Shabbat Shalom.
Spring has sprung. I am sure you have all noticed that flowers are starting to bloom, trees are budding and birds are chirping. Congratulations to all who weathered a cold, snowy, and generally miserable winter. The reward for all of the awful weather is the beauty found in a spring day like today.
I always find it interesting in Judaism, in history and practice, the juxtaposition of joy and sorrow, success and failure, ease and difficulty and other opposite emotions, feelings or acts. This time of year we are in one of those such times. While we are reveling in the beauty of spring, enjoying the remembrance of being freed from slavery and eating our favorite leavened products again, we are also counting the Omer, which is a somber time.
The counting of the Omer is a verbal counting of the 49 days between Passover and Shavuot. We begin counting on the second night of Passover and commence on Shavuot connoting the time between the Exodus from Egypt and receiving the Torah. The idea behind the counting is that with each day we prepare ourselves spiritually for receiving the words of Torah. While one may think that this should be a time of levity and joy with the anticipation of renewing our commitment to Torah and the Jewish people, the counting of the Omer can also be seen as a time of mourning when we are forbidden to listen to live music, dance and conduct weddings or parties. The traditional reason cited for this period of mourning is that a plague killed 24,000 of Rabbi Akiva's students during this time period. Some say that the term plague was actually a code for a failed uprising against the Romans.
Different sects of Judaism, Ashkenazim and Sephardim from different parts of the world honor the counting of the Omer in different ways, but all are somber in their observance. The somberness of this period is also considered a time for personal reflection and inner growth. Many will look to the 49 days of the Omer to work on developing their good characteristics over the course of the commemoration, thus turning a difficult time into an opportunity to improve.
Like with the counting of the Omer, pairing anticipation with mourning, we are reminded in Judaism that positives and negatives go hand in hand. Judaism really seems to be the ultimate example of every cloud having a silver lining.
I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to continue to make my transition into the community so tremendous. It has only been wonderful and I feel so fortunate to be here. Our move to the area is really a silver lining for me and my family. Thank you to our volunteer leadership for all of the hard work and support. You are an amazing group of people and I feel fortunate to work with each and every one of you.
