Making Each Day Count

  In this past Shabbat’s parasha, parashat Emor, the mitzvah of counting the Omer appeared in Vaykira 23:15:

וּסְפַרְתֶּ֤ם לָכֶם֙ מִמׇּחֳרַ֣ת הַשַּׁבָּ֔ת מִיּוֹם֙ הֲבִ֣יאֲכֶ֔ם אֶת־עֹ֖מֶר הַתְּנוּפָ֑ה שֶׁ֥בַע שַׁבָּת֖וֹת תְּמִימֹ֥ת תִּהְיֶֽינָה

And from the day on which you bring the sheaf of elevation offering—the day after the sabbath—you shall count off seven weeks. They must be complete

In my house, (my kids have inherited this!), I have a custom to put Sefirat HaOmer charts on every bedroom door. That way, you cannot miss the count of that night. But, this year, something new has happened. I receive two recordings each night- one from Rabbi David Fohrman and one from the OU Women’s Initiative with words of inspiration for that day. One cannot miss the count after receiving those messages. But, more importantly, those recordings have relayed to me an essential message. It is not about counting the days. It is about making those days count. 

Talia Kalman, in her article “Counting Each Day And Making Each Day Count” says it perfectly: 

Whenever we have inspiration, it’s only as good as the little steps we put in to make it a part of our everyday lives. Pesach is a huge inspiration; we witness the ten plagues which the Egyptians experienced, are finally freed from our slavery in Egypt, and experience another huge miracle of the splitting of the sea. But how does this inspiration become a part of me? How does it affect me after Pesach has gone? That’s the purpose of the Omer. This time period allows for us to take the inspiration with us to make us even stronger and closer to Hashem through the rest of the year and the rest of our lives. We take the inspiration of our miraculous leaving of Egypt, and make it real. True growth isn’t a sudden explosion of change. Real lasting growth comes slowly in a series of tiny steps, and that is what the period of the Omer is for.  

On Pesach, the korban Omer brought up is barley- animal food. On Shavuot we bring up bread- human food.  Through this time period, we, so to speak, transform from animals to humans; we are elevated to a much higher spiritual level. We work on refining our character traits which transforms us from being slaves to our base, animal instincts, to being more complete and elevated people. 

While I traditionally use the OU sefirah chart each year, this year I came across an additional one which focuses on the fact that each day of the Omer represents a different character trait. The full name of the period of the Omer is Sefirat Haomer, related to the Kaballistic Sefirot, which are the modes through which Hashem interacts with this world. Rabbi Simon Jacobson, in his article “Daily Omer Meditation- A Practical Guide To Becoming Great In 49 Days” discusses  the seven attributes focused on improving during sefirah and even includes a daily meditation to consider each day. I’ll just share with you the first one: Day 1 ― Chesed of Chesed: Loving-kindness in Loving-kindness

Love is the single most powerful and necessary component in life. It is both giving and receiving. Love allows us to reach above and beyond ourselves, to experience another person and to allow that person to experience us. It is the tool by which we learn to experience the highest reality ― God. Examine the love aspect of your love.

Ask yourself: What is my capacity to love another person? Do I have problems with giving? Am I stingy or selfish? Is it difficult for me to let someone else into my life? Am I afraid of my vulnerability, of opening up and getting hurt?

Exercise for the day: Find a new way to express your love to a dear one.

Sefirat HaOmer is an opportunity/ an excuse for daily self-reflection. 

And, this daily reflection, provided by Sefirat HaOmer, has been proven by psychological studies to lead to success in life. Professor Francesca Gino, of Harvard Business School, found in a research study that the who set 15 minutes aside at the end of the workday to reflect on how they did and what they need to improve experienced a boost in self-efficacy, felt more confident and as a result put more effort into what they were doing. They did 23% better than those who did not engage in that daily reflection. 

Dr. Jo Nash in his article, “25 Self- reflection Questions- Why Introspection is Important" cites the research that daily self-reflection can: 

a. Develop self-awareness- recognizing strengths and challenges which can lead to growth. b. Lead to better emotional regulation c. Improves relationships d. Increases resilience and develops coping skills e. Helps us set long-term goals and manage stress. f. Encourages growth and change, requiring us to leave our comfort zones and grow. g. Enhances problem-solving and creativity 

In reality, when one thinks about it, we need not wait until Sefirat HaOmer to get these daily self-reflection opportunities. In fact, each night we have Keriat Shema as a time to think about how our day went and what we want to do differently tomorrow.  In my Beur Tefillah class, when we learn about Keriat Shema Al HaMita (the bedtime shema), we read an article I once found on chabad.org  “Bedtime Shema- All’s Well That Ends Well.” 

Psychologists who study dreams tell us that the last five conscious minutes of our day determine what we’ll be dreaming about at night. And we all know that how we slept at night determines a lot of how we perform the next day.

The article continues to lead us through the steps of nightly self-reflection. 

Relax  Don’t try to rush through this like you did rush-hour traffic. Pause. Let go of the maddening thoughts of the day. Empty your mind.

Re-examine Let the highlights of your day flash through your mind. Look for the sparks of beauty you came to this world to find. Discard the dross, the mess-ups. Next time, you’ll do it right.

He then continues on to note the next steps- refresh, refocus, repent, re-entrust. 

And, so as we live each day, Sefirat HaOmer reminds us of the importance of taking time each day to reflect, reassess, and improve- making each day count. It is good for both our spiritual and emotional lives. 

Advisory Update:

Sixth Grade- Students had an opportunity to clean out their backpacks and began a unit on “Social Exclusion and Bullying.” 

Seventh Grade: Students continued as part of their “Do Not Stand Idly By” unit to learn of the power of the upstander. 

Eighth Grade: Students continued their Substance Abuse unit with a focus of the dangers of drinking.