Perhaps this is a result of May/June calendars over-crowded with graduations, etc. Or maybe popular culture has absorbed Passover and Easter as “happily ever after” holidays — freedom! re-birth! all’s well, now! — overlooking the fact that both celebrate beginnings, not ends.

One Redemption to Another

Amy Brookman shared these passages from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’ commentary in The Koren Siddur — First Hebrew/English Edition (Jerusalem: Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2009):

[from the Introduction, "Understanding Jewish Prayer"]
The fact that Jewish faith was written into the prayers, rather than analyzed in works of theology, is of immense significance. We do not analyze our faith: we pray it. We do not philosophize about truth: we sing it…. We do not talk about God. We talk to God.

…Greece gave the world tragedy; Israel taught it hope. A people, a person, who can pray is one who, even in the darkest night of the soul, can never ultimately lose hope.

[in commentary to the morning prayers]
The Shema ends by speaking about redemption in the past. In the Amida we pray for redemption in the future. Connecting past and future is “truth” – our faith in God and in His covenant with us.

The Shema, with its past redemption theme, leads directly into the Amidah, in which we pray for future redemption, without even an intervening “amen.” Similarly, Shavuot is determined based on the counting which begins on the second night of Passover. The (just barely past) redemption of Passover leads directly to Shavuot, which is experienced during the omer as a redemption still to come.

New Approach to God

Irene Bleiweiss wrote earlier in the omer about the progression from the barley sacrifice of Pesach to the two loaves of fine flour on Shavuot, noting that we need to “…take small but consistent steps to move ourselves forward.”

Joseph Soloveitchik* says that the progression from barley to fine loaves represents a move from the miraculous, but temporary, provision of manna in the desert to the longer-term hard work of an ordinary harvest (p.205). Similarly, moving from Passover to Shavuot means shifting to an awareness of God in everyday life (p. 206-207):

The holiday is…called _Chag Shavu’ot_, the holiday of natural weeks. It is, for us, _chag matan Torah_ [festival of giving Torah] because the purpose of the Torah is to help us live within the natural world, and to find God within that world.

The offering on Shavu’ot is characterized as a _minchah chadashah_ [a new gift] because it represents a new idea. The _korban musaf_ [additional sacrifice] on Pesach represents the miraculous deliverance from Egypt. The _shtei ha-lechem_ [two loaves] constitute a _minchah chadashah_, a new approach to finding God….

…the celebration of the Torah teaches us to use our intelligence in order to find God in the mundane and in the ordinary.

No doubt we’re better off without those Sinai-themed store aisles. We do need the progression from Passover to Shavuot, though.

Without it, we’re stuck forever in a juvenile “happily ever after” approach to life — where everything is going to work out fine “as soon as [fill in the blank].” We never get to making those small steps forward or to figuring out how to live in the new relationship established at Sinai.

Even Sinai is not the end of the journey, of course. Barring on the onset of Messianic times, we will continue to need a connection with past redemption and the promise of future redemption to help us manage for the long haul.

May our progression through the omer and Shavuot help us all, individually and collectively, leave behind expectations of manna and focus instead on the harvest ahead… and on God’s presence in that mundane undertaking.

Chag Shavuot Sameach
a joyful festival of Shavuot


*Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik on Pesach, Sefirat ha-Omer and Shavu’ot. David Shapiro. Jerusalem: Urim, 2005.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’ wrote in The Koren Siddur — First Hebrew/English Edition (Jerusalem: Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2009):

The number seven is…significant and always indicates holiness, as in
the seventh day, Shabbat; the seventh month, Tishrei with its Days of Awe;
the seventh year, the “year of release”; and the fiftieth year, the Jubilee,
which follows seven cycles of seven years…
– p. xxviii, “Understanding Jewish Prayer, I. Numerical Structures”

We make a bridge in time between Passover and Shavu’ot by counting the omer
for 49 days (7 x7). We arrive at the celebration of Shavu’ot on the 50th
day. The pattern of our omer bridge reminds me of the pattern of the
observance of “the seventh year, the year of release”; and the fiftieth
year, the Jubilee, which follows seven cycles of seven years.

