Sefirat HaOmer Counting Every Day and Making Every Day Count

(3) The Feast of Weeks is the anniversary of the Revelation on Mount Sinai. In order to raise the importance of this day, we count the days that pass since the preceding festival, just as one who expects his most intimate friend on a certain day counts the days and even the hours. This is the reason why we count the days that pass since the offering of the Omer, between the anniversary of our departure from Egypt and the anniversary of the Lawgiving. The latter was the aim and object of the exodus from Egypt, and thus God said, "I brought you unto myself" (Exod. 19:4). As that great revelation took place only on one day, so we keep its anniversary only one day: but if the eating of unleavened bread on Passover were only commanded for one day, we should not have noticed it, and its object would not have been manifest. For it frequently happens that we take the same kind of food for two or three days. But by our continuing for a whole period [of seven days] to eat unleavened bread, its object becomes clear and evident.

(1) Sefer HaChinuch, Mitzvah #306

(2) The reason that we count from the [bringing of the] Omer “So many days have passed in our counting,” rather than counting how many days remain, shows our great desire to reach the time [of Shavuot]. Therefore, we do not want to mention at the beginning of our counting such a large number of days that remain until we reach the offering of the Two Loaves on Atzeret (Shavuot). We should not find it difficult [to understand] that once we have passed halfway through the seven weeks we do not count down the few days remaining, as one should not change the nature of the counting in the middle.

(3) Why do we begin counting from the day after [Pesach] and not from the first day? The answer is that the first day is entirely dedicated to remembering the great miracle of the Exodus from Egypt, which is a sign and evidence of [the fact that God] created the world, and of the existence of Divine Providence. We may not mix [something else into] that happiness and mention a different idea with it. As such, the counting begins from the second day.

(1) Rabbi Hizkiyah opened, “It is written, as a rose among thorns.” That a rose is the Assembly of Israel. Because there is a rose and there is a rose, just as a rose among thorns is tinged with red and white, the Assembly of Israel consists of judgment and mercy. Just as a rose has thirteen petals, the Assembly of Israel is surrounded on all sides by the thirteen attributes of mercy. However, Elohim, that is here, thought to bring out the thirteen words that surround the Assembly of Israel and guard it.

(2) After this, in order to bring out the five rigid leaves that surround the rose, it is mentioned another time in the passage. These five mean salvation. These are 5 gates. And this secret is written about, “I will raise the cup of salvation.” This is the ‘cup of benediction.’ The cup of benediction must rest on five fingers, and no more, just as the rose rests on five rigid leaves that represent the five fingers. This rose is the cup of benediction. From the second to the third mention of the name Elohim, there are five words. From this point the Light was created and concealed and enclosed within that covenant that entered the rose and fructified it. This is referred to as a tree bearing fruit whose seed is within it and this seed really exists in the letter of the covenant. And just as the covenant is sown by forty-two conceptions from that same seed, so is the holy name of the creation sown.

(3) In the beginning, Rabbi Shimon opened, the flower buds appeared on the earth. “The flower buds” refer to the act of creation. They appeared on the earth when, on the third day, as it is said, “And the earth shall pullulate.” That was when they appeared on the earth. The time of singing has come, and this is the fourth day, when there was a reduction from the Light of Hassadim. The voice of the turtle dove refers to the fifth day, where it is written, “Let the waters swarm,” so as to produce offspring. “It is heard” refers to the sixth day, where it is written, “Let us stand and create man,” and there it is said, “We will do and we will hear.”