During this time of challenge and isolation, the Pardes Hannah community is grateful to connect virtually to honor the traditions and rituals of our ancestors. Starting this evening, Thursday, April 9, 2020, at 8:30 PM, through May 21, we will gather each Thursday on Zoom to lead our community and anyone else interested in counting the Omer.
In the Jewish calendar, the Omer encompasses the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot which denotes a period of introspection and spiritual preparation for receiving the Torah; it’s a time of leaving “mitzrayim,” a place of limitation, boundaries, and restraint and moving into a place of greater freedom and expansiveness. Each week of the Omer focuses on one of the sephirot, the spiritual attributes of the Tree of Life, which is the foundational structure of Lurianic Kabbalah. The sephirot become the gateways of self-discovery and psycho-spiritual refinement.
The count begins at sundown each day starting on the second night of Passover, Thursday, April 9, 2020, and continues until the 49th day, Tuesday, April 27. Shavuot begins as sundown on Wednesday, May 28.
Lucinda Kurtz will start the count on Thursday, April 9 with the first week’s attribute of Chesed (Lovingkindness). Each Thursday session will be recorded and placed on the Pardes Hannah website so you can listen to them any time during the week.
Each week a different facilitator from the Pardes Hannah community will lead the Thursday Omer Count. Check the calendar or the Pardes Hannah email list for the Zoom information.
–Lucinda Kurtz