Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation

Search Results for: omer

Welcoming Newcomers

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– by Carol Lessure


Many years ago, Deborah Dash Moore shared a story that had a lasting impact on me. A
renowned Jewish scholar, I have learned much from Dr. Moore over the years. This time, she shared a personal story.

Dr. Moore arrived from NYC to lead the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies over the summer of 2005. Of all the many Jewish colleagues that she met at the University of Michigan, only one invited her to attend High Holiday services at their congregation. This invitation was most welcome and it led her to build a lasting connection with that congregation. It was not the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation which was a fairly small Havurah at the time. As a third generation Reconstructionist with a long history with the West End Synagogue in New York City, Dr. Moore found us. She has been an active AARC member for twenty years sharing her expertise with Yom Kippur workshops, rabbinic leadership, and reading Torah.

Her story demonstrates the power of personal invitations and connections. As we enter a time when new people arrive to Ann Arbor to learn, teach and/or work, I encourage each of us to welcome newcomers with kindness and, if possible, an invitation to do something together. You will likely have new work colleagues, new neighbors, or new families at your children’s schools.

If they happen to be Jewish, please invite them to an AARC event, share what you like about our congregation, and perhaps offer to host them for Shabbat dinner. By the end of July, let them know that AARC has ticketless high holiday services that are open to all. If they have young children, share information about our small family-like Beit Sefer.

By late August or early September, you can share the schedule of our High Holiday services and programs. These will be a featured part of our website front page. Perhaps you can offer to meet them for services, a children’s program, or invite them to join you for the end of Yom Kippur when AARC provides afternoon workshops, a unique Memorial Service, a short lovely Nielah service with a Shofar blast, and a communal Break the Fast (be sure to pay & pre-register for the meal, please).

Counting the Omer between Passover and Shavuot

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One of the ways that my children were taught to calm down and take a break when they were processing their feelings was to count. Count 5 things you can see, 4 things you can hear, 3 things you can tough, 2 things you can smell, one thing you can taste. Or count your fingers and your toes while taking deep breaths. There are many ways that marking the passage of time, either by minutes or days, can make us feel calm, connect us to our bodies, and help us to feel a part of something larger than ourselves.

Counting the Omer began as an agricultural holiday that has its roots in the first barley offering and the first wheat offering in the Temple Era. The observance was a way of offering prayer for a good harvest. As Jewish civilization transitioned out of the temple period, counting Omer moved into an exercise to mark the passage of time between Passover and Shavuot. It is an existential exercise that asks us to reflect on the movement from enslavement, to liberation, to the giving of Torah both in the liturgical sense an also the change in perspective within our minds. The omer is counted every day for 7 weeks, ending with the holiday of Shavuot.

In Michigan, we’re far away from the wheat and barley harvests of Israel, as well as far from the experience of being enslaved. But as spring unfolds for us, counting the omer can help us shake off the stiffness of winter and recommit to the work of tikkun hanefesh (healing the soul) and tikkun olam (healing the world). 

Some resources for counting the omer:

Counting the Omer During Quarantine

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Written by: Rabbi Ora Nitkin-Kaner

There’s a tremendous amount of uncertainty in our lives right now. Many of the norms and systems we felt we could count on have shifted, changed, or been upended. To add to the stress of this unraveling, time itself has become elastic; we don’t have a clear sense of how long this new normal will last. And that’s hard.

During our most recent Community Check-In, I spoke about how the Omer–that is, the 49 days between Day 2 of Passover and Shavuot–was the precise length of the Israelites’ journey from Egypt to Mt. Sinai.

This physical journey didn’t need to take 49 days; Egypt and Mt. Sinai aren’t that far apart. But the Israelites needed those full 7 weeks to enact an internal psychological shift, moving from a free-wheeling, newly-embraced freedom and all the frantic energy that that entailed to an understanding of the importance of mutual care and commitment to an ethical, rule-bound life.

Nowadays, we count the Omer to remember this internal shift that our ancestors experienced. Implicit in counting the Omer is a reminder that growth periods are often slow and filled with a tremendous amount of uncertainty.

We know that counting the Omer takes 49 days because we know how the story of the Exodus ends. But imagine how the Israelites must have felt just after leaving Egypt– with everything in flux, thrust into a new world, and with no sense of how or when that part of their journey would end.

As we move through our own time of profound uncertainty, we have the same tools as our ancestors to keep us rooted and open: We can notice where we started. We can look around and realize who is with us on this journey. We can understand that the path is uncertain, both in journey and duration. We can notice that we keep moving forward, one step at a time. And we can remember that we will get through this, together.

