Dear
friends,
From April 20th through June 7th the Jewish world is occupied with “Counting the Omer.” Each night, beginning with the second night of Pesach and continuing for forty-nine consecutive nights, we recite the appropriate Beracha and count each night in turn until we shall have numbered forty-nine nights and days. Then, on the fiftieth day, we celebrate the festival of Shavuot (which in Hebrew comes from a root whose meaning is both “week” and “seven.” A most appropriate name for the holiday that comes exactly seven weeks after Pesach!)
Why the counting? And why is it that of all the holidays mentioned in the Torah, only Shavuot is not fixed in time by a specific day in a specific month (such as the 15th day of the 7th month for Sukkot), but instead by counting a certain number of days from the previous holiday (Pesach)?
We learn that Pesach and Shavuot are linked together in a unique way. Moreover, because they are so linked, each holiday would be incomplete without the other. Pesach celebrates the liberation of our ancestors from Egyptian bondage. Shavuot celebrates our forbears’ receiving the Torah at mount Sinai, and in so doing, their ratifying their special covenant with God. Without freedom from human bondage, we would not be free to accept the commandments and commit ourselves to be the “servants” of the Holy One. And without the Torah and Commandments given to us on Sinai, our freedom would have been nothing more than license without purpose or direction. True freedom can only exist when one voluntarily commits oneself to a meaningful, purposeful, and guided life-in this case, a life guided by our teachings and traditions.
In counting the Omer each day we are also reminded that each day should “count” because it is a precious gift that can never be relived once it is over. Moreover, its “counting” can only happen when our actions fill it with content, content based on the guiding principles of Judaism.
In short, true freedom does not consist of a life free from all restrictions or guidelines. Nor does it imply a life without discipline. Nor is “freedom” synonymous with “license!” You can’t yell “fire!” in a crowded room! You have to live by the law of the land! You have to limit your own freedoms and abide by the law so that nothing that anyone does impinges negatively on anyone else. In many, many ways we limit our behaviors so that “freedom” can exist for everyone. At this time of year we celebrate both our freedom and the Jewish way of life that makes freedom such a wonderful medium for infusing our lives with purpose and direction!
Sincerely,
Rabbi Stanley L.
Asekoff