The omer period is like a very narrow bridge rising above despair and doubts
about God’s promise of redemption. The section of prayer that serves as a
bridge between the Shema and the Amida also reminds me of the omer period.
During the omer we join our remembrance of past redemption with our hope for
future redemption. And then we begin the descent from the peak experience
of Shavu’ot to ordinary daily life, similar to our descent back into
ordinary life after we reach the peak of the Amida prayer.

The supreme expression of love in Judaism is the Shema with its
injunction: “Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul,
and with all your might.” The supreme expression of awe is the Amida
prayer, when we stand consciously in the presence of God. The basic
movement of the morning and evening prayers is first, to climb to the peak
of love, the Shema, and from there to the summit of awe, the Amida.
– Sacks, ibid. p.xxx, “Understanding Jewish Prayer, From Love to Awe”

Representative John Lewis Commemorates 45th Anniversary of Selma, Alabama
March; posted to YouTube by RepCohen – March 10, 2010 [This video clip is 7:41 long]

—————————
During evening prayers, add:

A) (Address for God:) Barukh ata YHVH, eloheinu melekh ha-olam, asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al sefirat ha-omer.

We praise You, Adonai, Our God, Master of time and space whose commandments add holiness to our lives, Who commanded us to count the omer.

B) (Address God as feminine:) Beruchah at yah, eloheinu ruach haolam, asher kidshatnu bemitzvoteha vetzivatnu al sefirat ha’omer.

Blessed are You, God, Ruler/Spirit of the Universe, who has sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us to count the Omer.

Ha-yom tishah v’arba’im yom, shehem shivah sh’vuot la’omer.
Today is day forty-nine, making seven weeks of the omer.

[This translation and transliteration was borrowed from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and from Jill Hammer's Omer Calendar of Biblical Women at RitualWell.org. For additional text to accompany the counting, see Five Steps.]

—————————
During evening prayers, add:

A) (Address for God:) Barukh ata YHVH, eloheinu melekh ha-olam, asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al sefirat ha-omer.

We praise You, Adonai, Our God, Master of time and space whose commandments add holiness to our lives, Who commanded us to count the omer.

B) (Address God as feminine:) Beruchah at yah, eloheinu ruach haolam, asher kidshatnu bemitzvoteha vetzivatnu al sefirat ha’omer.

Blessed are You, God, Ruler/Spirit of the Universe, who has sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us to count the Omer.

Ha-yom shemonah v’arba’im yom, shehem shishah sh’vuot v’shishah yamim la’omer.
Today is day forty-eight, making six weeks and six days of the omer.

[This translation and transliteration was borrowed from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and from Jill Hammer's Omer Calendar of Biblical Women at RitualWell.org. For additional text to accompany the counting, see Five Steps.]

Have you been counting the omer with feeling? My feelings during the
omer period can include frustration, exuberance, and everything in
between. So I imagine that Count Von Count, the Sesame Street muppet,
is counting the omer with me in this video. Actually, he looks a little
bit like Uncle Moshe. And is that Hashem providing the thunder sound
effects?

—————————
During evening prayers, add:

A) (Address for God:) Barukh ata YHVH, eloheinu melekh ha-olam, asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al sefirat ha-omer.

We praise You, Adonai, Our God, Master of time and space whose commandments add holiness to our lives, Who commanded us to count the omer.

B) (Address God as feminine:) Beruchah at yah, eloheinu ruach haolam, asher kidshatnu bemitzvoteha vetzivatnu al sefirat ha’omer.

Blessed are You, God, Ruler/Spirit of the Universe, who has sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us to count the Omer.

Ha-yom shivah v’arba’im yom, shehem shishah sh’vuot v’chamishah yamim la’omer.
Today is day forty-seven, making six weeks and five days of the omer.

