Today is the 27th day of the Omer.
On the second day of Passover, Jews began a 49-day observance of S’firat Ha’Omer, counting the omer, which numbers the days between Passover and Shavuot, inspired by the teachings of Leviticus and Deuteronomy:
“You shall count from the day following the sabbath – the day you brought the measure of your wave offering – seven weeks. They must be complete. You must count until the day after the seventh sabbath – fifty days. Then, you shall approach [the altar] with a new tribute for Adonai (Leviticus 23:15-16).”
“Count off seven weeks. Begin counting when the sickle is first put to the standing grain. Then you shall make the Festival of Weeks [Shavuot] for Adonai, your God… (Deuteronomy 16:9-10).”
Unfortunately, neither passage from the Torah is extremely clear when the counting of the omer should begin. In Leviticus, the counting appears tied to the Sabbath following the first harvest, while in Deuteronomy, the counting appears tied to the first day of the harvest. Either way, Shavuot is the only festival in the Torah without an assigned calendar date, inferring that: (1) The calendar date for Shavuot changed year to year depending upon the weather, and (2) Shavuot was celebrated separately family by family, depending upon the day their “sickle was first put to the standing grain.”
Though the rabbis ultimately standardized the counting of the omer, enabling the community to celebrate Shavuot at once, the timing of a regular public observance predicated upon the needs of an individual family should inspire us to consider what family events deserve communal acknowledgement and celebration.
— Rabbi Josh Knobel