Every Day Counts

By Rabbi David Jaffe

Image description: Blog image with a photo of trees that survived a wildfire, with new growth of green grass all along the bottom of thin, tall trees that look burned on one side. On top of the image is text that reads: Iyar 5785 by Rabbi David Jaffe.

As we hit the new administration’s 100th day I’m turning for spiritual support to another counting of days—the counting of the Omer, the period of 49 days between Passover, the holiday of liberation, and Shavuot, the holiday of receiving Torah, or spiritual liberation. The practice involves simply counting the number of the day each and every day for these seven weeks, ideally at night when the day begins in the Jewish calendar. See here for more details*.

When every day these past 100 days brings a new affront to constitutional protections and additional cruelty to those most vulnerable, I find it life-giving to slow down and actually count the day with the intention that every day counts. The words of Rabbi Natan Sternhartz, Rebbe Nachman’s primary disciple, have been particularly inspiring:

“The essential intention of [the practice of] Counting the Omer [in its most straightforward form] is that one needs to know that the days of a person’s [life] are numbered and counted by each and every day. One needs to make an accounting of each day because there is no day that is worthless. Even each hour and moment has value as is related [by the words], “Seven complete weeks.” That is that the seven weeks, which are the days of the Counting of the Omer, need to be whole and complete with Avodat Hashem/Sacred service and one of them should not be lost. The seven weeks are symbolic of all the days of a person’s life, which are included in the seven days of the week.” — Rabbi Natan Sternhartz (Reb Nosson of Breslov, d. 1844), Lekutei Halachot, Deposits 4:5

My practice involves counting at night (Today is the 17th day of the Omer) and then taking a few minutes in the morning to meditate on the fact that this particular day is completely unique and never existed before and never will exist again. I am here, alive, in THIS day. Being alive in this day means I get to serve in a way that is yet unfolding and changing every day, and I get to be present to that unfolding. I’m finding that this simple meditation helps to keep my heart and soul open and my mind alert in this period of such cruelty.

Rabbi Natan highlights the Torah’s description that we count for “Seven complete weeks,” as symbolic of a person’s complete life. Thanks to this description I’m now seeing the seven week Omer period as a training ground for all the days of our life. Each year, Jewish tradition gives us a seven week training period for recognizing the holiness and uniqueness of every single day of our lives.

May counting the Omer give us the insight, clarity ,and energy to know that every day counts and is truly a unique opportunity to bring more compassion and justice to this world.

Chodesh Tov,

David

*Traditional Jewish practice understands the Omer counting to be comprised of seven complete weeks of counting and thus the blessing is only said when one is counting all 49 days. If you are starting the practice now or counting occasionally, simply count the day without saying the blessing.