49 days, seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot
25 Iyar 5773 | May 5, 2013
40th Day of the Omer
Give your children unconditional love, a love that is not dependent on report cards, clean hands, or popularity. Give your children a sense of your whole-hearted acceptance, acceptance of their human frailties as well as their abilities and virtues. Give your children your permission to grow up to make their own lives independent of you. Give them a sense of truth; make them aware of themselves as citizens of a universe in which there are many obstacles as well as fulfillments. Bestow upon your child the blessings of your faith. These are the laws of honoring your son and your daughter. Out of these laws will be built the Declaration of Independence for the coming generation, a spiritual and emotional independence that, in turn, will make the world free, democratic, safe, creative.
Joshua Loth Liebman, Shalom: The Heritage of Judaism in Selected Writings
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 thirty-ninth day - five weeks and four days of the Omer.