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Lag BaOmer, the 33rd Day of the Counting of the Omer
Tonight begins the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer, four weeks and five days. It is the day of the divine quality of hod within hod, humility within humility. This is Lag BaOmer, a minor holiday that recalls the end of a plague among the students of Rabbi Akiva.
Hineini: A Poem for the Omer
I will walk the requisite path--
The one that begins here,
Right here
In front of me.
I have stared at its armored edge
for a small taste of
Forever.
Really--
It looks no different
From any other spot;
There is no demarcation,
No arrows or exes
Hey, That's Not Our Torah Scroll!
Recently at the regular Shabbat minyan at Temple Shaaray Tefila in New York City, we worshipers were thrown for a bit of a loop when, at the beginning of the Torah service, the rabbi took a scroll from the ark that was different than the one we
This Shavuot, Stand With Ruth
It is customary to read and study the Book of Ruth on Shavuot. Why? A couple of reasons.
What is the Omer and why do we count it?
The Omer was an ancient Hebrew measure of grain. Biblical law (Leviticus 23:9-11) forbade any use of the new barley crop until an omer was brought as an offering to the Temple in Jerusalem.