Counting of the Omer is a verbal counting of each of the forty-nine days betweenthe holidays of Passover and Shavuot. This practice derives from the Torah commandment to count forty-nine days beginning the from the day on which the Omer, a sacrifice containing an omer-measure of barley, was offered in the Temple in Jerusalem, up until the day before an offering of wheat was brought to the Temple on Shavuot. The Counting of the Omer begins on the second day of Passover, and ends the day before the holiday of Shavuot, the ‘fiftieth day.’

The idea of counting each day represents spiritual preparation and anticipation for the giving of the Torah. Counting the Omer is connected to the spiritual journey of the Jewish People in the desert of Sinai, as they struggled to elevate themselves from their lowly slave-mentalities and become the open, free-thinking nation who could absorb and safeguard a relationship with God for themselves and on behalf of all the generations to come.

As soon as it is definitely night (approximately thirty minutes after sundown), the one who is counting the Omer recites this blessing:

Baruch atah A-donai E-loheinu Melekh Ha-olam asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al S’firat Ha-omer.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to count the Omer.

Then he or she states the Omer-count in terms of both total days and weeks and days. For example, on the 23rd day the count would be stated thus: “Today is twenty-three days, which is three weeks and two days of the Omer.”