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Counting of the Omer (or Sefirat Ha'omer, Hebrew: ספירת העומר) is a verbal counting of each of the forty-nine days between the Jewish holidays of Passover and Shavuot. This mitzvah derives from the Torah commandment to count forty-nine days beginning from the day on which the Omer, a sacrifice containing an omer-measure of barley, was offered in the Temple in Jerusalemmarker, up until the day before an offering of wheat was brought to the Temple on Shavuot. The Counting of the Omer begins on the second day of Passover for rabbinical Jews, or the Sunday after the Sabbath of the Paschal feast for others, and ends the day before the holiday of Shavuot, the 'fiftieth day.'



The commandment for counting the Omer is recorded in :




The omer is a Biblical measure of volume of grain. On the second day of Passover, an omer of barley was offered in the Temple, signalling the allowance of the consumption of chadash (grains from the new harvest). On the 50th day after the beginning of the count, corresponding to the holiday of Shavuot, two loaves made of wheat were offered in the Temple to signal the start of the wheat harvest.

The origins of the omer count, enumerated in the Midrash Rabbah Parashas Emor, explains that when the Children of Israel left Egypt they were told by Moses that 49 days after the exodus, they would be given the Torah. The populace was so excited at the prospect of a spiritual liberation, following the physical emancipation from Egypt, they kept a count of the passing days that ended with the giving of the Torah at the foot of Mount Sinai. The Torah itself, in Leviticus 23:15-16, states that it is a commandment to count seven complete weeks from the day after Passover night ending with the festival of Shavuot on the fiftith day. Shavuot is the festival marking the giving of the Torah to the Jewish nation on the 6th of the Hebrew month of Sivan.

In keeping with the themes of spiritual growth and character development during this period, the Jewish sages compare the process of growth to the two types of grain offered at either pole of the counting period. In ancient times, barley was an animal food and wheat, a human food. At Passover, the Jews were raised out of the Egyptian exile although they had sunken almost to the point of no return. The Exodus was unearned, a gift from God, like the food of animals who are not expected to develop their spiritual potential. For the next forty-nine days, however, the Jewish people worked on themselves to be able to receive the Torah on their own merit. The receiving of the Torah required spiritual elevation and active cooperation. Thus the Shavuot offering is "people food" [56197].

The count




Then he or she states the Omer-count in terms of both total days and weeks and days. For example, on the 23rd day the count would be stated thus: "Today is twenty-three days, which is three weeks and two days of (or "in" [56198]) the Omer." The count is said in Hebrew.


"Omer-counters" are typically offered for sale during this time, and are displayed in synagogues for the benefit of worshippers who count the Omer with the congregation at the conclusion of evening services. Omer-counters range from decorative boxes with an interior scroll that shows each day's count through a small opening; to posters and magnets in which each day's count is recorded on a tear-off piece of paper; to calendars depicting all seven weeks and 49 days of the Omer (a small pointer is advanced from day to day); to pegboards that keep track of both the day and the week of the Omer. Reminders to count the Omer are also produced for hand-held computers and via SMS services for cell phone.

Deeper symbolism

The period of Omer is considered to be a time of potential for inner growth - for a person to work on one's middot or good characteristics through reflection and development of one aspect each day for the 49 days of the counting.

In Kabbalah, each of the seven weeks of the Omer-counting is associated with one of the seven lower sefirot (#4-10): Chesed, Gevurah, Tipheret, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut. Each day of each week is also associated with one of these same seven sefirot, creating forty-nine permutations. The first day of the Omer is therefore associated with "chesed that is in chesed", the second day with "gevurah that is in chesed"; the first day of the second week is associated with "chesed that is in gevurah," the second day of the second week with "gevurah that is in gevurah," and so on. Symbolically, each of these 49 permutations represents an aspect of each person's character that can be improved or further developed. Rabbi Simon Jacobson explains these 49 levels in his classic book, The Spiritual Guide to Counting the Omer. [56199], as do Rabbi Yaacov Haber and Rabbi David Sedley in their book Sefiros: Spiritual Refinement through Counting the Omer [56200].

The forty-nine-day period of counting the Omer is also a conducive time to study the teaching of the Mishna in Pirkei Avoth 6:6, which enumerates the "48 ways" by which Torah is acquired. Rabbi Aharon Kotler explains that the study of each "way" can be done on each of the first forty-eight days of the Omer-counting; on the forty-ninth day, one should review all the "ways"[56201].

As a period of semi-mourning

The period of counting the Omer is also a time of semi-mourning, during which the Halakha forbids haircuts, shaving, listening to live instrumental music, or conducting weddings, parties, and dinners with dancing. Traditionally, the reason cited is that this is in memory of a plague that killed the 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva. According to the Talmud, 12,000 chevrutot (pairs of study partners) were divinely killed during the days of the Omer-counting for not honoring one another properly. Many scholars suggest that this talk of "plague" was really a way for the early Talmudic rabbis (who were living under Roman rule) to speak in code about a failed uprising against Roman power in which many Jews (possibly Rabbi Akiva's students) died.

Lag Ba'omer, the thirty-third day of the Counting of the Omer, is considered to be the day in which the plague was lifted, (and/or: the day in which the rebellion saw a victory,) so on that day, all the rules of mourning are lifted (some Sephardim, however, continue the mourning period up until the 34th day of the Omer, which is considered by them to be the day of joy and celebration. Spanish and Portuguese Jews do not observe these customs. Some religious Jews shave each Friday afternoon during the mourning period of the Omer in order to be neat in honor of the Shabbat.

In practice, different Jewish communities observe different periods of mourning. Some families listen to music during the week of Passover and then commence the period of mourning until Lag Ba'omer. Some Sephardic Jewish families begin the period of mourning from the first day of the Hebrew month of Iyar and continue for thirty-three days until the third of Sivan. The custom among Jerusalemites (minhag Yerushalmi) is to follow the mourning practices during the entire Counting of the Omer, save for the day of Lag Ba'omer and the last three days of the counting (sheloshet yemei hagbalah). The extent of mourning is also based heavily on family custom, and therefore Jews will mourn to different degrees.

Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein, author of Aruch Hashulchan, postulates that the mourning period also memorializes Jews who were murdered during the Crusades, pogroms and blood libels that occurred in Europe 1,000 years after the period of Rabbi Akiva [56202].

The Jewish calendar is largely agricultural, and the period of Omer falls between Passover and Shavuot. On Passover there is a shift from praying for rain to praying for dew and this begins the growth period for the fruit of the season. Shavuot is the day of the giving of the first fruits. The outcome of the season's crop and fruit was still vulnerable during this period. Over these seven weeks, daily reflection, work on one's middot (characteristics) and potential inner growth from this work on self was one way to pray for and invite the possibility of affecting one's external fate and potential - the growth of the crop and the fruit of that season.

Although the period of the Omer is traditionally a mourning one, Jews can do actions that are not allowed during mourning on Lag Ba'Omer and a day of extreme happiness. Many Religious Zionists shave their beards and do other actions that are typically not allowed during the mourning period on Yom Ha'atzmaut, the independence day of Israel.

Lag Ba'omer


According to the Zohar, Rabbi Shimon's house was filled with fire and light that entire day as he taught his students. At the end of the day, the fire subsided and Rabbi Shimon died [56203]. On successive years, his students sought to recreate that experience of light and mystical revelation by kindling bonfires and studying the Zohar in the light of the flames.


Karaite Practice

Karaite Judaism begins counting the omer on the day after the weekly Sabbath rather than on the 16th of Nisan.

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