Omer 2024 Day 41

Day 40 | Day 42

Day 41: Yesod in Yesod, Connection in Connection

There are many different points of connection within the omer: our connection to time and to the past, our connection to each other, our connection to ourselves, and our connection to God. Ultimately, counting the omer is an exercise in recognizing these connections.

Time

We've discussed throughout the blog this year how counting the omer involves a distortion of time. We begin by seeing ourselves as slaves who have personally been freed from Egypt. The 49 days of the omer correspond with the days the Israelites walked through the desert from the time they walked through the Red Sea to the time they reached Mount Sinai. And then, on Shavuot, we celebrate a holiday that says every generation was there at once. Counting the omer is a celebration of our connections throughout time.

Community

So much of our reflections over the past 41 days have been about strengthening our community and uplifting others, and how our community sustains each of us in turn. We are reminded that our individual growth is intertwined with our community.

The Self

Most of the self-reflection of the omer is just that - self-reflection. It's internal and intensely personal. How I view the sefirot, these seven attributes, will almost certainly differ from how you see them. I will embody them differently than you do. I will connect with myself on this journey.

God

Counting the omer is a countdown (or a count up, really) to our defining connection moment with God: standing at Sinai and receiving the Ten Commandments. As we count, the sefirot connected to each week become more complex and more God-like. The weeks of hod, yesod, and malchut are not just closer to the end of the omer, they are more Godly attributes. The longer we count, the closer we grow to God.