PLEASE NOTE: We will not be gathering for services tonight, Friday, October 4. Shabbat services will be held as usual on Saturday, October 5. L'shanah tovah!

Count the Omer

WEEK SEVEN

This is the week of Malchut: majesty, dignity, nobility, leadership

Malchut is the culmination of all the qualities of the previous weeks. When everything is in balance we know our place in the world, we have independence and confidence, we have connection and love. We model in our own lives the way we want to see all people treated, we use our strength to repair the world. We are like Ruth, whose story is read at Shavuot, when we act with love and compassion. We are like Esther when we use our privilege to serve.

PLEASE JOIN US for Shavuot
Thursday, May 25, 8pm ET, for Tikkun Leyl Shavuot: Torah teachings (in-person and online).
Friday, May 26, 10am ET, Shavuot Festival Service (in-person and online).
Saturday, May 27, 10am ET, Shabbat and festival service with Yizkor (in-person and online).

More information and access links HERE.

 

Additional Resources

APP
If you would like to follow the count, there’s an app:
http://www.neohasid.org/omer/apps/ Rabbi David Seidenberg’s page with links to his app. You can set the app to send an alert every evening. It includes the blessing and a daily quote.

WEBSITES

New this year: https://yourbayit.org/omer5782/ Beautiful poems and commentary on each week of the Omer.

Limmud North America is an organization that supports adult Jewish education in cities all over the continent. They will send teachings every day of the count. You can register here:
http://limmudna.org/49steps/

Ritualwell.org is a site founded by Reconstructing Judaism to publish rituals, ceremonies, prayers and poems to mark sacred moments in Jewish life. They will send daily teachings throughout the weeks of counting the Omer. Sign up here (they ask for a donation but registration will be accepted without one): https://www.tickettailor.com/events/ritualwell/643829

BOOKS
Rabbi Jill Hammer’s book “Omer Counter of Biblical Women” and Rabbi Simon Jacobson’s “Spiritual Guide to the Counting of the Omer.” The text of this is also available online: https://www.ritualwell.org/ritual/omer-calendar-biblical-women

Rabbi Rachel Barenblat’s book “Toward Sinai: Omer Poems” is a beautiful accompaniment to counting. Here’s the link: https://velveteenrabbi.com/2016/03/28/toward-sinai/

Color the Omer https://yourbayit.org/bayit-publishing/color-the-omer/

— Collected by Rabbi Ellen K. Triebwasser