Thank you for sharing. I think many--myself included--find it tricky to take sefirat ha'omer beyond the level of basic performance of the mitzvah. Reading your own reflections on the juxaposition between practice and your understandings of the sefirot is very helpful.
I do have one practical question that I'm hoping you can offer some insight into.. If the original commandment regarding the omer is tied to sacrifice (presumably a daytime practice), why does tradition favor counting and saying the bracha at night? Is there any kind of emotional response that would favor counting at nighttime over the daytime?
So great to hear from you - I hope things are going well with you and your family.
Thanks for your question - the first part in particular made me reflect on my own methods of practice and how I apply them. Would it be ok to use your question as an opening to a separate post on the practicalities of the practice of counting, hoping I get around to writing it?
The second question indeed has a shorter answer, though it is made of different parts...
You remember that although we count the Omer for 49 days, the offering of the Omer was made only once, on the 16th of Nissan according to rabbinic tradition. As the Mishnah describes it in the 10th chapter of Menahot, (check it out if you have not seen it before) this offering consists of two distinct rituals. The first is a large public ritual of cutting the Omer which happens in a field outside of Jerusalem at night. The second is the raising and offering of the Minhah, which is an inner-temple ritual happening, as you noted, the next morning. Rabbinic literature largely associates the ritual of counting with the ritual of cutting rather than the ritual of offering.
Of having both those rituals at night, the Tannaitic midrash says:
יכול יקצור ביום ויספור ביום ויביא ביום תלמוד לומר שבע שבתות תמימות תהיינה, אימתי הם תמימות בזמן שמתחיל בערב,
(Sifra 10:12:6)
This midrash connect the "fullness" of תמימות not just to the entire span of seven weeks, but to each individual day as well, meaning that the entire day has to be held in the consciousness of the counting. The logic of the midrash, is that counting during the night can expand throughout the 24 hour period, including the day that is still to come, but if you count during the day, the night is already gone...
I think this is helpful in orienting the ritual of counting as an intention setting for the entire day, which of course includes both night and day. This is of course extremely relevant to the first part of your question, as it assumes that the ritual of counting includes more that the technical stating of a number, and that the ritual of counting is an anchor point for a consciousness that continues throughout the day. But that, as I said is a longer writing project.
Thank you for this! I love your phrasing of the relationship between malkhut and tifferet as what is - what could be. I think of that space between as the space of imagination as well as emunah. Connective tissue- And these days I suffer over what feels like a long terminal illness in the realm of imagination. More to say about that, another time.
Also want to tell you how I love your phrase- symbol cluster to describe Sephirah. I often use the phrase ‘constellation of meaning’.
Thanks for making your wisdom available to us all. חג כשר ושמח and may we enter fully into that imaginal space at Seder this year.
First I really want to thank you for the support -it is very meaningful.
And thanks for sharing your thoughts. "symbol cluster" is not mine - I took it from my teacher, Art Green.
I feel similarly about the place of imagination. over the past decade or so, I have been focusing more and more of my learning and teaching on imagination. I feel it is an important key to resilience, that is going to be crucial for this generation, and that we do not work on enough...
Ebn,
Thank you for sharing. I think many--myself included--find it tricky to take sefirat ha'omer beyond the level of basic performance of the mitzvah. Reading your own reflections on the juxaposition between practice and your understandings of the sefirot is very helpful.
I do have one practical question that I'm hoping you can offer some insight into.. If the original commandment regarding the omer is tied to sacrifice (presumably a daytime practice), why does tradition favor counting and saying the bracha at night? Is there any kind of emotional response that would favor counting at nighttime over the daytime?
With much appreciation,
Eric
Hi Eric,
So great to hear from you - I hope things are going well with you and your family.
Thanks for your question - the first part in particular made me reflect on my own methods of practice and how I apply them. Would it be ok to use your question as an opening to a separate post on the practicalities of the practice of counting, hoping I get around to writing it?
The second question indeed has a shorter answer, though it is made of different parts...
You remember that although we count the Omer for 49 days, the offering of the Omer was made only once, on the 16th of Nissan according to rabbinic tradition. As the Mishnah describes it in the 10th chapter of Menahot, (check it out if you have not seen it before) this offering consists of two distinct rituals. The first is a large public ritual of cutting the Omer which happens in a field outside of Jerusalem at night. The second is the raising and offering of the Minhah, which is an inner-temple ritual happening, as you noted, the next morning. Rabbinic literature largely associates the ritual of counting with the ritual of cutting rather than the ritual of offering.
Of having both those rituals at night, the Tannaitic midrash says:
יכול יקצור ביום ויספור ביום ויביא ביום תלמוד לומר שבע שבתות תמימות תהיינה, אימתי הם תמימות בזמן שמתחיל בערב,
(Sifra 10:12:6)
This midrash connect the "fullness" of תמימות not just to the entire span of seven weeks, but to each individual day as well, meaning that the entire day has to be held in the consciousness of the counting. The logic of the midrash, is that counting during the night can expand throughout the 24 hour period, including the day that is still to come, but if you count during the day, the night is already gone...
I think this is helpful in orienting the ritual of counting as an intention setting for the entire day, which of course includes both night and day. This is of course extremely relevant to the first part of your question, as it assumes that the ritual of counting includes more that the technical stating of a number, and that the ritual of counting is an anchor point for a consciousness that continues throughout the day. But that, as I said is a longer writing project.
Much love.
Hi Ebn
Thank you for this! I love your phrasing of the relationship between malkhut and tifferet as what is - what could be. I think of that space between as the space of imagination as well as emunah. Connective tissue- And these days I suffer over what feels like a long terminal illness in the realm of imagination. More to say about that, another time.
Also want to tell you how I love your phrase- symbol cluster to describe Sephirah. I often use the phrase ‘constellation of meaning’.
Thanks for making your wisdom available to us all. חג כשר ושמח and may we enter fully into that imaginal space at Seder this year.
Dear Kaya,
First I really want to thank you for the support -it is very meaningful.
And thanks for sharing your thoughts. "symbol cluster" is not mine - I took it from my teacher, Art Green.
I feel similarly about the place of imagination. over the past decade or so, I have been focusing more and more of my learning and teaching on imagination. I feel it is an important key to resilience, that is going to be crucial for this generation, and that we do not work on enough...
Shabbat Shalom and thanks again,
Ebn