Why Count the Omer?

Why count? 

Why stand up each night as three stars appear in the sky and for 49 days in a row count the day that is to come? 

What is the purpose, the meaning?

I have asked myself these questions many times over the years as I approach the Omer season. This is some of what I have discovered:

            Standing each night to count the day that is coming helps me be awake to the passage of time. It reminds me again and again that everything passes, everything changes. All life is in constant motion.  

            Counting the day that I am entering requires that I let go of what has been. I often feel myself grasping, seeking to hold onto an experience, a feeling. The counting helps me honor all that has happened as it awakens wonder and curiosity of what might occur next. The counting inspires the perspective that it is OK to let go because there is always something new to explore and experience.  

            The tradition teaches that we are not to say the day that is to come until that moment when we are saying the blessing and mindfully counting. This part of the tradition reminds me to be where I am—to stay present in each day and then when the time comes, to let it go so I step fully into what will be. 
 

            Over the years the counting has helped me know the wisdom of letting go with grace.  

            It has strengthened my ability to be grateful, to stay present in each moment and to trust that each new day will bring forward a new gift.  

            It has taught me that even as everything passes and all life changes there is always something we can count on.

May the counting guide us with grace and love.

—Rabbi Yael Levy