Traditionally, Jews avoid holding weddings or other celebrations and cutting hair during these 49 days. The many layers of the Omer’s significance include being a period of semi-mourning in remembrance of Rabbi Akiva’s 24,000 students who were killed by a plague in the 1st century CE. Especially in a time when we’re faced with constant news of failures and disappointments, we have to expend more energy to reflect on appreciation. Embracing thankfulness takes intention and practice. There’s a reason the phrase is “exercising” gratitude. We know that we can’t be everything to everyone, but that is easier said than done. We tap into humility when we can exercise gratitude for our strengths, capabilities, and how we fit in the world around us, as well as our limitations. This isn’t simply being grateful, it is the ability to generate and choose gratitude, particularly in a situation when it isn’t necessarily intuitive to do so. This week’s virtue of hod translates to humility, but the word originates from hodayah, the Hebrew word for giving thanks. But perhaps my thankful reflex is just rusty. Maybe it seems trite to say the same thing each time, maybe I don’t want to repeat someone else’s thought. Not knowing what to say feels awful, as if I’ve been wearing blinders or too selfish. Many a Zoom call wraps with a round of responses to “what are you grateful for?” Some weeks it has been easier to answer this prompt than others. Chef Tiffani’s Cooking Corner & Recipes.Counting Our Voice: a Community Time Capsule.Isolation Inspiration: a Virtual Art Show.West Coast Jewish Futures Conference Sessions.
#OMER DEFINITION SERIES#
The Pulse of Jewish Music Virtual Concert Series.COVID-19 Response: Learn, Adapt, and Take Action with Us.Jewish Community Security Capacity Initiative.I can’t help but wonder if it might somehow be significant that the omer of grain to be elevated – representing the Messiah who was accepted as the sin offering and Passover sacrifice to atone for our sins – was one-tenth, or one tithe of, the measure or volume of a man? Is there significance to His being likened to a tithe of humankind in some sense? I can't help but wonder. Remember that one omer is equal to one tenth of an ephah. So how was the grain removed from the sheaves and prepared for the elevating ceremony:Īn omer of grain was also used in other Levitical sacrifices as a measure for a sin offering.
The heads of grain were separated from the stalks as part of the preparation before they were elevated before the altar. The harvested first sheaf underwent a rigorous preparation before the omer elevating ceremony. Ten omers equal one ephah, and ten ephahs equal one homer. Obviously, we're not talking about stalks of grain here!īy the way, there are two similar words in this dictionary definition, which may cause some confusion: Remember that one homer is made up of 100 omers. So think of a two-liter bottle of Pepsi, and that’s about the amount of grain that would be elevated. How much is an omer? Here is a dictionary definition: The same article defines an omer as being equivalent to 2.4 liters (wet or dry measurement) in our modern measuring system. So when it says to wave a sheaf, it's really saying to wave, or elevate, an omer. Now an omer is a unit of dry measure, rather than a stalk of grain. First I want to bring to your attention that "Sheaf" was translated from the Hebrew word "Omer" (Strong's #6016).
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