[This translation and transliteration was borrowed from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and from Jill Hammer's Omer Calendar of Biblical Women at RitualWell.org. For additional text to accompany the counting, see Five Steps.]

Psalms 90:12: limnot yamenu ken hoda ve-navi levav hokhmah
Teach us to number our days, that we may obtain a heart of wisdom.

—————————
During evening prayers, add:

A) (Address for God:) Barukh ata YHVH, eloheinu melekh ha-olam, asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al sefirat ha-omer.

We praise You, Adonai, Our God, Master of time and space whose commandments add holiness to our lives, Who commanded us to count the omer.

B) (Address God as feminine:) Beruchah at yah, eloheinu ruach haolam, asher kidshatnu bemitzvoteha vetzivatnu al sefirat ha’omer.

Blessed are You, God, Ruler/Spirit of the Universe, who has sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us to count the Omer.

Ha-yom shishah v’arba’im yom, shehem shishah sh’vuot v’arba’ah yamim la’omer.
Today is day forty-six, making six weeks and four days of the omer.

[This translation and transliteration was borrowed from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and from Jill Hammer's Omer Calendar of Biblical Women at RitualWell.org. For additional text to accompany the counting, see Five Steps.]

As we approach Shavuot and the giving of the Torah, I’m reminded of the midrash that all Jewish souls came together for the giving of the torah at Mount Sinai — not just those alive at that time but all future Jews too. The thought of Jews coming together as one across time makes me think of Jewish unity. Unfortunately, Jewish unity is often lacking in the modern world. If the Jewish people could come across the boundaries of time and space for the first Shavuot, can’t today’s Jewish people come together across philosophical boundaries? I’d like to share a music video of the Jewish version of “We Are The World” in hope that this Shavuos will bring Jews of all flavors together again.

The Sfat Emet (a/k/a Rabbi Yehuda Leib Alter) states that the holiday of Shavuot enables the Jewish people to unite because that’s when we all received the Torah. Despite internal differences within the Jewish world, Torah is an overriding unifying bond. Each of us — every Jewish individual — has their own unique portion in Torah. According to Sfat Emet, we can only realize our full potential by pooling our individual portions cooperatively. Torah is like “glue” that can hold us together.

I think that this blog is a good example of individuals sharing their unique insights to produce something of greater potential than any individual acting alone. And I thank Virginia for serving both as the inspiration and the glue for this project. In response to the question Virginia posed on Day 43, I’m pondering what an even larger group effort would have looked like and missing those unique viewpoints within the community that, for whatever reason, were not shared.

NOTE: As an egalitarian community, Fabrangen is sensitive to the role of women in Jewish life. Some have noticed that the women featured in this video don’t sing until towards the end, as part of a chorus. If this might ordinarily detract from your personal enjoyment of the song, please consider that “Ani Yehudi” is inspired by “We Are the World.” The original “We Are the World” song for African aid also began with male voices and featured far more males than females…. The
Yehudi version features a better female to male ratio overall, but not with respect to solos. I think that the producers did the best they could to parallel “We Are the World,” within the confines of halacha [Jewish law].
—————————

During evening prayers, add:

A) (Address for God:) Barukh ata YHVH, eloheinu melekh ha-olam, asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al sefirat ha-omer.

We praise You, Adonai, Our God, Master of time and space whose commandments add holiness to our lives, Who commanded us to count the omer.

B) (Address God as feminine:) Beruchah at yah, eloheinu ruach haolam, asher kidshatnu bemitzvoteha vetzivatnu al sefirat ha’omer.

Blessed are You, God, Ruler/Spirit of the Universe, who has sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us to count the Omer.

Ha-yom chamishah v’arba’im yom, shehem shishah sh’vuot u’shlishah yamim la’omer.
Today is day forty-five, making six weeks and three days of the omer.

[This translation and transliteration was borrowed from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and from Jill Hammer's Omer Calendar of Biblical Women at RitualWell.org. For additional text to accompany the counting, see Five Steps.]

