because T-1 is Pesach and Shabbat this year, baruch haShem, this is the last post before the onset of the count itself. we will all begin on saturday night, 7 april 2012 of the secular calendar, to count the Omer!

look for a now hidden post on the sefirah of the week, ie, chesed, and the interinclusion of the day, ie, chesed that is in chesed, to appear at 3 stars saturday night…..

you should notice that 3 menus have been added to the left under the header. in each of them, and in order, you will find a kavanah to be heartily said, the blessing for the mitzvah of sefirat haOmer, and the formulae for the phrasing of the counting itself.  you can turn to them at any time that you wish to count.  but rest assured that each day’s correct phrase for counting will be posted in the main area at around dusk each day….

why dusk? well, the jewish day begins with darkness as it was in the first days of Creation itself.  so counting at night is a show of zerizut…a diligent, energetic eagerness to do a mitzvah at the first opportunity.  “seek peace and pursue it” (Psalms 34:15) and “righteousness, righteousness,  shall you pursue“(Devarim 16:20) show us that we should go after (stronger: ‘hunt down’) all mitzvot with energy;  David haMelekh sums it up in Psalm 119:60:

“i hastened and did not delay to perform Your Mitzvot” 

zerizut is zeal in time…alacrity…..why waste time when you could/should be doing a mitzvah?  and what exactly is the excuse for not counting the Omer?  we’ve all been counting since our toddlerhood.  seriously, can you think of an easier mitzvah to do in its mechanical essence?  we aren’t talkin differential equations, after all….so go bananas about sefirat haOmer…nightime come and me wan’ go count!

the mussar exercises and kabbalistic meditations, the foci in prayer and additional prayers for each day or week that will be offered in the walkinTorah posts can wait for any hour in the day. a more contemplative and unhurried pace is the proper walk for them…just as one runs to mitzvah, one can profitably saunter in meditation!

so next time we meet in the ether, b’ezrat haShem, we begin the jewish long count toward Sinai.

to be clear: don’t go lookin for a T-1 text here…after all, the text for T-1 is quite well established….and remember that the mitzvah on Passover itself is in the sipur, the telling.  why with all that sipurring, we ought to be well warmed up for saturday night sefirring, don’t you think?

chag kasher v’sameach, v’shabbat shalom