the Omer, even if all you do is count with no frills, teaches us that when we bring what we are able to bring, a little bit each day, at some point, new gifts will ripen and become ready to be harvested and shared.
Do you engage in a daily practice – Omer counting or anything else, Jewish or not?
What fruits do you notice are ripening in your life as a result of your practice?
Expanding upon the basic counting, mystics in 16th century Tsfat began to use this 50 day period as a spiritual development process involving qualities associated with the 7 lower Sefirot (emanations) in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life.
In recent decades, many people have written beautiful Omer-counting guides with kavannot (intentions/contemplations) based on combining the energies of the Sefirot. (The word Sefirah ספירה itself means Number מספר, but shares the root of the word for Book ספר or Story סיפור.)
We are now on Day 25, Netzach she’b’Netzach. Netzach נצח means Eternity.
(You might recognize it from the very singable call & response prayer — “L’Dor va Dor… u’lanetzach netzachim…”). N-TS-CH נ–צ–ח is also the root of the word for victory and also for conducting an orchestra (!)
So one might say that today is the day of Eternity within Eternity. Or Endurance within Endurance. Ironically, it’s often during the week of Netzach that many of us who count the Omer lose our stamina and find ourselves investing less energy in the process.
The quality of Netzach is required to stick with it!
Here is a beautiful Sefirat HaOmer song from members of the Hadar ensemble
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8hCiPI1tMQ&t=17s
Some printed Omer Counters are:
Rabbi Simon Jacobson’s Spiritual Guide to the Counting of the Omer, which is also accessible free online HERE.
Rabbi Yael Levy’s Journey through the Wilderness
Rabbi Min Kantrowitz’ Counting the Omer: A Kabbalistic Meditation Guide
Rav Benji Elson’s Dance of the Omer. This one is 440 pages of food for thought, embodied practice and guidance for a transformational journey!
There is also a useful Omer Counting App by Rabbis David Seidenberg and David Cooper.
And there are several Facebook pages with creative Omer counting responses for the current year.
And online daily Omer counting meditation groups.
While rewriting this Omer column for 5785 /2025, I found this! https://ritualwell.org/ritual/counting-the-omer-taylors-version-week-four/ 
Someone (Lily Fish Gomberg) created an Omer Counter with a different Taylor Swift song for each day!
A contented Taylor Swift ignoramus, I am now mildly curious about her lyrics.
Back to basics. For day 25, Rabbi Simon Jacobson offers:
Ask yourself: Is my behavior erratic? Am I inconsistent and unreliable? Since I have will and determination, why am I so mercurial? Am I afraid of accessing my endurance and committing? Do I fear being trapped by my commitment? If yes, why? Is it a reaction to some past trauma? Instead of cultivating endurance in healthy areas, have I developed a capacity for endurance of unhealthy experiences? Do I endure more pain than pleasure? Do I underestimate my capacity to endure?
Exercise for the day: Commit yourself to developing a new good habit.
Shabbat Shalom שבת שלום
and Happy Mothers’ Day
Rabbi Amita רב אמיתה
Missing my Mom as I approach my first Mothers’ Day without her physical presence on this earth. 
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