When one counts, one ushers in a continuum….At any position in which you find yourself while counting, you have to be aware of two things: of the preceding position and of the following position…
– R. Joseph Soloveitchik (see Day 27).

“Sittin’ in Limbo” — “…I can’t say what life will show me, but I know what I’ve seen…” — seems an appropriate anthem for the final days of the omer…Even if we’re not so much sitting as on our way (“limbo,” as an afterlife concept, being another story entirely). We may know which day to count, up to 49, and we have the obligations of Sinai to guide us. But overall it’s mostly unknowns we face out here in the desert.

While we’re still in the omer, might be useful to consider which “they(s)” are “putting up resistance” and how, exactly, we plan to “move along.”

Sittin’ in Limbo

by Jimmy Cliff and Guillermo Bright

Sitting here in limbo
But I know it won’t be long
Sitting here in limbo
Like a bird without a song
Well, they’re putting up resistance
But I know that my faith will lead me on

Sitting here in limbo
Waiting for the dice to roll
Sitting here in limbo
Got some time to search my soul
Well, they’re putting up resistance
But I know that my faith will lead me on

I don’t know where life will lead me
But I know where I’ve been
I can’t say what life will show me
But I know what I’ve seen
Tried my hand at love and friendship
But all that is past and gone
This little boy is moving on
[Alt:"...little girl..."/"And now it's time to move along"]

Sitting here in limbo
Waiting for the tide to flow
Sitting here in limbo
Knowing that I have to go
Well, they’re putting up resistance
But I know that my faith will lead me on

[Alt: ...Waiting for the tide to turn...
...So many things I've got to learn]

I can’t say what life will show me
But I know what I’ve seen
I can’t say where life will lead me
But I know where I’ve been
Tried my hand at love and friendship
But all that is past and gone
This little boy is moving on

…Yes, they’re putting up resistance
But I know it’s the truth that leads me home

Separate Entities

Here is a YouTube piece incorporating photos and a musical performance by Jimmy Cliff. The creator of this piece notes with pride that it is posted with permission from the copyright holder. Kol HaKavod [all due respect] to those who honor copyright and create something of their own to post along with another artist’s work — a reflection, in its way, of the idea that weeks counted during the omer are a separate entity from the days.

And, finally, a version from Fiona Apple (with no real video component), just for variety’s sake.


—————————
During evening prayers, add:

A) (Address for God:) Barukh ata YHVH, eloheinu melekh ha-olam, asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al sefirat ha-omer.

We praise You, Adonai, Our God, Master of time and space whose commandments add holiness to our lives, Who commanded us to count the omer.

B) (Address God as feminine:) Beruchah at yah, eloheinu ruach haolam, asher kidshatnu bemitzvoteha vetzivatnu al sefirat ha’omer.

Blessed are You, God, Ruler/Spirit of the Universe, who has sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us to count the Omer.

Ha-yom arba’ah v’arba’im yom, shehem shishah sh’vuot u’shnei yamim la’omer.
Today is day forty-four, making six weeks and two days of the omer.

[This translation and transliteration was borrowed from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and from Jill Hammer's Omer Calendar of Biblical Women at RitualWell.org. For additional text to accompany the counting, see Five Steps.]

There has been some discussion in this blog of the dual counting involved in the omer. Several posts have mentioned the counting of days (last night, we counted 42) and the counting of weeks (last night, we counted six weeks). We’ve also discussed the dual nature of the commandment: to count each day and to count the entire period of 49 days leading to Shavuot. But there is another, underlying duality in the counting.

Individual and Community

Counting the omer involves an individual’s responsibility to count from the barley harvest to the wheat harvest — or from Passover to the Giving of the Torah. But it also involves the collective responsibility to sanctify months and holidays.

The former, it seems,* is a time-bound commandment (and so not incumbent on women), while the latter is a communal responsibility incumbent on every individual (including women). For egalitarian communities, men and women are understood as equally commanded, so gender-based discussions of commandment may seem moot. But the gender-based discussion serves to highlight the fact that there are, at least according to Joseph Soloveitchik, two distinguishable aspects of a commandment, one of which is based on a communal responsibility.

