יום שישי ב' אייר תשע"ג
The Omer is the connection between Passover and Shavuot. Commandment was
given to count the time between Passover and Shavuot :
“You shall count for yourselves …
from the day after the Shabbat, from the day when you bring the Omer of the
waving… seven Shabbats, they shall be complete. Until the day after the seventh
Sabbath you shall count fifty days…”
Lev 23:15-16
“ You shall count for yourselves seven weeks, from when the sickle is first
put to the standing crop shall you begin counting seven weeks. Then you will
observe the Festival of Shavuot for the Lord, your God”
Numbers 16:9-10
The counting is a reminder of the link between the Exodus and the giving
of the Torah. The Passover is the redemption of the body, Shavuot is the
redemption of the spirit. Passover - salvation from slavery; Shavuot when
the torah was given. Until the Torah was given, the freedom from slavery
was not completed.
An Omer is a unit of measure. An Omer of barley was cut down and brought
to the temple as offering, and this grain offering was called the Omer.
During the nights from second night of Passover to the night before Shavuot
a blessing is being read and the count is being recite. So on the 14th
day one would say, “today is fourteen days, which is two weeks of the Omer”.
The time of the Omer is a time of mourning in memory of a plague during the
life time of Rabbi Akiva. Weddings,
parties, dinners, dancing and haircuts are forbidden. On the 33rd day of the Omer
counting (Lag-Ba-Omer. Lag is the number 33 in the Hebrew alphabet count) there
is a minor break in which weddings are allowed.
It is a day in which a break in the plague occurred.
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