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Several of our members are taking on the spiritual practice of counting the Omer this year, and are reporting that it feels especially relevant and helpful right now. If you didn’t start counting with Day 1, not a problem – you can jump in whenever you like!

Here are some resources to help you get started:

May we be blessed with health, safety, and growth on this journey, and blessed to notice what can truly be counted on during this time.

Rabbi Ora

Also see: Jewish Time: Counting the Omer and the 19 Year Cycle

Passover and Counting the Omer

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By: Rabbi Ora Nitkin-Kaner

Beginning the second night of Passover, Jews around the world will begin counting the omer. The omer is counted every day for 7 weeks, ending with the holiday of Shavuot.

The 49 day-period between Passover and Shavuot marks two kinds of movement through time: the period of time between the first barley offering and the first wheat offering during the Temple era, and the transition from slavery to spiritual liberation.

During the Passover seder we recall the moment when our ancestors took their freedom. Although the Exodus happened in a matter of hours (hence the under-cooked matzah), Jewish tradition teaches that it took considerably longer for the Israelites to truly feel free; only once they received the Torah on Shavuot were the Israelites able to conceive of their role in redemption.

In Michigan, we’re far away from the wheat and barley harvests of Israel, as well as far from the experience of being enslaved. But as spring unfolds for us, counting the omer can help us shake off the stiffness of winter and recommit to the work of tikkun hanefesh (healing the soul) and tikkun olam (healing the world).

Some resources for counting the omer this year:

A brief meditation and exercise for each day from Rabbi Simon Jacobson

Daily themes from a variety of writers on RitualWell

More apps, books, and websites to help you count the omer

Jewish Time: Counting the Omer and the 19 Year Cycle

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By Clare Kinberg

8d87b6c94cb0063ffae44d8ad207432fBecause my brother, Rabbi Myron Kinberg (his name is a blessing) died on April 19, 1996, which was the 30th of Nissan, I learned this year about the 19-year cycle of the Jewish calendar. This year, for the first time since he died 19 years ago, the secular date and the Hebrew date of his yahrtzeit coincided. This got me thinking about Jewish time. I knew that the Jewish calendar is a lunar-solar calendar; now I’m trying to come closer to (even a little) understanding of what that means. In astronomy, there is a natural 19-year cycle between the sun and the moon, called the Metonic Cycle. Every 19 years, or approximately 6940 days, the moon will have gone through 235 complete phase rotations, making the day of the month and day of the year the same. The Gregorian calendar uses 12-months in a year; 19 years of 12 months gives us 228 total months. The 228 months are seven less than the required 235 months of the Metonic Cycle. In the modern Hebrew calendar, the extra seven months are added in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th years. During those “leap” years, the Hebrew calendar has 13 months. Perhaps the mathematicians among us will take some time to further explain this to me next time we meet!

There is another reason I am thinking about Jewish time. As I write this on April 21, the 2nd of Iyyar, it is the 17th day of counting the Omer, the Jewish ritual of counting the 49 days between Passover and Shavuot. There are many ways to think about these seven weeks. In an agricultural sense, it is the time between the early spring planting of the barley and its harvest, reminding us of our roots as an agricultural society. In a literary, metaphorical sense, the 49 days of the Omer is the time in which we entered the desert, crossed the sea, rejoiced, got thirsty and hungry, followed the cloud and stood at the foot of a mountain learning how to continue on as a people. Jewish mystics attended to these days as an inner journey. Rabbi Yael Levy explains the connections among all this in a beautiful Huffpost blog. On the last day of counting the Omer this year, May 22nd, we will be together for a special fourth Friday Shabbat potluck and dance party to honor and send off Rabbi Michal. The next day, Shavuot, will offer another opportunity to get together and study. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) is remembered as saying that the “catechism” of the Jews, our educational maxim, is our calendar. Our practice, our beliefs, our history, our spirituality all have expression in the days, weeks and months of the yearly cycle. Jewish time will be among the things I will be thinking about this Shavuot.

Also see: Counting the Omer During Quarantine

AARC Participates in JFS Community Needs Drive – From the AARC Board

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Many of us have expressed the desire to take social action together as a congregation and also to connect more with other Jewish groups in our area. As yet another Hannukah miracle, we have a unique opportunity to do both this season. Because hundreds of newcomers and neighbors in need are counting on us this winter, AARC has partnered with JFS, Beth Israel Congregation, Temple Beth Emeth and others in organizing a “Community Needs Drive” to spread warmth and dignity to our local newcomers and neighbors. You can participate by donating needed supplies and/or helping to prepare the goods for the needy families.

