Counting the Omer: A Time for Personal Reflection

by Michalee Merritt

Counting the Omer is the connection between Passover and Shavuot.  Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai happened on Shavuot. The Omer period is one preparation and anticipation for the giving of the Torah.

What is the significance of counting the Omer?

The Kabbalistic interpretation of counting the Omer is one that I like. The period of the counting of the Omer is considered to be a time of potential for inner growth – for a person to work on one’s good characteristics (middot) through reflection and development of one aspect each day for the 49 days of the counting.

For the kabbalists, this period became an ideal time for introspection and self-perfection, with each week in the process dedicated to one of the sephirot, or cosmic aspects of being – Pure Giving; Boundaries; Balance; Eternality; Ephemerality; Bonding; and Manifestation

Counting the Omer, like all Jewish Holidays, has a myriad of themes to connect to on a spiritual level. Each holiday has the ability for interpretation and reflection. Each year the holiday can mean something else because, as the years pass we change, and how we see the holiday changes with us. Here are some themes that you may want to work with this year or in years to come.

• It is said that each of these 49 days represents the 49 stops the Hebrews made while wandering in the Desert for 40 years. Where have you stopped along your own path in this life? Reflect on your own journey.
• What is the purpose of freedom? What will you do with this gift? How will you answer the call?

And more! Come up with your own. Share them with others and with us! (Use the box below.)

1 response to “Counting the Omer: A Time for Personal Reflection”

1. Tammi Vaughan says:

   April 19, 2024 at 3:53 pm

   This will be my first time. 🙂

   Reply