(Ac)Counting the Omer - 5774

Happy Passover, 5774.  This is the time of year in which we celebrate our own freedoms and commit ourselves to ensuring that all those around us are liberated from bondage, as well.  

We also count these days between Passover and Shavuot, spiritually preparing ourselves to celebrate the receiving of Torah.  Each day, one was to sacrifice an Omer's worth of grains, in order to mark that these weeks are different from all other weeks.  They remind us that the Passover story did not just end on the other side of the sea; that the work of the Israelites was just beginning at that moment when they stopped their dancing and celebrating.  The hand of God had delivered them from Egypt, but it would be the hand of the people that would determine for what purpose.  Shavuot represents the time in which this aimless group of wanderers were given a meaning and a mission - to create a just society, predicated on equality and shared responsibilities.  The Israel they were compelled to create was to be the anti-Egypt: a horizontal human leadership structure.  

Enough historical context: this brings me to this year's Omer counting.  Each day we count, we are supposed to advance our own spiritual connection with bigger ideas than our everyday routines. In doing so, we have the chance to solidify our own personal purposes.  And so, I am going to use the Omer this year as a means of accounting justice and freedom in our time.  I could certainly fill this space with reflections about super-sized issues that plague millions of fellow humans across the world.  But I do not wish to ignore the individual accounting that I believe to be a part of this Omer period - we are to take stock of our own struggles to create just living.  If you'll count with me, we'll visit topics such as modern slavery, addiction, hunger, immigration, oppression of the checkbook, oppression of the calendar, to name a few.  

While in the past, I have viewed this omer counter primarily as an educational tool for others, to help the reader find spiritual growth and an invitation to find one's own holiness; this time around, I see it as a personal journey, as well.  Rather than counting, this is my Omer accounting.  And as any good accounting practice should do, I hope it will lead me to understanding my own priorities and the resources from which I can put my reflections into action.  I hope that this space will help your own accounting, as well.