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Friday, May 22, 2020

The Homer Omer

We are into the final week of the interval between second seder and Shavuot.  Lag B'Omer has passed.  My beard has been self-trimmed.  The traditional haircut did not happen as barbers are on furlough due to coronavirus.  My count with the bracha remains up to date, helped by a timer that alerts me to when it is late enough to count the next day.

I've been doing this for years.  There is a command d'oraita to perform the daily count to establish when the Shavuot festival occurs but there are plenty of mitzvot aseh that I don't do.  Supposedly the daily count adds to my spirituality.  Probably Rabbi jive.  It hasn't.

What it has done is provide me with a very tangible and easy daily task that has to be done at a time when more often than not I'd prefer to do something else.  Some flexibility exists to the exact moment of the daily count so I do not have to interrupt what I am doing, but this count nearly always represents my final daily task each day.  And I'm up to the challenge.

The Spiritual Significance of Sefirat haOmer | Mayim Achronim

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