The Month of Iyyar and Lag BaOmer by Sherry Lush
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
In addition to Iyyar being a month of restrictions on haircuts and weddings, we look forward to the celebrations of Lag Ba Omer, when you can cut your hair and get married. So why do we celebrate Lag Ba Omer when we have weddings, parades, barbecues, huge bon fires and sing and dance all night?
Lag BaOmer takes place on the 33rd day of the Omer count. Amazing as the Hebrew letters that spell Lag are Lamed and Gimel. The numerical value of these two letters combined is 33!
This day is celebrated as there had been a terrible plague of death, killing all 24,000 of Rabbi Akiva's yeshiva students. Why the plague? It is said that this plague came because these students ignored their rabbi's teaching and did not respect each other, bringing a plague which lasted between Passover and Shavuot. Their deaths took place after the destruction of the second Temple and left a terrible void of Torah teaching. One thing their deaths re-confirm is the absolute necessity of unity among the brethren.
Because of the terrible void in Torah teaching, Rabbi Akiva went to the South and taught Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Yose, Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Elazar ben Shammua, and it was they who revived Torah teaching at that time.
*Psalm 133:1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.
Happy Lag BaOmer
COUNTING THE OMER 2025
Sunday, April 27, 2025
Blessing for Counting the Omer:
The Omer is counted every evening after nightfall.
Before counting though, we stand and say the following blessing:
BA-RUCH A-TAH ADO-NAI E-LO-HE-NU ME-LECH HA-OLAM ASHER KID-E-SHA-NU BE-MITZ-VO-TAV-VETZI-VA-NU AL
SEFI-RAT HA-OMER.
'Blessed are you oh, LORD our God, King of the Universe who has sanctified us with his commandments and commanded us concerning the counting of the Omer. Today is the __ day of the Omer.'
Psalm 67 is also recited daily because it is composed of exactly 49 Hebrew words which correspond to the 49 days of the Omer count. The Psalm is seasonally appropriate because of its harvest motif. It is spiritually appropriate because it speaks clearly of God's salvation (Yeshua) being made known over all the earth.
*Psalm 67: May God be merciful to us, and bless us, and cause His face to shine on us. Selah. So that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let the nations praise You, O God; let all the nations thank You. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for You shall judge the peoples righteously and govern the nations on earth. Selah. Let the nations give thanks to You, O God; let all the nations praise You. The earth shall yield its increase; and God, our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.
What is the Omer?
Omer means 'sheaf ',and it was a sheaf of barley that was the first of the harvest. This sheaf of barley was brought to the Temple as a first fruits offering. The counting begins on the day after the Feast of Unleavened Bread during the Passover week. This would have been when the first omer of barley had been harvested and brought to the Temple.
Leviticus 23:5-11 Tells Us When to Count the Omer
*Leviticus 23:5-11 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is the LORD's Passover. On the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to the LORD. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. In the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD seven days. In the seventh day is a holy convocation: you shall do no regular work.'' The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'When you have come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap its the harvest, then you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest: and he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you. On the next day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.
* Leviticus 23:15,16 ''You shall count from the next day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be completed: even to the next day after the seventh Sabbath you shall number fifty days; and you shall offer a new meal offering to the LORD.
Why Do We Count the Omer for 49 Days?
Fifty days passed from Passover until the day the Law was given at Mt. Sinai. We count 49 days which is 7 weeks of 7 days. On the 50th day we celebrate the giving of the Torah (Law) on Mt. Sinai. This day is called 'Shavuot' or 'Feast of Weeks' or 'Pentecost'. For 1,500 years, the Jewish people celebrated this momentous occasion.
On this very day some 1,500 years later, the Lord sent His Holy Spirit to the people who were waiting in Jerusalem to celebrate Shavuot.
Counting up to this day, represents our excitement that the Lord Provided both Torah - God's loving instructions and then the Holy Spirit, so we possess the power to follow God's ways as He lays out in Torah.
These 50 days are to be a time of ascending up to the Lord. Each day we are to strive to improve our walks with the Lord, and overcome anything holding us back from fully loving and obeying Him.
This is a time of joy for us as it was during these days of counting the Omer that our Resurrected Messiah made all his appearances and ascended to heaven during these days! Yeshua the Messiah ascended on the 40th day of the Counting of the Omer.