The process of receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai actually began forty-nine days prior to its being given. It began with the Exodus from Egypt. These forty-nine days are traditionally called “the Omer”.
This period of time was, for the generation that fled Egypt, one of intense character refinement. For forty-nine days, they climbed one step at a time up the spiritual and emotional ladder toward a higher purity, readying them to receive the Torah.
Just as our ancestors were slaves in Egypt, we too can also be slaves to our personalities, driven by forces over which we often seem to have no control. The forty-nine days of the Omer teach us how to regain control over our emotions, showing us how to refine our characters, step by step, in a method that is based on the eternal truths of Torah.
After these seven weeks, we arrive at the fiftieth day, the giving of the Torah, having successfully achieved inner renewal by merit of having assessed and developed each of our seven spiritual characteristics. After we have accomplished all we can through our own initiative, we are then worthy of a gift from above which we could not have achieved with our own limited faculties. We receive the ability to touch the divine. We receive the Torah.
Today is number 15. We have 34 days left to go. Will we be ready at day number 49? Let us prepare. This year, let us truly leave our personal slavery. One day at a time and we can do it. Just one more mitzvah each day and we’ll reach the top.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Raleigh Resnick
PS A forty-nine step spiritual guide to the counting of the Omer has been compiled by Rabbi Simon Jacobson. Search our Judaica Store for more information.