The time between Passover and Shavuot is forty-nine days and is called the Counting of the Omer.
According to Jewish religion, these days are counted at night by reciting a specific prayer and following particular rituals, as stated in the Jewish prayer book.
Freedom from Slave Mentality
The literal meaning is that the counting of the forty-nine days signifies the days between the exodus from Egypt as slaves to arriving at Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments.
On a deeper, psychological level, the forty-nine days represent a generation of slaves wandering in the desert. For them to be a free nation the slave mentality needs to die before being able to take up a new way of thinking, which the Ten Commandments symbolizes.
If one looks at the count as a time for growth, each day has a focus for looking inwards and reflecting on a quality that is depicted in the Tree of Life, from the esoteric teaching of Kabbalah.
The Tree of Life
The Tree of Life has ten receptacles –Sephirot (Hebrew). The top three sephirot do not get counted during the Omer as they are said to be beyond physical control. The remaining seven are used in the count. Each sephira denotes an innate quality.
The count is divided into seven weeks, and each week is devoted to one of the sephirot. Each day counts a sephira within the week’s sephira.
Week one is focusing on the Sephira of Chesed. The quality of Chesed is loving kindness, giving out to others without looking to get something back. It is about charitable efforts, not only to people, but also the animals and the environment.
- Day one: Focus on the (Chesed) loving kindness within loving kindness. Ask of yourself how selfless the loving kindness is, that you give out.
- Day two: Focus on the (Gevurah) restraint within loving kindness. How do you hold back and not give all of yourself, or do you hold back too much of your giving. Do you give at your own expense?
- Day three: Focus on the (Tiferet) beauty or compassion aspect of loving kindness. Notice how you feel when you do acts of loving kindness.
- Day four: Focus on the (Netzach) self confidence or victory within your loving kindness. How stable is your giving of love. Is doubt interfering with your acts of loving kindness?
- Day five: Focus on the (Hod) empathy of the love that you give out. How does your love flow out to others, unimpeded by judgments?
- Day six: Focus on the (Yesod) foundation of your giving out love. How solid do you feel when you give?
- Day seven: Focus on the (Malkut) sovereignty or the kingdom that you pour loving kindness from. This is the completeness of loving kindness. How does it feel for you?
Week two is the reflection of (Gevura) restraint, or the holding back. It is the quality that one can call upon when tempted to indulge in too much of a good thing. In addiction there is a lack of this energy.
Following the same pattern as in week one, each of the elements of The Tree of life are used for reflection, beginning with the (Chesed) loving kindness within (Gevura) restraint.
For the next five weeks the exploration continues looking at the different qualities within yourself. During this period it may be useful to use a journal to record any insights that arise out of the reflections.
Source:
- God is a Verb, Rabbi David Cooper, Riverhead Books, The Berkley Publishing Company.
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