Sefiras Ha’omer is a time of counting days, but also naming days. Each day has a unique number, but our Rabbis have also endowed each day with a unique set of qualities. There are 49 days of counting from the second night of Pesach until Shavuos. A number of explanations are given for this: Bnai Yisrael needed to rise from the 49th level of defilement, and each day they could raise themselves up one additional level. Forty-nine is also seven-squared. The number seven in our tradition – as elaborated by the Maharal and many other Chachamim – represents this world (as opposed to the number eight, which indicates something lema’ale min hateva, beyond Nature). And seven-squared represents the idea of capturing all the essence of the world and dedicating it to Hashem. But seven also is the number of the sefirot, the emanations of Divine qualities that enter our world. These are Chesed, loving kindness; Gevura, justice and restraint; Tiferet, harmony and compassion; Netzach, endurance;
Hod, splendor but also humility; Yesod, bonding; and Malchut, sovereignty, or leadership. Counting the Omer is probably the mitzva most explicitly linked to Kabbala. Many sidurim include a notation next to each day’s number of the particular set of qualities applying to that day. Each week has one of these qualities attached to it, in the order given above. And each day of each week has one of the qualities attached to it, in the same order, similar to how we designate the location of a ship in the game Battleship, or how we label cells in Excel. So each day of the first week has the day quality within Chesed. The first day is Chesed-within-Chesed, the second Gevura-within- Chesed, the third Tiferet-within-Chesed, and so on. The second week begins with Chesed-within-Gevura, and proceeds through the other qualities, all within Gevura. The 49th day is Malchut-within-Malchut, which brings us to the 50th day, the receiving of the Torah and our Shavuos celebration.
There is a strong power of this time of year to allow us to grow closer to Hashem and to improve ourselves. Each day of the Omer identifies a different approach to growing. On the chabad.org website are portions of a book, A Spiritual Guide to the Counting of the Omer, Forty- Nine Steps to Personal Refinement, by Simon Jacobson, which provides a synopsis of the meaning of each particular day and an exercise that one can do. For example, the second day is Gevura-within-Chesed, which he describes as being loving to someone on their terms and not yours. The fourth day, Netzach-within-Chesed, is devoted to exploring what makes love everlasting, and so forth. The days are named so that each one can provide another facet of the particular quality one is working upon.
Names are a powerful way to let us focus on qualities, as well as on individuals and their unique qualities. It was his ability to name the animals that allowed Adam to perceive that none was a partner for him, and his joy of being given a true helpmeet is expressed by Adam naming her as well (Bereishis 2:20 and 2:23). And of course, there is significance attributed to the name a child is given, as a reflection of the person for whom he is named and of the person he is to be.
So, names help to provide clarity. It is not surprising, then, that a refusal to be named may be a refusal to allow for clarity. In his encounter with the angel of Esav, Yaakov asks the angel his name. The angel replies, “Why must you ask my name?” (Bereishis 32:30) In The Maggid Speaks, an interpretation is presented in the name of Rabbi Leib Chasman, zt”l. He understood that Why-Must-You-Ask-My-Name was actually the angel’s name. The yetzer hara (evil inclination) is able to lure people into sin because it camouflages its essence. It is as though the angel were saying, “As long as people do not seek to delve into what I really represent, I can be successful in dragging them to sin. Don’t ask questions; don’t give matters too much thought. Just do as I say; it’s for your benefit.”
This murkiness or lack of clarity is so much a part of the impetus for us to overeat or engage in other activities that we know are not in our best interest. At some level, we know we are bringing ourselves down, but we are able to disguise this and give all sorts of reasons for why it makes sense for us to indulge. Putting a name on something gives us a definite entity to work towards if it is desirable, or to stay away from if it is not. And this period of Sefirat Ha’omer can strengthen us in better defining ourselves and how we would like ourselves to be. â—†
Janet Sunness is medical director of the Richard E. Hoover Low Vision Rehabilitation Services at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center. Please email her at jsunness@gmail.com to provide feedback on this series. © Janet Sunness 2013
