emor

parasha emor, leviticus chapters 21—24

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and thoughts …

emor

speak

… and count

In addition to a long list of rules for the Kohanim, Parasha Emor speaks of the holy days we’re required to observe—Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur—and of the three festivals we’re to celebrate—Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. We’re given instructions on when and how to observe them, and we’re given the purpose of these celebrations.

 

Curiously, we’re given the specific dates for two of the festivals, Passover and Sukkot, but not for Shavuot.

Instead, we’re told to count 49 days from the day we brought the Omer, which is the second day of Passover.

So how do we count them? Audibly. Not as a passing thought. A mental acknowledgment, a brief awareness isn’t good enough. We’re to count each day audibly. We state out loud, “today is the (insert number here) day of the omer.”

A thought is a thought, but a word is a thing.

Why did we need to trek through the wilderness for 49 days before being given the Torah on the 50th day? Why weren’t we handed the Torah on the day of our redemption?

Let’s unpack.

During the Passover Seder, we journey from darkness to light, from slavery to redemption and freedom.

It’s a journey that we aspire to complete in the four or five hours we spend at the Seder table. Our hope is that our travel through the Haggadah should teach us, inspire us, raise us to new spiritual heights.

The concept of the Seder as a journey is a nice one. But in reality, the Seder is the introduction to the journey, an overture of what to expect and what we are hoping to achieve on our quest. It’s the briefing.

Now that we’ve been inspired by the Seder, it’s time to begin in earnest, to take our first steps. It’s not easy to leave behind our slave mentality, to go from spiritual infancy to maturity. It’s a process.

 

God didn’t give us the Torah the day after we left Egypt because, excited as we were by the miracles of the plagues and the splitting of the sea, we weren’t ready to receive it. The fireworks and fanfare woke us up, got us motivated, and got us ready to buckle down to brass tacks and do the work. But they didn’t give us jet packs to simply zoom to the top of the ladder.

 

It’s the day after the Seder that we take the first step of our mystical journey.

 

Of the Torah King Solomon wrote in Proverbs, “It is a tree of life to those who grasp it ... Its ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are paths of peace.” The Kabbalists use the imagery of the tree of life as an allegory for creation. The tree is made up of ten sephirot, vessels that formed at the moment the universe came into being. (See Challah as a Representation of Creation.)Each one of these vessels is an aspect of God. As we climb this tree, traveling upward through the four worlds of existence, from the base material plane to the highest spiritual dimension, we encounter these sephirot as gates through which we must pass.

OK, but what, exactly, is an omer?

An omer is an ancient measurement of grain. The Omer that’s brought to the Temple on the second day of Passover is the first of the barley harvest.

Mystics explain that each of the seven weeks of the Omer relates to a particular divine energy, each one expressed as one of the seven lower sefirot on the Tree of Life.

And as the universe is built on the concept of microcosm to macrocosm. The same models are used again and again. Consider the correlation between the atom and the solar system—there’s a nucleus or a sun, with electrons or planets revolving around it. I realize this is an over-simplification, but you get the idea. Sort of an as above so below. So, as each week relates to one of these sephirot, each day of those weeks also corresponds to one of the sephirot.

And, just as each sephira relates to an aspect of the Divine, each one also relates to a particular aspect of the human personality.

So we have seven weeks of seven days, creating 49 permutations, or gates, through which we must pass and make manifest in ourselves. Only when we refine ourselves by passing through these gates will we be ready to receive Torah on the 50th day, the festival of Shavuot.

I recommend giving this journey a try. Although you can spend longer, all you really need is 15 minutes every evening. I find it to be a wonderful tool for personal growth.

As for how to count, there are lots of apps for counting that give you the blessings associated with each one. Most of them give you three versions: Hebrew, English, and Transliterated Hebrew. You can also find comprehensive instructions on line. My two favorites are the daily counting instructions at Chabad.com and the daily omer meditation at Aish.com.

Every night, after counting the Omer, take a few minutes to find a quiet, comfortable place and meditate on the day’s “gate."

For me, the more of my senses that are engaged in the process, the easier it is for me to get to that meditative state of being, to a place that is no place in a time that there is no time.

Smell> Light a scented candle or some incense to fill the space with a pleasing aroma. Use whatever scent speaks to you. Some of my favorite choices are pine, lavender, sandalwood, and jasmine.

