Counting of the Omer
“Time is not a series of eternal recurrences in which nothing ever ultimately changes. Cyclical time is deeply conservative; covenantal time is profoundly revolutionary. Both find their expression in the counting of the Omer.” — Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
16 Nisan - 5 Sivan 5786
Begins: Sundown on Thursday 2 April 2026
Ends: Nightfall on Thursday 21 May 2026
Rabbi Sacks delivered this shiur to over 500 yeshiva and seminary students in Jerusalem on Wednesday 18th May 2016. The event was hosted by Aish HaTorah in their building overlooking the Kotel (the Western Wall) in the Old City of...
...many theorists, were the well-off. They were the affluent. They were Kohanim in the Beit HaMikdash. They were in the circle of the court. They lived in urban environments. They mainly lived in Jerusalem. They were part of what we would call today the leisured class. They weren't interested in hard work. They were not working-class people. They were aristocrats....
Essays and writings from Rabbi Sacks' extensive body of work.
SHORT THOUGHTS & ACTIVITIES
"So when we start bringing the omer, we know we’re on our way to freedom." – Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks zt"l...
SHORT THOUGHTS & ACTIVITIES
On the second night of Pesach, we begin counting the Omer. For 49 consecutive days, we strive to follow the...
CONTINUING RABBI SACKS' CONVERSATION
The ritual of counting the Omer takes place over 7 weeks (from 2nd night Pesach until Shavuot). The mitzva involves...
ARTICLES, SHIURIM
...of studying Jewish texts. We are at the moment in the midst of fulfilling one of the commands in this week's sedra of Emor (in the Diaspora), the counting of the Omer: "From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the...
ARTICLES, SHIURIM
What is mysticism? The word conjures up connotations of lofty abstraction, other-worldly meditation, abstruse speculations into the meaning of existence...
CREDO
Thinking about postwar Iraq, I found myself recalling the story that used to be told when I was an undergraduate....
The series of weekly commentary essays on the Torah by Rabbi Sacks
