Ohev Shalom Voice
Nissan-April, 5767
Rabbi’s Message
On the second night of Pesach after the evening prayer we start
to count the Omer (Orach Chaim 489:1)
Pesach celebrates the coming out of the bondage of Egypt, an event that
occurred more than three thousand years ago. As we mark this event with
meaningful ceremonies at the synagogue and at home, we do so in observing
the Scriptural requirement: So that you remember the day you came out of
the land of Egypt all the days of your life. (Deut 16:3)
The Hebrew word for Egypt is Mitzraim It means narrowness. Egypt consists
of two narrow strips of land, surrounded by desert, hugging the east and
the west sides of the Nile River. We celebrate our emergence from Mitzraim by coming out of our emotional, mental and spiritual narrow confinement.
The weakness of human nature is to have our thinking restricted by one’s
own self-centered interests and the interests of the present moment, ignoring
the concerns of everyone around us and not thinking of any future consequences.
This leads to greed, lust and vanity. Finding ourselves confined in such
a fashion, the celebration of the season of our freedom motivates us to
emerge from those self - destructive forces. By the second night of Pesach
we are purged from greed, lust and vanity and we find neither pleasure
nor satisfaction in such foul indulgences.
Ridding ourselves of bad character leaves us with a painful void in our
depths that must be filled with holiness and purity which will enable us
to lead a meaningful life. This is the purpose of counting the Omer. This
counting allows us to conduct an introspection of the forty nine divisions
of our emotions and to fill ourselves with the broad horizons of freedom
from the narrow scope of selfishness and the narrow scope of ignoring the
long range consequences of our thoughts, words and deeds.
You have commanded us through Moshe Your servant to count the
Omer, in order to purify us from our evil and uncleanness…. So
that the souls of Your people may be cleansed of their defilement….may
I be purified and sanctified with supernal holiness. (Sefirah
Prayer)
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