Whats an Omer and Why is Everyone Counting It?
Hara Person It’s that time of year-the time of year when Jews are busy counting the Omer. This is a period of forty-nine days, or seven weeks of seven days, starting from the second day of Passover that culminates on the fiftieth day with Shavuot. Rather than being a holiday unto itself, this period of the counting of the Omer is actually a whole season, the season of the spring harvest. Got an Omer handy? An Omer is usually thought to be a sheaf of barley, though there are some who say that the Omer is actually a measurement of barley. Either way, in Biblical times, this period of counting the Omer is linked to important points in the agricultural cycle. It is framed on one side by the ripening of the barley crop, around the time of Passover, and on the other side by the ripening of the wheat crop. The Torah teaches that at the beginning of this period, a sheaf of barley is to be waved as an offering in the Temple, and fifty days later, at the end of this period, two loaves of wheat b
