Post by nina2 on Apr 14, 2009 3:12:31 GMT -5
"Count "Eight Days to the Omer" Tonight
Tomorrow is the eighth day of the Omer Count. Since, on the Jewish calendar, the day begins at nightfall of the previous evening, we count the omer for tomorrow's date tonight, after nightfall: "Today is eight days, which are one week and one day, to the Omer." (If you miss the count tonight, you can count the omer all day tomorrow, but without the preceding blessing).
The 49-day "Counting of the Omer" retraces our ancestors' seven-week spiritual journey from the Exodus to Sinai.
Each evening we recite a special blessing and count the days and weeks that have passed since the Omer;
the 50th day is Shavuot, the festival celebrating the Giving of the Torah at Sinai.
What is Shavuot?
Shavuot marks the anniversary of the day when we received the Torah at Mount Sinai.
It is the second of the three major festivals (Passover being the first, and Sukkot the third), occuring exactly fifty days after the second day of Passover.
The word "Shavuot" means "weeks"; it marks the completion of the seven-week counting period between Passover and Shavuot.
During these seven weeks, the Jewish people cleansed themselves of the scars of Egyptian slavery and became a holy nation, ready to enter into an eternal covenant with God with the giving of the Torah.
On this day, we received a gift from Above which we could not have achieved with our own limited faculties. We received the ability to reach and touch the Divine; not only to be cultivated human beings, but Divine human beings who are capable of rising above and beyond the limitations of nature.
Before the giving of the Torah, we were a family and a community. The experience of Sinai bonded us into a new entity: the Jewish people, the Chosen Nation. This holiday is likened to our wedding day -- beneath the wedding canopy of Mount Sinai, God betrothed us to Him. God swore eternal devotion to us, and we in turn pledged everlasting loyalty to Him.
Every year on the holiday of Shavuot, we reenact this historic moment. God re-gives the Torah, and we lovingly reaccept, and reaffirm our fidelity to Him alone."
Act 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Act 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
Act 2:3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
Act 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
1Pe 2:9 But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
1Pe 2:10 Which in time past [were] not a people, but [are] now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
2Cr 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord [is], there [is] liberty.
2Cr 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord.
MARANATHA!
Tomorrow is the eighth day of the Omer Count. Since, on the Jewish calendar, the day begins at nightfall of the previous evening, we count the omer for tomorrow's date tonight, after nightfall: "Today is eight days, which are one week and one day, to the Omer." (If you miss the count tonight, you can count the omer all day tomorrow, but without the preceding blessing).
The 49-day "Counting of the Omer" retraces our ancestors' seven-week spiritual journey from the Exodus to Sinai.
Each evening we recite a special blessing and count the days and weeks that have passed since the Omer;
the 50th day is Shavuot, the festival celebrating the Giving of the Torah at Sinai.
What is Shavuot?
Shavuot marks the anniversary of the day when we received the Torah at Mount Sinai.
It is the second of the three major festivals (Passover being the first, and Sukkot the third), occuring exactly fifty days after the second day of Passover.
The word "Shavuot" means "weeks"; it marks the completion of the seven-week counting period between Passover and Shavuot.
During these seven weeks, the Jewish people cleansed themselves of the scars of Egyptian slavery and became a holy nation, ready to enter into an eternal covenant with God with the giving of the Torah.
On this day, we received a gift from Above which we could not have achieved with our own limited faculties. We received the ability to reach and touch the Divine; not only to be cultivated human beings, but Divine human beings who are capable of rising above and beyond the limitations of nature.
Before the giving of the Torah, we were a family and a community. The experience of Sinai bonded us into a new entity: the Jewish people, the Chosen Nation. This holiday is likened to our wedding day -- beneath the wedding canopy of Mount Sinai, God betrothed us to Him. God swore eternal devotion to us, and we in turn pledged everlasting loyalty to Him.
Every year on the holiday of Shavuot, we reenact this historic moment. God re-gives the Torah, and we lovingly reaccept, and reaffirm our fidelity to Him alone."
Act 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Act 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
Act 2:3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
Act 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
1Pe 2:9 But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
1Pe 2:10 Which in time past [were] not a people, but [are] now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
2Cr 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord [is], there [is] liberty.
2Cr 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord.
MARANATHA!