Count down. Think back to when you were a child. What would you count down to? Perhaps the last day of school. Maybe a daily countdown to recess. As a teenager you probably counted down to the day you would be old enough to get a driver’s license. When you were engaged to be married you probably counted down to your wedding day. As you got older you began to count down to your next vacation. The common denominator here is a sense of excitement, joy and/or anticipation of something important.

Jews all over the world are presently in the middle of a 49-day countdown – or to be more precise, a count-up. (The count goes from 1 to 49 rather than down from 49.) This count is called Sefiras HaOmer – The Counting of the Omer, which is set forth in this week’s Torah portion, Emor. The Torah states, “You shall count for yourselves from the day after your rest day, from the day you bring the omer of the waving, a complete seven weeks. Until the morrow of the seventh week you shall count fifty days and you shall offer a new meal offering to G-d.” (Leviticus 23:15, 16) This is interpreted to mean that one is obligated to count daily from the second day of Passover, when the omer offering was brought, for seven weeks until the holiday of Shavuos, the fiftieth day, when the meal offering was brought in the Temple

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As we’ve noted, when one counts towards a specific date, it must be one of great importance and excitement. What is the significance of this counting? What are we counting toward?

Let’s approach this allegorically. If you were looking to acquire a new state-of-the-art camera, you’d certainly do research before making a purchase. After choosing a camera and placing your order, you would undoubtedly wait with bated breath for the FedEx truck to deliver that special package. Imagine how shocked you’d be to open up your new camera, only to discover that the company had failed to include the instruction manual! How in the world would you figure out the myriad options and features your camera had to offer?  Yes, you might still be able to take a simple picture, but you’d know that you were holding in your hand something with far greater potential than that! When the company promises to send out the instruction manual as soon as they can, you would once again count down the days, as the excitement builds. Soon you’d be able to use your new camera to its fullest.

The purpose of G-d redeeming the Jews from Egypt was to give them the gift of the Torah. The Torah is our rulebook and guide to the complicated machine we call life. As a matter of fact, the word “Torah” means “to teach”. You may be familiar with the Hebrew title often given to a teacher – “morah” – Torah and morah come from the same root word – to teach. In addition, these words are also related to the word “orah”, which means “light”. The Torah, as well as a morah, are there to enlighten us and show us how to reach our greatest spiritual potential.

It is because of this that we count daily from the second day of Passover, the day after the Jews left Egypt, to the day of the Shavuos holiday, when the Jews received the Torah, 49 days later. These are days of excitement for the Jews the world over, as we count and eagerly anticipate receiving the gift of the Torah, our guide to living the most meaningful life and fulfilling G-d’s purpose in creating the universe.

Now let’s go ahead and make the count count! ^