Passover

Counting is something Jews do a bit strangely. If you have ever been to a traditional Jewish worship service in an Orthodox setting, you might notice that rather than count the ten men needed for the service--a minyan--(one, two three, etc.), the counting for those ten men is done a bit strangely: not one, not two, not three, etc. Why?  For what are likely superstitious reasons, those present are "not counted" so no evil should befall the ten who are there.

During this week of Passover, our Jewish tradition begins another odd counting practice. In Biblical times, when the Temple stood in Jerusalem, the Israelites were required to harvest a specific amount of barley on the second night of Passover. The following day a portion of this amount - called an Omer - was to be brought to the Temple. Then one would count off a week of weeks, forty-nine days, and the next day, the fiftieth day, an offering of wheat would be brought to the Temple. (Check out Leviticus 23: 15-16 for more on this practice.) Today, however, the Temple no longer stands in Jerusalem, and offerings of neither barley nor wheat are made. Nonetheless, we still count! Day one after no offering, day two after no offering, day three after no offering, etc. It may seem odd to count off days marking something that didn't happen, but that is our tradition.

We have another unusual counting practice that occurs more frequently. Shabbat is the seventh day in the week of creation - unless, of course, creation took billions of years to occur and is still occurring. So what do we really count on Shabbat? If we are lucky, we count another week of life that we have shared with family and friends and our contributions to make the world a better place for those with whom we share it.

I hope that on this seventh day of the week, day four of the Omer, you will find some time to enjoy the Shabbat and make that day really count.

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Passover,

Rabbi Joseph M. Forman