Count the Days and Make Them Count
During the period from Passover to the holiday of Shavuot we have a unique Mitzvah: to count the omer. At the start of each 24 -hour period at night we say a special blessing, thanking G-d for having us count the days, and then state the number of the day, starting with #1 all the way to day #49. Other Mitzvot are typically more action-oriented and easily understood, like eating matzah and blowing the shofar. But what is the meaning behind what seems to be a time-counting exercise?
In Psalm 90, King David writes, "Teach us to number our days so we can acquire a heart of wisdom." When we realize that our days are numbered and recognize that life has a limit, we begin living fully and freely. When we recognize our own mortality, we become less concerned with meaningless annoyances. We forgive more, we love more, we fill every moment with love and with joy.
Every single mitzvah, custom and tradition we are instructed to perform is meant to evoke an inner discovery within us. Each one is meant to elevate the spiritual or moral quality of our lives, or to teach us a valuable lesson on how to go about living our lives.
Jack Schwartz had a curious non- Jewish co-worker who constantly asked him about Judaism. Jack decided to invite him to his nephew’s Bar Mitzvah, to witness a Jewish service and ceremony firsthand in a synagogue. The guest sat there in Shul on a Saturday, totally intrigued by everything he saw.
Every other minute, he asked Jack for the reason and explanation behind each action, from wrapping a Tallis around oneself to covering one’s eyes while reciting the Shema, to the lifting of the Torah for all to see. In each instance, Jack explained everything as well as he could.
Then the Rabbi stood at the lectern to deliver the sermon. Opening his Chumash (Bible), he removed his watch and placed it gently at one side of the Chumash, so that he could keep an eye on the time.
“What does that mean?” his friend asked.
Jack responded: “That, my friend, doesn’t mean a darn thing!”
Time is relative. Of course, a day is never more than 24 hours; an hour is never more than 60 minutes and a minute is never more than 60 seconds. But, as the Rebbe of blessed memory, would always say: “Time is like a vessel which is highly elastic - with an infinite absorptive capacity - It has the power to expand or contract, depending on how much, or how little, is put into the vessel.”
We can take that same unit of time, those same 24 hours, and fill it with incredible content, with so much accomplishment and achievement that it has an impact for all eternity, or we can squander it completely, shrinking it into nothingness, so that it fades away as if it never happened. It is up to us.
The message of counting the Omer is: “Take it one day at a time,” but make the most of each and every one of those days. Count the day and make the day count