Our goal is to collect donations of essential supplies—like soap, diapers, shampoo, toothbrushes, cleaning items, feminine products and grocery or gas gift cards—to bring physical comfort and a sense of belonging to hundreds of families in our community. When you come to services, or any other time you are at the JCC between now and December 22nd, you will find a large, labeled box to receive your donations.  We are grateful to the JCC for their support of this important work.

Thank you!

Building a Fence Around the Sacred

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An early blog post from Rav Gav regarding the 3rd day of the Omer – Tiferet Sheb’chesed, “beauty/harmony within loving kindness” – which starts this evening.

The Counting of the Omer is more than a calendar exercise—it is a forty-nine-day journey of inner refinement. Each day aligns with one of the seven sefirot (divine attributes), cycling through Chesed (lovingkindness), Gevurah (strength), Tiferet (harmony), Netzach (endurance), Hod (humility), Yesod (connection), and Malchut (receptivity). As we count, we engage body, heart, and mind, using the rhythm of that daily ritual to transform impulse into intention and reaction into reflection.


To deepen this psycho-spiritual practice, many communities add the study of Pirkei Avot—Ethics of the Fathers—during the Omer. Beginning on the Shabbat after Pesach, the custom is to read one chapter each week, aligning timeless ethical teachings with our evolving inner work.  

In the first chapter of Pirkei Avot we are instructed to emulate the wisdom of Moses and his disciples, to be deliberate and measured in our pursuit of justice, to be lovers of peace, to share and teach Jewish wisdom generously, and to make a fence around the Torah.   

This evening, as we focus on Tiferet sheb’Chesed, harmony within loving kindness, we are called to balance our generosity with discernment, to be open-hearted yet rooted in truth.  In Lurianic Kabbalah that state of balance is conceived as an expression of beauty. On the 3rd day of counting the Omer, the instruction to establish boundaries and create a fence around what we hold sacred is particularly potent as we aim to approach love, peace-making and the pursuit of justice in a balanced way.  

Unbalanced Chesed can become enabling. Over-giving without boundaries can drain us or disempower those we’re trying to help. But when love is paired with Tiferet—with truth, clarity, and inner alignment—it becomes transformative and healing.

In Jewish tradition, a fence is not a burden but an act of Hiddur Mitzvah, beautifying the mitzvah by surrounding it with care.   During this week of Chesed:

  • May we all work to establish sacred fences that protect our own hearts and the hearts of others.  
  • May we learn to saying “no” when we are feeling overwhelmed, may we pause to breathe before reacting, and may we reflect on what we want to say yes to and what we want to let go of.
  • May we ensure our generosity is sustainable and transformative, not enabling, and not draining of our energy.
  • May we establish relationships that are grounded in emotional safety and respectful honesty.
  • May we know when to step in with support and when to step back to foster growth.
  • May the richness of Jewish Calendar cycle nurture us with its times for prayer, ritual activity and celebration within community.
  • May we be guided by the wisdom of Leviticus 19:18, where we are instructed to love our neighbors as ourselves, as we face the truth of the work that needs to be done to repair the world and do tikkun olam. 

Tu B’Av: Jewish Festival of (Self) Love

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This past Monday, as the Sturgeon Moon rose high in the sky, Jewish people around the world celebrated the love-focused festival of Tu B’Av.

Taking place a little less than a week after Tisha B’Av, a day of mourning and fasting, Tu B’Av provides an opportunity for lightness, catharsis, and celebrating the love in our lives.

Contemporary observances include anything from singles mixers to donning white clothing and dancing and singing around a fire.

This year, my observance was more subdued. I attended an intimate yoga class called “Release and Breathe,” and release and breathe we did. In tending to my own mind and body, and in feeling held by my teacher and classmate, I was able to hold myself in a space of true self love. I have grown to cherish these opportunities in which I can decenter romantic love, and focus instead on the many other avenues that fill my love cup.

No matter how (or if) you observed this year, Tu B’Av can serve a reminder of the love that exists within, around, and through us. The love that we experience in being around family, or friends, or plants, or paintings. Or perhaps the greatest love of all, the love of the divine. As we so often sing in services, we are loved, loved, loved by an unending love.

