Why do Jews Count Up the Days of the Omer Rather Than

Did you gain any weight over Passover as others tend to? Well, the Jewish calendar has a built in solution to possible gains over the Festival. Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald, Director of Jewish Treats' parent organization, the National Jewish Outreach Program, shares his unique take on this. He explains that starting the second night of Passover, we begin Counting the Omer. This are the 49 days from Passover to the next festival of Shavuot which celebrates the giving of the Torah (remember, we didn't simply get out of Egypt to be liberated, no, it was for the Children of Israel to accept the divine Torah.) But during this period, historically, in the time of Rabbi Akiva a plague broke out and 24,000 of his students died. Because of that, we mark the first 33 days of the Omer as a mourning period. We don't traditionally have weddings, get our haircut or shave, but by not having weddings, you don't have the smorgasbord of tempting food, and therefore you can lose a little weight. That is, as Rabbi Buchwald sees it, a divine solution to the Passover weight gain.



Another thought about the Counting of the Omer, is that when most people count something that they are anticipating they usually count down (examples: 22 more shopping days til... or at Cape Canaveral where Endeavour plans to launch now either on Sunday or Monday, a countdown of 10, 9, 8...) but we Jews count up. Why? We count up because we are optimistic. We look forward to that giving of the Torah which gives meaning to the whole celebration of Passover. We will not be depressed once the holiday is over because the holiday itself enriches us. Count the Omer and let's celebrate the giving of the Torah on Shavuot (this year held on June 8 & 9) together!