Counting the Omer

Person marking tally marks on a weathered concrete wall.

The period between Passover and Shavuot marks two kinds of movement through time: the passage of the seven weeks between the barley offering and the first wheat offering at the ancient Temple during these spring festivals, and the transition from slavery to true liberation. On Passover, we leave Egypt, but on Shavuot we receive the Torah, which gives us our purpose as a people, answering the question of the ultimate goal of our collective freedom. For many people, the “counting of the Omer”—these 49 days—provides a time for reflection and growth, often using the seven “lower” emanations of God in the kabbalistic system as spiritual themes for each day and week. Another extraordinary approach offers the opportunity to meditate each day on a biblical woman whose life reflects the mystical qualities associated with that day.

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Finding compassion within compassion

Abstract painting with swirling gray, purple, and yellow colors on a textured yellow square canvas.

Meditation on nobility of spirit within lovingkindness

A textured abstract painting with earthy tones and intersecting lines.
A poem acknowledging we each have divine gifts.
Silhouetted wildflowers against a mountain backdrop during a sunset.

How do we live after we caused the fire?”

Group of people sitting around a campfire in the grass, one person playing a guitar.

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A video meditation in sofrut on humility, kavod (honor), and the burning light of Torah for day 33, Lag B’Omer

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“Humility is a blue flame, / dipping into indigo / and edged in black”

Silhouette of a woman standing by a cliff at sunset, with an orange sky and the sun shining over the ocean.

Learning to love endurance

A woman joyfully lifts a baby in a park, with sunlight filtering through the trees.

In praise of structure

An ornate wrought iron gate stands open, set in a stone wall, with lush green trees in the background.

The culmination of counting the Omer

A hiker sitting on a rocky cliff edge, overlooking a forested valley under a cloudy sky.

Contemplating glory and strength during difficult times

sunrise over water

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