Parashas Emor

This week’s parashah includes the mitzvah of Sefiras HaOmer,  as we count the 49 days from the second day of Pesach, when the Korban HaOmer – from the grain of the new harvest – was brought, until Shavuos.

These are days when we anxiously await receiving the Torah on Shavuos, and many ask why it is that we count “up,” rather than “down.” After all, when people anticipate an event, they generally count down the days remaining, rather than the days that have passed.

Another question is: Why is this called counting the Omer? What connection is there between the Omer, our counting, and the culmination of our count with the arrival of Shavuos and Mattan Torah?

The word “omer” has numerous meanings. One is a measure of 1/10 of an eiphah¸which is the amount of flour used for this offering. Another (as used in Devarim 24: 19) is a bundle of grain.

The lesson is that during this period, we are not to simply passively count down the days to Shavuos; we are to use each day to count “up,” to accumulate a spiritual bundle by making another improvement.

We start by counting days – we realize that every small accomplishment brings us closer to our goal. Then, as we amass more bundles of achievements, we count weeks, an encouraging sign that our small bundles are piling up in our spiritual treasurehouse – not so that we can sit back, but so that we are inspired to work even more diligently toward our objective.

The Jews had 49 days to be transformed from a slave nation at the 49^th level of impurity to the lofty nation prepared to receive the Torah. On the seventh day after they left Egypt, as they stood at the Sea, the angels looked down at the Jews and the Egyptians and commented, “This group is idolators and that group is idolators!” Seven days in – 1/7 of their spiritual journey – they looked the same! But they were not the same, they were in the process of sanctifying themselves.

Our achievements are incremental. Their effects are not always evident – even to us. But as the days and weeks pile up, though our efforts, prayers, and siyata Dishmaya our bundles amass, so that when we complete our 49-day count, we can reach the level of angels (see Shabbos 88a) and pronounce “Naaseh venishma.”

Gut Shabbos.