We no longer have a beit din ha-gadol [high court] to certify witness testimony and declare Rosh Chodesh, the new month. So, we announce the coming month publicly while a representative of the community holds a sefer Torah, symbolizing all-Israel. This is understood as a communal responsibility. Regardless of the gender issue, Soloveitchik is arguing that “every Jew participates in the collective process of kiddush ha-chodesh [sanctifying the month] and kevi’at ha-mo’adim [establishing holidays].”

But no Jew can perform the announcements, etc. on her or his own — that takes a collective of at least a minyan. We’re each responsible but have to work together in community to accomplish what we’re commanded to do.

Fabrangen, Fabrangeners, Friends

So, as we begin the final week of the omer count, I’m pondering the interplay between individual and community in this unusual endeavor. Several community members have mentioned that they never before “got this far” in the omer, citing the importance of this collective blog effort.

It’s worth noting, I think, that several of these individuals rarely participate with Fabrangen in its most regular activity, Shabbat morning services — having moved away from the area, being unable to reach the “new” location (Fabrangen moved over five years ago), or regularly participating in services elsewhere for whatever reason. And yet, here we are.

Here we are, together in cyberspace and apart, for the most part, in our individual lives, collectively participating in this omer count. Each trying to sanctify our own days and honor the peculiar period between Passover and Shavuot, preparing ourselves for the giving of the Torah. By sharing a little of our own journeys, we’re making a collective experience, even if we don’t meet every evening to recite maariv and count together.

I’m delighted to note that we have reached a minyan of sorts in contributors (you can see all ten in the sidebar to the right). In addition, we have at least ten regular readers. And we’ve been joined by others, passing through on their own journeys to Sinai.

The role of individuals — posters, commenters, readers –in creating this blog seems clear enough. We each have some sort of relationship to the path from Day 1 to Day 49. But what is the role of Fabrangen as a community?

Is Fabrangen is our month-sanctifying, holiday-establishing manifestation of Klal Yisrael, and so a kind of silent partner in this counting? Or is Fabrangen, for the purposes of this blog, more like a bus-stop where some people on their own journeys met and talked a bit? What about in the “real” world?

Yesterday, Irene mentioned how “42″ is the answer to life, the universe and everything. The problem, of course, is that no one knows what the right question is.


* Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik on Pesach, Sefirat ha-Omer and Shavu’ot. David Shapiro. Jerusalem: Urim, 2005.

—————————
During evening prayers, add:

A) (Address for God:) Barukh ata YHVH, eloheinu melekh ha-olam, asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al sefirat ha-omer.

We praise You, Adonai, Our God, Master of time and space whose commandments add holiness to our lives, Who commanded us to count the omer.

B) (Address God as feminine:) Beruchah at yah, eloheinu ruach haolam, asher kidshatnu bemitzvoteha vetzivatnu al sefirat ha’omer.

Blessed are You, God, Ruler/Spirit of the Universe, who has sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us to count the Omer.

Ha-yom shlishi v’arba’im yom, shehem shishah sh’vuot v’yom echad la’omer.
Today is day forty-three, making six weeks and one day of the omer.

[This translation and transliteration was borrowed from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and from Jill Hammer's Omer Calendar of Biblical Women at RitualWell.org. For additional text to accompany the counting, see Five Steps.]

Forty-two can be a very profound number. At least it is in our house. That’s because the number 42 is featured prominently in one of our favorite books, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy by Douglas Adams. According to the Guide, an ancient people designed a computer to solve the question of the meaning life, the universe, and everything. After deliberating for seven and a half million years, the computer reached an answer which is — “42.” So, in honor of 42 as the meaning of life I’ve tried to find a profound life lesson in counting the omer.

I’m not sure that what I’ve discovered is profound, but it certainly is unexpected: by counting the omer we can learn that it’s ok not to be perfect. That may seem counterintuitive to many Jews. We tend to be people who strive to excel and who ask or children who bring home grades of “99″ why they didn’t achieve “100.”

