Sefiras HaOmer (ספירת העומר) — the counting of the Omer

Core definition

Sefiras HaOmer is the forty-nine-day count from "the morrow of the Shabbat" (Pesach) until Shavuos: "seven complete Shabbasos shall they be; until the morrow of the seventh Shabbat you shall count fifty days." The Torah pointedly says "seven Shabbasos" rather than "seven weeks" — signaling that the counting is not a mere calendar interval but is "bound up with the inner idea of Shabbat itself" [31695/maamar_021 :: Summary (opening question)]. It is "well known that Sefiras HaOmer is a preparation for receiving the Torah": "first there must be Pesach, then Sefiras HaOmer, and then, on Shavuos, the receiving of the Torah" [31695/maamar_021 :: עב׳ 40–55].

How the Rebbeim develop it

Drawing the mochin into the middos. "It is known that the avodah of Sefiras HaOmer is the matter of drawing down mochin (intellectual faculties) into middos (emotional attributes)" — refining the seven middos, inter-including them so they complete one another (the advantage of Tikun over Tohu), which ultimately draws down the fiftieth gate of Binah, the light above mochin [31698/maamar_007 :: Summary (page 63)]. Each middah is refined by being comprised of all seven — chesed shebe'chesed (love revealed from hiddenness), gevurah shebe'chesed (hatred of evil born of love, like a father's strictness), tiferes (fineness), netzach (removing obstacles to love), hod (fighting for the beloved), yesod (connection), malchus (speech of love) [31698/maamar_007 :: Summary (page 66)].

"Tisparu" — brightness. The counting is "from the language of sefir — brightness" (בהירות): "the brightness of the mochin of Abba ve'Imma that shine in Ze'ir Anpin in the dilug of Pesach will be drawn, in each one of Yisrael, through Sefiras HaOmer." Pesach is dilug — a leap without order: the supernal mochin shine in the heart in a leap, without the throat's straits. "Sefiras HaOmer then internalizes that leap in order" — "clarifying the middos level by level until Shavuos," "strictly in order, never leaping nor preceding the later — while Pesach itself has no gradation at all" [60801/maamar_024 :: Section summary (p. 4340-area)]. Israel, having left the forty-nine gates of impurity, "counted seven weeks in order — clarifying good from the evil of nogah, Chesed shebeChesed then Gevurah shebeChesed — until they were worthy of the Torah on Shavuos" [60801/maamar_024 :: Section summary].

The barley Omer and the animal soul. "Sefiras HaOmer is the matter of the refinement of the animal soul. For the omer is an omer of barley, which is the food of an animal." The animal soul is refined "in its particular traits: the cold, clinging chesed nature versus the hot, fiery gevurah nature (each with its advantage), plus anger, murder, pride." The refinement comes "through the opposite traits of the Divine soul and contemplation the animal soul can grasp" [31695/maamar_021 :: Summary (printed page ריב–ריג)].

Counting draws an encompassing light. "Counting aloud draws an ohr makif from the very essence of the Infinite Light — counting changes nothing, it only reveals, as numbers reveal a counted object." And this is "one matter with Shabbat": for the counting "draws from the same place to which the sparks ascend on Shabbat, making Israel vessels for the inner light of Torah on Shavuos" [31695/maamar_021 :: Summary (printed page ריב–ריג)]. Shabbat itself is "cessation and ascent": on "a Shabbat to Havayah," the entire order of hishtalshelus ascends into the Infinite Light; "'Complete Shabbasos' means no flaw — flaw is only possible within the order of hishtalshelus, not in the essence" [31695/maamar_021 :: Part 3 overview].

Lag BaOmer: hod shebehod. Rashbi "is called 'Shabbat'" because his service — "'with one knot I am bound to Him,' the love of b'chol me'odecha that transcends the ordered Infinite Light, the ketores-love" — reached the essence of the Ein Sof, "and from that very place he drew down the light of his Torah: the hidden of the Torah (setim)." His passing was "in hod shebehod — the 33rd day of the Omer — because Sefiras HaOmer is the drawing from the number in the essence to the revealed sefiros, and in hod shebehod the drawing-downs reach completion; the day of passing is a man's ultimate ascent, from which all the drawing-downs are made" [31695/maamar_021 :: Summary (printed pages ריג–ריד)].

Key distinctions

Pesach vs. the Omer. Pesach is dilug — leaping, a drawing from the essence of the Infinite Light that bypasses all order: "the Exodus was one-legged leaping" — a revelation aimed solely at repelling evil. Shavuos was "two-legged bounding": the right hand drawing Israel near with the inner light of Torah, "refining gradually from below to above." Sefiras HaOmer "is the bridge" [31695/maamar_021 :: Part 3 overview].

The Omer vs. Shabbat. The Omer is "one matter with Shabbat": both draw from the essence of the Infinite Light — Shabbat through cessation and ascent, the Omer through the daily count's drawing of the makif [31695/maamar_021 :: Summary (printed page ריב–ריג)].

The seven middos vs. Tohu's. The Omer's inter-inclusion — each middah comprising all seven — is "the advantage of Tikun over Tohu" [31698/maamar_007 :: Summary (page 63)].

Related concepts

Sources