Sound> Soft, unobtrusive instrumental music can help with relaxation and concentration.

Touch> I like to begin by becoming aware of the energy that’s all around us by actually manipulating that energy with my hands, to realize that I’m a conduit and feel how it flows through me and all around me. Here’s an exercise you can try:

Begin by sitting in a comfortable position, in a chair or on the floor.

Holding them in front of you, fingertips together and the fleshy part of the palms touching. Now move them apart, ever so slightly, so that they’re almost touching. Try to feel the energy between them. It should feel like a heaviness.

Slowly move them further apart so that there’s about six inches between them, feeling the elasticity of the energy as it stretches with the movement, and then slowly move them back towards each other until they’re almost touching again. Continue moving them in and out, slowly. Can you feel that energy expanding and contracting?

Now, with your hands about six inches apart, try to roll that energy into a ball. As you move your hands in and out, feel the ball getting bigger and smaller.

Use your fingers to break that ball into two smaller balls. Holding one in each hand, lower your hands to rest on your lap, palms up. Visualize energy flowing through you, entering through your left palm, circulating through your body, exiting through the right hand, then arcing over your head to return once again to your left palm.

Sight> Close your eyes and turn your focus to a point just in front of your forehead.

Taste> (I save this one for after, to ground myself back in this reality with something sweet.)

Every day’s meditation builds upon the one from the day before. The chart below will show you how it works. Let your soul explore how each concept expresses itself in your thought patterns and your life, and examine how you can perhaps elevate the way you respond to it.

Week 1.

Day one of the omer is Chesed of Chessed—lovingkindness within lovingkindness

Day two of the omer is Gevurah of Chessed—discipline within lovingkindness

Day three of the omer is Tiferet of Chessed—compassion within lovingkindness

Day four of the omer is Netzach of Chessed—endurance within lovingkindness

Day five of the omer is Hod of Chessed—humility within lovingkindness

Day six of the omer is Yesod of Chessed—bonding within lovingkindness

Day seven of the omer is Malkut of Chessed—nobility within lovingkindness

Week 2.

Day eight of the omer is Chesed of Gevurah—lovingkindness within discipline

… and so on.

Persevere....if you can manage to do this every evening for 49 days you might be amazed by your personal soul growth.

So what shall we eat?

 Obviously, barley.  Barley is a super-grain that’s often overlooked in this country. It’s delicious and nutty in flavor, tender yet pleasantly chewy.

I’m offering two menus that feature barley this week—a hearty beef and barley stew, and a roasted bell pepper stuffed with barley, beluga lentils, and other vegetarian goodies. Make either, or make both.

It’s spring, and that means that Whole Foods is featuring some gorgeous rhubarb. I am compelled to make Grandma Ethel’s strawberry rhubarb pie.

But first I’m going to start with a smooth and creamy carrot and ginger soup. The soup is vegan—it gets its creaminess from coconut milk.

Either entrée will be nicely enhanced by some sautéed greens. Use whatever looks good at the market, or whatever tickles your fancy. Feel free to combine several. One of my favorite mixes for sautéing is mustard greens, dandelion greens, and spinach. Just pour a glug of good oil into a pan, add lots of chopped garlic, and then add your greens with a sprinkle of salt. Bear in mind that, although it looks like you’ve got a mountain of greens going into the pan—greens are mostly water—they’re going to cook down to almost nothing. That said, they pack quite a nutritional punch, so it won’t take a lot on the plate to satisfy your vegetable cravings.

Once they’re nicely wilted, your greens are ready to serve as is, but you can gussy them up with a splash of balsamic or other flavorful vinegar, some red pepper flakes—my personal choice is Aleppo pepper for its mild heat and smoky flavor—and/or some chopped nuts. The addition of a handful of raisins or currants brings a Sicilian twist and a sweet contrast to the bitter vegetable.

Although I’d seen them in shops, I never had a rutabaga until I was living in Norway, where they often show up mashed, as a side. From the first bite, I was a fan. When you’re craving something creamy and fluffy-smooth like mashed potatoes, but your meal isn’t calling for another carb, rutabaga mash is a great way to go. I make them either with garlic butter and milk or cream, or a plant-based butter and stock or nut milk. A grating of fresh nutmeg over the top takes them…well…over the top.

While the stew and the peppers take some play-time in the kitchen, the soup is quick and easy to make and the sides also come together fast.

 

Happy omer counting!