Counting the Omer

Today's Count

April 19, 2026

Shalom from The Leffell School. Here is today's daily reminder for Counting the Omer: Sunday, April 19

Yesterday was the seventeenth day of the Omer, so we know that tonight we count…

Tonight, Sunday, April 19, after nightfall, we stand and count the Omer.

We begin with the blessing:

ברוך אתה יהוה אלוהינו מלך העולם, אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו על ספירת העומר

Baruch ata Adonai Eloheinu Melech HaOlam, asher kideshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al sefirat haomer.

We then count the Omer:

היום שמונה עשר יום שהם שני שבועות וארבעה ימים לעומר

HaYom shmona asar yom shehem shnei shavuot v’arba’ah yamim la’omer.

From a Kabbalistic, spiritual perspective, today we focus on: Netzach within Tiferet (Endurance within Compassion).

31 more days until Shavuot!

A Kabbalistic/Spiritual Approach to the Omer

The seven weeks of the Omer can also serve as a time for spiritual growth as we prepare to receive the Torah on Shavuot. For the Kabbalists, this was a time to focus on our inner qualities – our middot – and to use each day of the Omer to focus on a different quality.

The Kabbalah is based on the existence of ten sefirot, or attributes of God that interact with one another and with the entire. These sefirot can be divided into three upper sefirot, and seven lower sefirot. The Kabbalists connected each week of the Omer with one of these seven lower sefirot:

Chesed – Loving kindness
Gevurah – Discipline
Tiferet – Compassion
Netzach – Endurance
Hod – Humility
Yesod – Bonding
Malchut – Nobility

The Kabbalists also connected each day of the week with one of these seven sefirot, such that the first day of the Omer is Chesed that is within Chesed, and the second day of the Omer is Gevurah that is within Chesed, etc. This results in 49 unique attribute combinations, one to focus and reflect on for each day of the Omer, and in the process, we have the opportunity to work on that particular attribute within ourselves.

Sefirat HaOmer, or counting the Omer, is an ancient ritual commanded in the Torah that connects the holiday of Pesach to the holiday of Shavuot by counting the days and weeks from the second seder until the eve of Shavuot. When the Temple stood in Jerusalem, a measure of barley, called an omer, was brought to the Temple as an offering on each of these days. Today, the ritual consists of reciting the blessing for counting the Omer each night between Pesach and Shavuot, and then announcing what number day of the Omer is represented that night.