From the second day of Pesach, when an offering of barley named after an ancient measurement known as the Omer, was brought in the Temple, we begin a 49-day count culminating with Shavuot. This was marked by a special offering of wheat, known as the shtei halechem (literally, “two loaves”).
The name for this count, Sefirat Ha’omer, “Counting of the Omer”, at first glance seems puzzling. Barley was considered inferior grain, generally unfit for Temple offerings, while wheat was prized for its higher, more refined quality. If so, why is the entire period named after the barley offering rather than the superior wheat one at the end?
The answer may lie in the Torah’s perspective on growth and achievement. Barley, associated with the humble beginnings of the Exodus and the state of servitude in Egypt, ripens earlier than wheat. It represents the imperfect, undeveloped, “here and now” of life.
Wheat, by contrast, symbolises completion and refinement. One might assume that true spiritual accomplishment begins only when one reaches the level of “wheat”, in other words, when conditions are ideal. Yet the Torah deliberately frames this journey around barley to teach the opposite: greatness begins not in perfect circumstances, but in the present moment, however limited it may seem.
This idea is reinforced by the Torah’s very first act of counting. In the account of Creation, the Torah refers to the first day as yom echad – day one – rather than yom rishon, implying the first in a sequence. Echad conveys uniqueness and unity, echoing the oneness of God. Counting, in the Torah’s view, is a process of connection, linking each subsequent day back to an original point of meaning and purpose. We preserve this in the counting of the Omer as practiced to this day. Day one is counted as yom echad, not yom rishon.
Understood this way, each day is not simply another step toward Shavuot; it is an opportunity to reconnect to the foundational message of the Omer offering itself. That offering, incomplete as it was, marked the beginning of the harvest and served as a declaration that all sustenance comes from God.
By counting the Omer, we take the incomplete, “barley moments” of life, and elevate them by recognising their Source. Only through this process do we arrive ready, on the 50th day, to receive the Torah in its fullest sense.
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