49 days, seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot
1 Sivan 5773 | May 10, 2013
Rosh Hodesh Sivan
45th Day of the Omer
Our ancestor Jacob wrestled with an angel in the dark of night. A messenger of God. The two struggled, and Jacob was wounded. Their struggle continued until the sun began to rise, and then, just before disappearing, the angel gave Jacob a new name: Israel, one who struggles with God. From that moment forth, Jews have been known as the Children of Israel. So, if you shake your fist at the heavens and scream in the dark of night, "What the hell was that about?" you are in good company: we come from a long line of strugglers. To live, it seems, is to struggle with the Invisible Force. To live is to struggle, and sometimes to be injured, and then to go on.
Speak of forgiveness now. And believe in life. Life whose impulse to survive is so strong that breathing is like a moral imperative. Life that breathes beauty. Life that urges you beyond mere survival. Believe in a life that knows how to call forth light and hope from a dark emptiness, that uses sadness and pain and loss to go forth into the world with a great and abiding compassion. Why? I don't know. What now? Life, despite it all.
Forgiveness is the life force that yearns to break through the darkness.
Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar, The Bridge to Forgiveness
Baruch Ata Adonai Elo-hei-nu me-lech ha-olam a-sher ke-d-sha-nu b- mitz-vo-tav, v-tzi-va-nu al s-fi-rat ha-omer.
Praised be you Adonai our God who rules the Universe instilling within us the holiness of mitzvot by commanding us to count the Omer.
Today is the forty-fifth day - six weeks and three days of the Omer.