We are all deeply aware of the passage of each day as we continue to maintain the limitations of in-person experiences until we can emerge into a healthy world. Judaism’s built-in counting practice at this time of year is called the Omer, marking our spiritual journey of 49 days from Pesach to Shavuot, from the emergence from slavery to a moment of freedom and communal responsibility. We will be marking this counting together, through a combination of real time and offline experiences in order to cultivate mindfulness and elevate meaning to this unique time.
In-Person Outdoor Meditative Experience
Join us each Sunday of the Omer period at 5:30pm as we count the Omer together with an in-person meditative experience at NVHC!
Waivers are required to attend all in-person events. Please sign this waiver and email it to ShowClick Here to View Contact Information or bring it with you.
Weekly Email & Text Study
Every Sunday, you will receive an email with a reminder of that day’s in-person meditative experience, the Zoom link for the experience if you can’t make it in person, and a weekly text study. The weekly text studies will also be posted here for you to refer back to whenever you’d like.
Week 1 of the Omer
“It was the result of God’s wisdom that the Israelites were led about in the wilderness until they acquired courage.” -Maimonides, Guide For The Perplexed 3 32:2
Week 2 of the Omer
“It is not your responsibility to finish the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.” – Pirkei Avot 2:16
Week 3 of the Omer
“The Rabbi of Sadgora once said to his disciples, ‘We can learn something from everything: we may learn not only from things God has created, but also from the creations of humans.’ One of his students asked, ‘What can one learn from a train?’ ‘That because of one second a person can miss everything,’ he said. ‘And from the telegraph?’ ‘That every word is counted and charged.’ ‘And from the telephone?’ ‘That what we say here,’ the rabbi responded, ‘is heard there.” – Martin Buber, Tales of the Hasidim
Week 4 of the Omer
“Rabbi Simcha Bunim teaches: Every person should have two pockets. In one pocket should be a piece of paper saying: ‘I am only dust and ashes.’ When one is feeling too proud, reach into this pocket and take out this paper and read it. In the other pocket should be a piece of paper saying: ‘For my sake was the world created.’ When one is feeling disheartened and lowly, reach into this pocket and take this paper out and read it. We are each the joining of two worlds. We are fashioned from clay, but our spirit is the breath of Adonai.” – Martin Buber, Tales of the Hasidim
Week 5 of the Omer
“Just as this reed stands in a place of water, and its shoots replenish themselves when cut, and its roots are numerous for a plant of its size, and even if all the winds in the world come and blow against it, they cannot move it from its place, rather, it sways with them until the winds subside, and the reed still stands in its place, the same applies to the Jewish people. After all the difficulties that they endure, they will ultimately survive and return home….Our Sages have taught: A person should always be soft like a reed and not hard like a cedar.’ – Talmud, Ta’anit 20a
Week 6 of the Omer
“The world stands upon three things: upon Torah, upon worship [serving God] and upon acts of lovingkindness.” – Pirkei Avot 1:2
“Lovingkindness is greater than Torah and Divine Service (see above quote), for Proverbs teaches ‘She has opened her mouth in wisdom and the Torah of Lovingkindness is on her tongue.’ (32:23) It is not written ‘Torah and Lovingkindness,’ but ‘the Torah of Lovingkindness.’ Which is to say that the essence of Torah is lovingkindness itself.” – R. Nachman of Bratzlav
Week 7 of the Omer
“Joy is a deep release of the soul, and it includes death and pain. Joy is any feeling fully felt, any experience we give our whole being to. We are conditioned to choose pleasure and to reject pain, but the truth is, any moment of our life fully inhabited, any feeling fully felt, any immersion in the full depth of life, can be the source of deep joy.” – Rabbi Alan Lew, This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared
Not Your Average Lag B’Omer Celebration!
This year, come join NVHC in our parking lot on Friday, April 30 at 6:00pm for an in-person outdoor Shabbat service celebrating Lag B’Omer (33rd Day of the Omer). We will gather together, for the first time in over a year, for in-person (outside of our cars and socially distanced) Shabbat services in our parking lot. Please note that everyone must still wear a face mask and be socially distanced.
Registration is required to attend, and signing a waiver is part of the registration process. Click the link below to register!
While we wish we could be at Lake Fairfax with the Brotherhood grilling for us, we’ve decided the next best thing is to order BBQ from Willard’s! You can place an order when you register and food will be available to pick up and take home following Shabbat services.
Looking for more inspiration? Go to https://www.remind.com/join/omer5781 or text @omer5781 to 81010 to sign up to receive a text message from NVHC, with a question for reflection each day of the Omer.
