Counting our Traits

Every evening from the second night of Passover to the day before Shavuot, we count another day, marking the 49 days (seven weeks) between these two holidays.

It is known as “Counting of the Omer” since it begins on the day when an omer measure of barley was offered in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

On a spiritual level, the counting mirrors the journey of our ancestors in the desert who spent these 49 days between the Exodus (on Passover) and the Giving of the Torah (on Shavuot) in spiritual preparation and anticipation, each day focusing on a different trait.

These forty-nine traits are comprised of seven basic attributes. Each of the seven contains all of the other seven, thus comprising forty-nine.

These seven basic attributes are:

Kindness (Chessed), Discipline (Gevurah), Compassion (Tiferet), Determination (Netzach), Humility (Hod), Connection (Yesod), and Dignity (Malchut).

As we fulfill the mitzvah of counting the days and weeks from Passover to Shavuot, each week is devoted to a different attribute. On each day of the week, we refine another of the seven aspects of the week’s attribute. For example, on the week devoted to kindness, we will devote one day to refining the aspect of kindness that requires discipline, and another day to refining the aspect of kindness that requires compassion, and so forth. 

Ultimately, all character traits derive from combinations of these seven basic ones. To be whole, a character trait must incorporate all seven; a lack or overabundance of even one of the seven renders it corrupt or damaging. Discipline, for example, can easily become cruelty with but a slight exaggeration.

Knowing this, we can use these attributes to understand our characters and behaviors, and transform them. Each of these days becomes a component of our reborn selves. On the second day of the count, we possess two days of the Omer process; by its final day, we shall have amassed forty-nine units of time, and the specific qualities they embody, with which to approach this year's re-experience of Sinai.

To learn more about counting the Omer, please visit www.chabad.org/omer.

Shabbat Shalom!

Candle lighting time in NYC: Friday, 7:36 PM