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Articles
by Rabbi Zalman Shacter-Shalomi
Counting
the Omer
A Message from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
"Oo-sfartem
lahem: Do your counting for your sake." (Leviticus 23:15)
"Teach us to number our days that we my get us a heart
of wisdom." (Psalm 90:12)
"And Abraham grew old, he came into days." (Genesis
24:1 )
Rabbi
Nachman of Bratzlav used to say, "When a person pays
attention to what happens to him during the days of the Sefirah
period he soon becomes aware that all he sees and hears on
that day is but the activity of that Sefirah and that it can
serve to align him to G*d's blessed will."
From
the second night of Pesach to the night before Shavuot we
count the Omer. Originally this Sefirah period was a way to
punctuate the ripening barley's daily growth, until the Omer
of ripened barley was brought as a sacrifice to the Temple
in gratitude for the harvest. When we were no longer involved
with farming our sages ordered us to count, and this counting
became a moral preparation for the Receiving of the Torah
at Sinai.
AS
WE GO EACH DAY FARTHER AWAY FROM EGYPT, WE COME CLOSER TO
SINAI. By the time these ideas get further refined in the
ZOHAR we are dealing with a movement from the 49 Gates of
Defilement through the Gates of Understanding. Since we have
to count 7 times 7 weeks, the number is not accidental. There
is a pattern which 7 times 7 produces of both cosmic and personal
significance. The Kabbalists taught us that the seven weeks
represent the periods in which one or another of the Seven
Holy Attributes represented by the seven names not to be erased
appear in 49 different combinations.
The
attributes are listed in the following order: Hesed, Gevurah,
Tiferet, Nezah, Hod, Yesod, Malchut. The seven attributes
correspond to the seven archetypal persons: Abraham, Isaac,
Israel, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and David. The seven attributes
are also modes: functioning (in Assiyah), feeling (in Yetzirah),
understanding and well being (in B'riyah), and essence (in
Atzilut). As such functions they are the operations of the
Seven Sefirot as manifested in us either on the side of holiness
and order, or on the side of defilement and chaos. They are
virtues on the holy side and vices on the side of evil.
Accordingly
each of 49 days of the Omer Period represents one of the possible
combinations of the Divine Sefirot. The action directive is
SCRUTINIZE each day for the lessons it teaches on how to purify
and harmonize the mode of that day to be in consonance with
the attunement that the DIVINE SEFIRAH offers on that day.
In this way one fulfills the mitzvah of "U-sfartem Lahem."
A person counts all the lights and attributes needed to leave
Egypt behind and to come closer to Sinai.
TO
NUMBER ONE'S DAYS MEANS TO MAKE THEM COUNT so that one does
not sleep through life without awareness. AND ABRAHAM GREW
OLD AND CAME INTO DAYS is a blessing for all of us to become
fully realized in the divine and human scheme of things. As
Rabbi Shneur Zalman once said, "We have to live with
the times." When pressed to say what he meant he said,
"With the Sidrah of the week and the Sefirah of the day.
You meet another G d wrestler and the two of you start comparing
notes and you realize that you are both on the way to Sinai."
MAY
G*D GRANT THAT WE FIND FELLOW PILGRIMS TO SINAI
AS WE COUNT THE DAYS ON THE WAY OUT FROM OUR EGYPTS.
Articles
by Rabbi Zalman Shacter-Shalomi
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