From the second seder night until the Giving of the Torah on Shavuot – the Festival of Seven Weeks (or 49 days,) we count up each day, then each week until 49 days and its seven weeks are accounted ...

Counting the Omer links us to the words of the Psalms: “Number your days so that you may acquire a heart of wisdom.” The children in Jerusalem are already anticipating it. You daren’t leave a piece of ...

It feels like we’ve been counting the Omer for around seven months now. Though the formal Jewish ritual of rattling off seven weeks began the second night of Passover, ever since Oct. 7, the somber ...

(JNS) Tobi Kahn grasps an asymmetric block of wood in both hands. He turns the piece, a fluid combination of angles and curves painted a rich metallic pewter, to reveal the base: a perfect rectangle, ...

As we approach Lag Ba’omer, let us race along capturing the “wins” and insert them into our daily activities. “We’re on our way to the Promised Land.” That African-American spiritual has spread its ...

The ancient Jewish observance of Sephirat HaOmer (counting the omer) continues through May 24. The 49-day period starts after Passover and remembers the farming roots of the Jews and points to the ...

We have been on a journey from Easter to Pentecost, counting items along the way. In the days between the Jewish feasts of ...

“You shall count from the second day of Passover, when an Omer of grain is to be brought as an offering, seven complete weeks. The day after the seventh week of your counting will make fifty days.” — ...

As we count the 49 days of the Omer, marking the period between Pesach and Shavuot, I am sure I am not alone in my worry about missing a day in this commanded count. We can only count after dark, so ...