1/5/2024 0 Comments Counting the omer 2015![]() We are often impatient when change does not happen as quickly as we expect, and we begin to believe that it won’t happen. This is also an important reminder that change does not happen overnight. The underlying message is that beliefs and habits can enslave us or free us they are often unconscious, but they hold tremendous power. It would take years to shift to trust, accountability and compassion. The years of bondage had taught a culture of blame, fear and resentment. Rabbinic tradition understands these years as a necessary time of transition and preparation – one of discarding old beliefs and shedding old habits. ![]() While Passover marked the start of liberation, the Torah describes the journey from bondage to freedom as a lengthy process: the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. This passage indicates the wave sheaf day, not the weekly Sabbath, has to fall within the Feast of Unleavened Bread.The period between Passover and Shavuot is an important time for the Jewish people. This should be taken into consideration when determining which weekly Sabbath at the time of Feast of Unleavened Bread should be used to determine wave sheaf day and, hence, the beginning the omer count. This verse also shows us that the morrow after the Sabbath (i.e., wave sheaf day) occurred during the Feast of Unleavened Bread - not before or after it. Because the omer offering was to be brought on the morrow or day after the (weekly, see notes at Lev 23:16) Sabbath (Lev 23:11), this means that the Israelite’s first Passover in the land of Israel occurred on a weekly Sabbath, and wave sheaf day occurred on Sunday. This year, the omer offering occurred on the next day after the Passover (Nisan/Abib 14), which was Nisan/Abib 15, or the first day of the Feast of Unleavnened Bread. In Leviticus 23:14, the Israelites were forbidden to eat of the new barley crop of the land of Israel until the day of the omer offering (or wave sheaf day). As the manna ceased, the Israelites ate the fresh barley grain that had already been growing in the land. Those who begin the omer count toward Shavuot from April 5 will be celebrating Shavuot on Sunday, May 24, while those who begin the count from April 12 will be celebrating Shavuot on Sunday, May 31. If you choose to count from the Sabbath that falls within the Feast of Unleavened Bread (i.e., April 11), then this places wave sheaf day outside of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. ![]() If you choose to count from Sunday, then the Saturday, April 4 falls outside of Unleavened Bread, but Sunday, April 5 falls within the Feast of Unleavened Bread, since this is the first day of the feast. However, this year (2015), this is the case. The question is whether we start the omer count from the Sabbath, or from the day after the Sabbath? Does the Sabbath or the day after the Sabbath (Sunday) have to fall within the week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread? Normally, this isn’t an issue since both the Sabbath and the first day of the week fall within the week of Unleavened Bread. From Lev 23:9–15, we learn that we’re to begin the count of the omer toward Shavuot (Pentecost) from the morrow/day after the Sabbath when the barley first fruits were presented to YHVH as a wave offering (called wave sheaf day).
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