Counting of the Omer (or Sefirat Ha'omer, Hebrew: ספירת העומר) within Judaism, is a verbal counting with a blessing during the 49 days between Pesach (Passover) and Shavuot (Pentecost) which are counted ceremoniously as a commemoration of the Omer ceremony which was celebrated in the Temple in Jerusalem. This process is called Counting of the Omer. Omer is the common infrastructure project manager for a large, distributed application at a leading financial institution Omer is an ancient unit of measure used in the era of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. ... Hebrew (עִבְרִית ‘Ivrit) is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Jewish communities around the world. ... Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people with around 15 million followers as of 2006 [1]. It is one of the first recorded monotheistic faiths and one of the oldest religious traditions still practiced today. ... Passover, also known as Pesach or Pesah (פסח pesaḥ), is a Jewish holiday (lasting seven days in Israel and among some liberal Diaspora Jews, and eight days among other Diaspora Jews) that commemorates the exodus and freedom of the Israelites from Egypt; it is also observed by some Christians to... Shavuot (Hebrew שבועות), ([seven] weeks) (pronounced: shah-voo-OH-t) is one of the three Biblical pilgrimage festivals. ... Omer is the common infrastructure project manager for a large, distributed application at a leading financial institution Omer is an ancient unit of measure used in the era of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. ... The Temple in Jerusalem or the Holy Temple (Hebrew: בית המקדש, transliterated Bet HaMikdash) was built in ancient Jerusalem in c. ...

Source

The source for this tradition is Leviticus 23:15-16: Leviticus is the third book of the Hebrew Bible, also the third book in the Torah (five books of Moses). ...

"15. And you shall count for yourselves, from the morrow of the rest day from the day you bring the omer as a wave offering seven weeks; they shall be complete.

16. You shall count until the day after the seventh week, [namely] the fiftieth day, [on which] you shall bring a new meal offering to the Lord."

- The Judaica Press Tanach

Background

The barley harvest in Israel begins during Passover; the omer is a Biblical measure of volume of grain. An omer offering was brought to the Temple on the second day of Passover and was the signal for the allowance of "chadash" (new harvest) grains. Binomial name Hordeum vulgare L. Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is a major food and animal feed crop, a member of the grass family Poaceae. ... Omer is the common infrastructure project manager for a large, distributed application at a leading financial institution Omer is an ancient unit of measure used in the era of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. ...

The count

Every night of the counting, a blessing is spoken and the count is stated in terms of both total days and weeks and days. For example, on the twenty-third day the count would be stated thus: "Today is twenty-three days, which is three weeks and two days of the Omer."

Each of the seven weeks is associated with one of the seven lower sefirot (#4-10), chesed, gevurah, tipheret, netzach, hod, yesod, and malchut. Each day within each of the seven weeks is associated also with one of the same seven sefirot, thus creating 49 permutations. The first day of the omer is thus associated with chesed in chesed, the second day with gevurah in chesed and so-on. Sephirah, also Sefirah (Hebrew language סְפִירָה Enumeration); plural Sephiroth or Sefiroth סְפִירוֹת. ... In Judaism Chesed is the forth Sefirah on the tree of life. ... In Judaism Gevurah Also known as Geburah, and Din is the fifth Sefirot of the Tree of life (Kabbalah), and is the second of the emotive attributes of the Sefirot. ... Tiphereth (Glory; תפארת) or Tifereth, Tipheret, Tiferet, or rahamin (mercy in Hebrew) in the Kabbalah of Judaism is the sixth Sephirah on the tree of life. ... Netzach (נצח) (victory) is the seventh Sephira in the Kabbalah, located beneath Chesed, at the base of the Pillar of Mercy. Netzach is Perpetualty, Victory. Non-Jewish Kabbalah Netzach is the first of the sephirah to be emanated from Tiphereth, beauty, and it is seen to represent formless energy, that energy... Hod in the Kabbalah of Judaism is the eighth sephira of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. ... Yesod (foundation) is one of the important Kabbalistic sephirot. ... Malkhuth is the bottom Sephira on the Kabbalistic Tree Of Life. ... Sephirah, also Sefirah (Hebrew language סְפִירָה Enumeration); plural Sephiroth or Sefiroth סְפִירוֹת. ...

Symbolically, each of these 49 permutations represents an aspect of each person that needs to be purified. Mythically the Jewish people is freed again from Pharoah each year on Passover. The damage from the experience of slavery needs to be healed in order for each person to accept the Torah at Sinai on Shavuot fifty days afer Passover. Passover (Hebrew: פסח; transliterated as Pesach or Pesah), also called חג המצות (Chag HaMatzot - Festival of Matzot) is a Jewish holiday that always begins on the 15th day of Nisan (on the Hebrew calendar), which falls in the early spring and commemorates the Exodus and freedom of the Israelites from ancient Egypt. ... Shavuot (Hebrew שבועות), ([seven] weeks) (pronounced: shah-voo-OH-t) is one of the three Biblical pilgrimage festivals. ...

As a period of mourning

This period is a time of partial mourning, during which weddings, parties, and dinners with dancing are not conducted, in memory of a plague which killed 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva. This custom is also in memory of those Jews murdered during the Crusades, the original pogroms occurring around this time. Some theorists suggest that the period of mourning was borrowed from the Roman superstition that May is an unlucky month, and that the associations with the plague and Crusades are later developments. The Romans had a similar custom of not marrying during the month of May, as that was the time of the Feast of the Lemures. Haircuts, shaving, watching movies, and listening to live music during this time are forbidden by many rabbis. It should be noted, however, that the extent of mourning is based heavily on custom, and therefore Jews will mourn to different degrees regarding certain prohibitions, basing their actions on ancient family custom. Akiba ben Joseph (or Rabbi Akiva, Rebbi Akiva, c. ... This article is about historical Crusades . ... The Russian word pogrom (погром) refers to a massive violent attack on people with simultaneous destruction of their environment (homes, businesses, religious centers). ... In Roman religion, the Feast of the Lemures, called the Lemuralia or Lemuria, was a feast during which the ancient Romans performed rites to exorcise the malevolent and fearful ghosts of the dead from their homes. ...

There are other associations and explanations for the period of semi-mourning. One is that the first spring grain harvest is quite vulnerable during this period and a tone of anxiety, naturally felt by middle-eastern farmers at this time of year, needed to be reflected as well in the ritual calendar. Another explanation is that the purification needed to reject the vestages of Pharaoh's law and slavery in order to receive God's law on the holiday of Shavuot is not conducive to celebration.

See also

• Omer
• Lag Ba'omer

Omer is the common infrastructure project manager for a large, distributed application at a leading financial institution Omer is an ancient unit of measure used in the era of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. ... Lag Ba’omer is a Jewish holiday celebrated on the thirty third day of the counting of the Omer which is on the 18th of Iyar. ...

External links

• Online guide to the counting of the Omer
• Many articles on the Omer and Lag B'Omer
• Sefirat HaOmer - Counting of the Omer Guide
• Counting the Omer Explanation
• SMS Omer Counter
• Personal Omer Journal, Includes Photographs and Kabbalistic Interpretations
• Omer Calendar of Biblical Women