Counting the Omer

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.

Latest Rituals

A Taylor Swift song for every day of the Omer.
illustration of a girl wearing sparkly music and listening to headphones
“If we remember the daily count / will new paths open in the heavens?”
woman in profile standing on sand dune in the desert
Guided meditation for the Omer
sky of clouds and shining pink rays of sun mirrored over water
“We embody the journey / Of seven times seven”
person standing in silhouette against reddish dark sky, holding a flame
“This is the time of year I love”
Tiferet Sh’be’Kedoshim
“It’s my first time / to take up the rhythm, / keep count”
Count Her: Poem for Counting the Omer

An Omer prayer for racist and antisemitic violence

Counting the Uncountable

“The One who has the power to grant life / Gives to us what we cannot give to ourselves.”

 
A Day in the Life of a Daffodil: Tiferet Sh’B’Hesed

The CBH Anti-Racism Project has created a way for each of us, at home, to mark the Omer with reflections on race and freedom.

Counting the Omer Against Racism

“we’ve counted for millennia, and still we count”

The Countesses Do Count

The Reconstructionist Network

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