For the past few years, we’ve reclaimed the tradition of counting the Omer at our Temple. I like it because of the anticipation of counting up (not down!) to Shavuot, the anniversary of the receiving of the Torah, and celebrating our Confirmation students. Certainly as Jews we mark time through the passing of Torah portions, the observance of various holidays, but during the counting of the Omer, we count each day as a special reminder of the festival to come following Pesakh.

I recently had an article published in the URJ’s 10 Minutes of Torah series. I talked about the musical treatment of the counting, whereas Dr. Richard Sarason wrote in his article about the origin of the counting and its execution throughout history. There’s some really good music to be heard there, so please give it a read!

Each year since 2007, I’ve been publishing a convenient Omer Counting guide just for Shabbatot. It’s a convenient thing I keep on the pulpit so I don’t have to remember what day goes where! If you find use for it, let me know! Download yours today!

[ssdownload file=”https://contzius.com/downloads/Omer_count_for_2012.pdf” title=”Count the Omer for 2012″]

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