What does the omer have to do with perfection and imperfection? The omer period begins with an offering of barley and ends with an offering of two loaves of bread made from fine flour. Barley is a course grain, used for animal feed, and symbolizes a human’s lowly animal tendencies. Wheat, in contrast, is refined and on a high level. So how can a gift of barley be a fitting divine offering? Shouldn’t we wait until we can bring fine flour?

Rabbi Asher Meir explains in the book Meaning In Mitzvot that early in the growing season, barley was all anyone had. The wheat was not yet ripe. Even though we should strive to give our best, we can’t be expected to give what we don’t yet have. So, in Temple times, we were allowed to bring lowly barley to the alter, on the condition that we immediately began counting the days toward the time when we’d be able to bring bread of fine flour. The key is that we had to keep in mind that there would be a time when we could do more. And surely it was better to bring barley when we could, than bring nothing at all.

Applying this to the world today, I believe that G-d thinks it’s “perfectly” ok for us to be imperfect as long as we (1) do all we can with what we currently have, and (2) take small but consistent steps to move ourselves forward.

—————————
During evening prayers, add:

A) (Address for God:) Barukh ata YHVH, eloheinu melekh ha-olam, asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al sefirat ha-omer.

We praise You, Adonai, Our God, Master of time and space whose commandments add holiness to our lives, Who commanded us to count the omer.

B) (Address God as feminine:) Beruchah at yah, eloheinu ruach haolam, asher kidshatnu bemitzvoteha vetzivatnu al sefirat ha’omer.

Blessed are You, God, Ruler/Spirit of the Universe, who has sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us to count the Omer.

Ha-yom sh’naim v’arba’im yom, shehem shishah sh’vuot la’omer.
Today is day forty-two, making six weeks of the omer.

[This translation and transliteration was borrowed from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and from Jill Hammer's Omer Calendar of Biblical Women at RitualWell.org. For additional text to accompany the counting, see Five Steps.]

I sent one message earlier about GEVURAH [strength] (See Day 12 Comment). I was feeling strong, disciplined.

This week, though, I am seeped in YESOD/bonding. When I feel happy, I do want the YESOD of hesed [lovingkindness], tiferet [beauty], hod [glory], and so on. Each aspect of YESOD is a facet that brings me closer. The bonding is a linking to the G-dforce. I think, also, that it is a linking to the G-dforce in each person/creature.

When I am in a slump, though, feeling alone — not bonded to others or to G-d — I wonder: How can a YESOD day be so messed up/coming apart at the seams?

—————–
Editor’s note: As we prepare to leave the week of yesod [foundation, bonding] and move into the week of malchut [sovereignty], the final week of the omer, any additional thoughts on yesod — foundation and/or bonding when things seem to be coming apart?

Rabbi Shefa Gold has a powerful teaching about balancing strength with “Godsong” — even if you are already familiar with her chant, “Ozi v’zimrat Yah,” consider checking out the video below. But I am wondering about balancing freedom and bonding:

Don’t we sometimes need to let go, if only to get a better grip?

.
—————————
During evening prayers, add:

A) (Address for God:) Barukh ata YHVH, eloheinu melekh ha-olam, asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al sefirat ha-omer.

We praise You, Adonai, Our God, Master of time and space whose commandments add holiness to our lives, Who commanded us to count the omer.

B) (Address God as feminine:) Beruchah at yah, eloheinu ruach haolam, asher kidshatnu bemitzvoteha vetzivatnu al sefirat ha’omer.

Blessed are You, God, Ruler/Spirit of the Universe, who has sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us to count the Omer.

Ha-yom echad v’arba’im yom, shehem chamishah sh’vuot v’shishah yamim la’omer.
Today is day forty-one, making five weeks and six days of the omer.

[This translation and transliteration was borrowed from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and from Jill Hammer's Omer Calendar of Biblical Women at RitualWell.org. For additional text to accompany the counting, see Five Steps.]