Within one year after the passing of my grandfather, five great-grandsons were born to five different grandchildren. It was the biggest baby boom in our family in a generation. The timing was unbelievable. I can always remember what year my grandfather died by just adding ten months to the age of my son. What could possibly account for his death leading to being replaced by five boys in one year?
Answers to big questions can show up in the most unexpected places. As I type up my notes for the second seder, one message goes in ALL CAPS: DON’T FORGET TO COUNT THE OMER. Interesting that this tiny ritual is the one major difference between first and second night seder. Other than counting the Omer, the second night is essentially a repeat of the first night’s seder. Yet, this period of counting opens an entire universe of expression waiting to be unleashed.
The number seven
Forty-nine days between Pesach and Shavuot serve almost as an infomercial broadcasting the centrality of the number seven. Seven weeks, seven days, Shabbat, even echoes of the Shmita year–it’s all jammed into this transition period between two major festivals. The Kabbalists from the 16th century recognized this highly charged part of our calendar. They invited us to more deliberately invite the divine presence into the practice of counting the Omer, by linking the Omer numbering system with the bottom seven of the ten ancient divine qualities called the sefirot, creating a spiritual roadmap for counting the days and weeks of the Omer.
Counting by sefirot
Counting via the sefirot can be tricky. Here is the key principle: Within each sefira are the seeds of all seven sefirot. Here is how it works: Each of the seven weeks of the Omer corresponds to one of the seven sefirot, in order. Then, each of the seven days of the week has a secondary quality, also corresponding to one of the seven sefirot in order. For example, the first week is the week of Chesed (the quality of everlasting lovingkindness). The first day of the Omer is “Chesed of Chesed,” which means “(the day of) Chesed (in the week) of Chesed.” The second day is “Gevurah of Chesed.” The third day is “Tiferet of Chesed,” all the way until the end of the first week. The second week is the week of Gevurah, so the first day of the second week is “Chesed of Gevurah.” The next day is “Gevurah of Gevurah.” For help visualizing, take a look at this chart (a painting by the artist David Moss), which makes it clearer. Just as a note, he uses different colors to indicate the different sefirot.
Omer as DNA
This system demonstrates that within each sefira are the seeds of all seven sefirot.
This can be analogous to human DNA. Within every strand of human DNA exists the blueprint for the entire human body. The DNA in the brain includes instructions for our limbs and the DNA in our limbs includes the instructions for our brains. Perhaps it is no coincidence that many sefira charts, both ancient and modern, are overlain onto the human body–a great example of humans made in the divine image. The DNA mastercode exists in every cell of our bodies. So too, the divine mastercode, the sefira system, has an instruction manual in each of its parts. It is simultaneously the “whole that is greater than the sum of its parts” AND the parts being the sum of the whole.
Omer DNA in Action
This idea from the Omer of the sefirot manifesting within each other, like DNA, can be stretched to other useful aspects of Jewish tradition. I will give two examples: Holidays and Lifecycles.
Holidays: Within each Jewish holiday lies the blueprint for the rest of the Jewish holidays. As Jews, we are invited to zoom out and rediscover this ancient holiday map. Sometimes the connections between the holidays are laid out clearly, while other times they are more hidden and mysterious. One of these holiday interconnections is the holiday Torah readings. Passover, Sukkot, and Shavuot, the three pilgrimage holidays, all share the same reading, which lists out all the ancient biblical holidays, including the Omer.
The Torah reading is shared because the chagim mirror the fundamental truth of our lives: At some level, everything is connected and we are all a part of the One. The mysterious links between the holidays are not limited to those three Biblical holidays. Hanukkah and Sukkot have their own ancient connection, in the eight days of festival. Purim and Yom Kippur are another example. Yom Kippur is also called “Yom Hakippurim,” which hints at it being “Yom K’Purim”–a day like Purim. There are dozens of examples like these that are implicit and explicit, waiting to be discovered. And this characteristic–that each holiday contains the DNA of the other holidays–can help us both understand and experience the deeper rhythms and purposes of the holidays our ancient tradition is trying to evoke in us.
Lifecycles:
Within each Jewish life moment lies the blueprint for the rest of the Jewish lifecycle moments. Birth, death, marriage, birth of children, divorce, conversion, b’nai mitzvah–these are the core life events Jewish tradition lifts up in prayer and ritual. And depending on the individual, the list might include other significant milestones related to other forms of loss, celebration, and transition. Except for life and death, not everyone goes through all of the life events. Yet anyone participating in Jewish community is going to be witnessing and participating in these core lifecycle moments again and again, even if it is not their own. It’s not a contradiction to say that Jewish lifecycles are both very individual and communal at the same time. But it is more. From the perspective of sefirot, each of the core lifecycle moments are their own specific moment in time AND simultaneously linked to the other lifecycles. We see examples of this all over the place. Part of why you’ll see the spirits of deceased relatives invoked at weddings, birth, and b’nai mitzvah is because the cycle of life AND DEATH is powerful and present at those lifecycle events. It is considered good luck to bring a newborn baby to a shiva. When someone gets divorced, they begin to recognize that their connection to all family life events going forward, especially weddings, is going to be different now. If you are a child of divorced parents and you are getting married, you will not be able to ignore the divorce energy in the room. It’s all in there. No lifecycle event happens in a vacuum.
Perhaps it was just a cosmic coincidence that my grandfather’s death led to the birth of five new baby boys before his first yartzeit. Or perhaps the rhythms of Jewish life and Jewish holidays had a say in the matter. All of our holidays and traditions can start to make a little more sense when we can find ways to shift our gaze to a bird’s-eye view. This particular way of counting the Omer can teach us something profound about the logic behind the logic of our sacred calendar: With every little bit, we have everything we need.
Ezra Weinberg is a rabbi, ritual musician, and educator dedicated to facilitating and supporting transformative Jewish rituals. He founded “Jews Get Divorce,” a network of resources for Jews going through divorce, which aims to redefine the communal response to this life stage. He is a native Philadelphian and holds a Master’s Degree in Conflict Transformation.