Counting the Omer/Measuring Freedom
Throwback Thursday and Veeply Round-up
Every year, around this time, on the Jewish celebration of Lag B’Omer I re-up this post to explain why this period between Passover and Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks) is meaningful for me (it’s all explained below). This year, Lag B’Omer falls on May 5, Cinco de Mayo, and I have something special planned for it. But I thought this would make for a good Throwback Thursday.
But first, let’s do a really quick…
Veeply Roundup
VP Vance is debating theology with the Pope. Pretty bold, I wouldn’t debate Jewish law with the Chief Rabbi of Israel (or the British Empire.) But I’m not a graduate of Yale Law School and best-selling author. Vance did not have to go back to Pakistan to negotiate with Iran. The president’s decision-making here is… uh… not clear. Vance IS doing some important work though. His meetings with Anthropic prior to the release of Mythos have been reported. But word is that he is the administration point-person on the White House effort to manage the huge cyber-security threat posed by Anthropic’s Mythos.
But there’s also exciting VP stuff all over the world.
In Brazil, President Lula da Silva is gearing up for re-election and has stated that he will keep his current VP Geraldo Alckmin on the ticket. There was talk of having Alckmin (73) run for governor of Sao Paulo (a post he had held before) to shore up support in Brazil’s largest state. But Alckmin demurred. Given Lula’s age (80) and the close polling with the conservative candidate Flavio Bolsonaro—whose father tried to pull a 1/6 move to stay in power in 2022, the Brazilian vice presidency may matter quite a bit. Alckmin, a physician, was an opponent of Lula. They joined forces to defeat Jair Bolsonaro. In office Alckmin has also held the Ministry of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade where he led successful negotiations for a trade deal with the EU.
In the Philippines, Vice President Sara Duterte once again faces impeachment. When I posted this Throwback Thursday last year, I also had a Veeply Roundup and the Duterte impeachment was in the news! Her impeachment was shelved on procedural grounds, but the House of Representatives is taking it up again. In the Philippines the president and vice president are elected separately and are openly feuding. President Marcos and Duterte are both the children of former presidents and heads of major political families. In the Philippines, the president serves a single six-year term and Duterte leads in polling for the 2028 elections.
Counting the Omer/Measuring Freedom
This post originally appeared May 10, 2012.
Most devoted Jews have particular aspects of Jewish practice – rituals, holidays, customs etc. – that particularly resonate with them. Many love the tradition of cleaning the house before Pesach as a symbol of renewal and change. Others are dedicated to sitting the Sukkah, as a reminder of the impermanence of all that people build – as Koheleth tells us: “All is vanity.”
For me it is the Omer, the seven weeks between Pesach and Shavuot. Pesach, which celebrates the exodus from Egypt, symbolizes freedom. Shavuot remembers the giving of the Torah, the great Revelation of Sinai. Freedom comes with choices. The Torah is the guidebook to life, how to best use freedom. The challenge of balancing freedom and responsibility is a – if not the – great challenge to human societies and politics and thus an area of fascination to me.
The period of the Omer connects these two concepts by counting. Starting the second night of Pesach, one counts:
Tonight is the first night of the Omer… Tonight is the second night of the Omer… And so forth up until 49 and then it is Shavuot.
The Jewish people connect freedom and responsibility by counting. The Greeks say man is a speaking animal, but logos – the word for speech – also means thinking. Adam named the animals, Noah counted them. Speech and counting go hand in hand. Humans would be severely constrained if they had one ability, but not the other.
Just as words have power (my own Bar Mitzvah portion the story of Balaam and his talking donkey is one example in Jewish lore as well as the deep Jewish abhorrence of and temptation to gossip) so do numbers. Seven is viewed as significant and the Omer is counted to 49 – seven sevens. Omer is counted to 49 – seven sevens. Shavuot means Feast of Weeks.
Omer, the period of counting means “measure.” Measure can be more then strictly numerical, it can refer to proportion, what to what. These concepts are essential to commerce, science, and rule of law. Consider the difficulty of voting without counting.
A final, unrelated observation, Omer refers to a measure of grain. Pesach celebrates spring and Shavuot is the first fruits. It is also an agricultural festival. Modern statistics were developed in great part hand in hand with agricultural research. Advancements in statistics helped spark the relative bounty of food in today’s world, as well as contributing to enormous improvements in public health and many other fields.
Today, as I write this, it is Lag B’Omer, the 33rd day of the Omer, a minor festival. In other interpretations the Omer is also a period of mourning and the 33rd day is a break (or an end depending on which Rabbi is consulted – two Jews, three opinions, count ’em). Mourning too must be kept in proportion, thus we count and we get a break.