Counting the Omer: A journey from Passover to Shavuot

Jerusalem Post - 13/04
The pilgrimage festival of Shavuot at the conclusion of the Omer period was in thanksgiving for God’s blessing and protection of the land and its produce.

From the second day of Passover until Shavuot, Jews count seven weeks to commemorate the period between the Exodus from Egypt and the Revelation at Sinai. This process, sefirat ha’omer (the counting of the Omer), recalls the ancient practice of bringing a sheaf (omer) of the newly harvested barley crop (the first grain to ripen) as an offering to the Temple in Jerusalem, where it was “waved before the Lord” on the 16th of Nisan, the second day of Passover (Leviticus 23:9-16). The Kohen took the offering in hi...
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