Emor: Inspirational Counting

‘And you shall count for yourselves, from the morrow of the rest day from the day you bring the omer as a wave offering seven weeks; they shall be complete.’ (Vayikra 23:15)

 

My inspiration during Sefirat Ha’Omer comes from a man called Craig Lundberg. Craig is a former lance corporal from Liverpool. Tragically, he lost his sight during a rooftop battle with insurgents in Iraq in March 2007. But, incredibly, Craig went on to run the London Marathon, climb Mount Kilimanjaro, cycle across France and even learn to ski. When asked how he had managed to achieve so much, despite his disability, Craig simply replied: “Your limitations are only as far as you're willing to push them”. He realised that when one values time properly, one can make the most of every moment, whatever the circumstances.

 

On Pesach we begin counting the days until Shavuot – from the day we became a free people until the day we received the Torah on Mount Sinai. This is the mitzvah of Sefirat Ha’Omer. One way of understanding the purpose of this mitzvah is by appreciating something that slaves never have – their own time. A slave lives only in the moment. The master commands and the slave must carry out the task. There can be no thought of long-term planning or strategies.

 

Seen in this light, the ability to count time is a defining quality of a free human being – to appreciate that sometimes what makes achievement possible is the ability to endure a delay. Although it takes time to get from the start of a journey until its completion, every step brings us closer to our ultimate destination. When the art of counting time is mastered, when every day – and every moment of every day – is counted properly, that is when what seems insurmountable becomes possible. Slavery can truly be transformed into freedom.

 

However, there is another key message in this mitzvah of counting and an even clearer link to the inspirational story of Craig Lundberg.

 

The counting period is called the ‘counting of the Omer’ after the Omer barley offering brought in the Temple on the second day of Pesach. We count from this day until a special wheat offering was brought on Shavuot. Barley in Temple times was considered the lowest quality flour – of such an inferior quality that it usually could not be used for offerings.

 

There is a powerful message in the very name - ‘counting the Omer’. Often our circumstances seem like the inferior barley rather than the high quality wheat. Yet the message of the Omer count is to never say that “when life will be like wheat, when the right time is here, that is when I will achieve my potential”. Greatness is achieved not by hoping for a better situation, but by taking the here and now and transforming it into a springboard for success.

 

The inferior barley ripens months before the higher-quality wheat. The Jewish approach is never to wait for the wheat, for the ‘perfect circumstances’ to arrive. Rather we begin the count right now, today. We strive to make the most of every moment, to achieve the maximum we can with the tools that we have been given. We are challenged to remember Craig Lundberg’s message that “Your limitations are only as far as you're willing to push them”