Dear Friends,
We are amidst a peculiar time on the Jewish calendar, known as the Omer. The Torah tells us that we are supposed to count the Omer: each and every day, seven complete weeks, between Passover and Shavuot. Counting of the Omer was initially an agricultural tool. We count every day from the planting of the crops on Passover to when we were supposed to begin harvesting the first fruits on Shavuot.
But as Judaism and society transformed from an agrarian society in which the calendar and our festivals were based on agricultural events, both the Omer and the holidays took on entirely new meanings. While Passover still marks the beginning of Spring time, we more often find meaning in celebrating it as a Zman Cheiruteinu, the holiday of our freedom. Shavuot, the festival of the first fruits, became known as Chag Matan Torah, the holiday when we celebrate God’s revelation of the Torah to the Jewish people on Mount Sinai. The Omer took on an entirely new aura as well. It is now observed as a period of mourning in the wake of a plague that wiped out the students of Rabbi Akiva, as well as being a celebration of the Kabbalistic Sefirot.
Jewish celebrations, rituals, and traditions often stay the same, but the meaning we find in them has changed to meet our needs and to speak to whom we are. It is my hope and prayer for all of us, as we count the Omer and continue celebrating holidays and participating in Jewish rituals together, that we not only show respect for the ancient traditions, but that we do so in a way in which we feel connection and find meaning that nourishes our souls.
Rabbi Josh Dorsch
