Counting the Omer

I don't know why I said I would write about counting the omer. It's not really a custom that I personally perform. Here's how it works -- every night, starting with the second night of Pesach, you say a blessing and then a formula that states the day of the omer. Tonight, for example, is the 38th day of the omer. (Jewish days begin at sundown, which is another topic for some day.)

Though I don't formally count the omer each night, I do keep track of the omer. When trying to figure out why, I came up with two reasons:

First of all, counting the omer is a commandment. So I follow the spirit of the law here, if not the absolute letter.

Second, counting the omer ends and culminates with the holiday of Shavuot, the day on which we received the Torah on Mt. Sinai. Apart from being one of the three major festivals of the Jewish year (along with Sukkot and Pesach), Shavuot commemorates the day we (b'nai Israel) truly became a people with a common purpose. I love this significance of the omer.

Since there's not a whole lot involved with counting the omer and I don't do it anyway, I'm not going to explain how to do it.