The Torah says, “you shall count from this day following the day of rest….seven full weeks shall be counted.” (Leviticus 23:15-16). Orthodox and Conservative Jews count the forty-nine days beginning with the second evening of Passover for the full seven weeks, which then ushers in the festival of Shavuot. The counting of each day becomes part of the blessings made during daily prayers. The thirty-third day of the daily counting is a special day of rejoicing because tradition tells us the Rabbi Akiva’s pupils were spared from a plague.
While Reform Jews do not count the forty-nine days, the tradition of counting from Passover to the giving of the Ten Commandments instructs us about the importance of making each day count. Rabbi Sidney Greenberg tells a wonderful story that helps to illustrate the importance of making each day truly count. “ A highly charged executive, we are told, wanted to inspire his employees to be prompt in discharging their duties and completing their assigned tasks. So all around his office and factory, he placed a number of large signs reading: ‘Do It Now!’ The results, unhappily, were scarcely what he had hoped for. Within two weeks his cashier disappeared with some $ 10,000; his head bookkeeper left town with his most efficient secretary; every office worker asked for a raise; the factory people called a strike; and the office boy joined the Marines.”
So many of us work looking at the future and forget the day that has been given to us. It is so easy to wait for the children to grow up and become independent; to wait for the mortgage to be paid off; to delay leisure and become consumed instead with work; and then we discover that we have missed living in the moment and life has passed us by. The Psalmist says, “Teach us to count our days so that we may acquire a heart of wisdom.”
Spring has finally arrived and the summer is not far behind. While we do not count the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot, Reform Jews can learn something quite significant about how to live our lives. While we have no children being confirmed this year, Jews will observe the holiday of Shavuot beginning on the evening of May 18th.
Hag Samach!
Dr. Jonathan V. Plaut
Rabbi
