49 days, seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot
28 Nisan 5773 | April 8, 2013
13th Day of the Omer
The world, in its grandeurs, is fill of spiritual radiance, for which we have neither a name nor concept.
We are struck with an awareness of the immense preciousness of being; a preciousness which is not an object of analysis but a cause of wonder; it is inexplicable, nameless, and cannot be specified or put in one of our categories. Yet we have certainty without knowledge: it is real without being expressible. It cannot be communicated to others; every man must find it for himself. In moments of sensing the ineffable we are as certain of the value of the world as we are of its existence. We may be skeptical as to whether the world is perfect. However, even if we admit its imperfection, the preciousness of grandeur is beyond question.
Awe, then is more than a feeling. It is an answer of the heart and mind to the presence in all things, an intuition for meaning that is beyond mystery, an awareness of the transcendent worth of the universe.
Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man
Baruch Ata Adonai Elo-hei-nu me-lech ha-olam a-sher ke-d-sha-nu b- mitz-vo-tav, v-tzi-va-nu al s-fi-rat ha-omer.
Praised be you Adonai our God who rules the Universe instilling within us the holiness of mitzvot by commanding us to count the Omer.
Today is the thirteenth day - a week and six days of the Omer.