Josephine’s D’var Torah

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All of you – or at least most of you – heard me read my Torah portion earlier. My Torah portion, Bamidbar, is mainly a census: G-d tells Moses and Aaron to count up all the Israelites who can fight so that they can form an army. The part that I read is about how G-d declares that the Levites will serve G-d instead of the firstborn males as is traditional. There are more firstborn than Levites, so some families pay to buy back their firstborn.That part is often referred to as the redemption of the firstborn.

My haftorah portion, on the other hand, is basically a long metaphor comparing how Hoseah’s wife Gomer was unfaithful to him to how the Israelites were unfaithful to G-d by worshiping idols. G-d wants the people to stop and atone for their misdeeds.

These two portions seem to have nothing to do with each other, but there is a commonly made connection between them: at the beginning of Hosea, there’s a line that says that the people of Israel will be innumerable whereas, in Bamidbar, they are clearly numbered. (Well, the ones who can fight, at least.) I have managed to connect them in another way: redemption.

As part of writing this d’var, I looked at several different definitions of the word redemption. The three most common ways that I have found to interpret redemption are, first, making up for something bad one has done (so basically atonement), second, deliverance from sin, or third, buying something back, which is the case in Bamidbar. The first two both apply to Hosea: The Israelites are told to seek redemption, and G-d is willing to deliver the Israelites from sin.

I read a lot, and some of the books I’ve read have types of redemption in them. For instance, in Starless by Jacqueline Carey, one of the characters is a bodyguard whose charge dies in his care. Vironesh, the character, wants to redeem himself from that mistake. In that case, redemption is synonymous with atonement.

In The Raconteur’s Commonplace Book, by Kat Milford, a character defines redemption as “turn from evil, return to good”, also like atonement. I suppose redemption in the financial sense doesn’t come up as often in the books I read.

I also found several official definitions of atonement. Oxford Languages says that it means either (1) the act of saving or being saved from sin or (2) the action of regaining possession of something in exchange for payment, or the clearing of a debt.

My pocket dictionary defines the verb redeem as one of five possibilities (1) buy back (2) pay off (3) turn in for a prize (4) free, as from sin (5) aone for. Etymonline, a website where one can find out the origins of words, says that redemption comes from a Latin word meaning “a buying back or off, a releasing, or a ransoming”. In the mid-14th century, it was taken to mean “deliverance from sin”. 

To be honest, I hadn’t expected there to be so many different definitions of redemption. Before learning all of this, I mainly thought of redemption as a synonym for atonement. Did any of you know all of the things redemption can mean?

All of the information I’ve gathered seems to come to this conclusion: Redemption can often mean to buy something back, to atone for an action you have committed, or to be freed from the consequences of that action. The mentions of it in the Tanakh, whether it uses the actual word or not, show that it has been an important thing for a long time, and will continue to be.

Now, I would like to ask you a few questions. For one, how do you define redemption? Have you ever thought about it? Have you ever bought something back, or tried to atone for a mistake you’ve made, or been freed from the consequences of something regrettable that you’ve done? You don’t have to say anything aloud, but please take a few minutes to think about it.

Thank you for listening. I hope this helps you to notice what significance redemption has in your lives.

Looking Forward with JCOR

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By: Jeff Basch and Alice Mishkin

Jewish Congregations Organized for Resettlement (JCOR), the all-volunteer Jewish community collaboration that includes our Congregation—in partnership with Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County—is excited to report that our very successful and fulfilling first year will be complete the middle of August! 

And now JCOR is planning to co-sponsor with JFS a new refugee family.  To make this possible, JCOR must raise approximately $7,000 initially to get the new family settled in, with a goal of $20,000 for the full year to underwrite the co-sponsorship obligations.  Generous donors made it possible for JCOR to help the current family.  Our incoming refugee family needs that same help now.  Federation provides fiduciary services to JCOR, and donations to JCOR can be made on their secure website.

Two additional opportunities to lend support are coming up fairly soon.  On September 10 at JCC’s Apples & Honey, the Kona Ice truck will donate a portion of their sales to JCOR.  On October 22, the community is invited to JCOR’s “Folk with a Klezmer Accent” fundraising concert featuring well-known local talent.

As individuals and as a Congregation we can help support the aspirations of the next refugee family.  Please consider adding JCOR to our synagogue and your household charitable-giving allocations.  Contact JCOR at jcorannarbor@gmail.com if you have or know of affordable housing that will be available by early fall; or if you or someone you know can communicate in Spanish or French, Tigrinya or Kituba, Farsi or Dari, Arabic, Ukrainian, or another language. 

Please consider joining JCOR’s all-volunteer corps.  This is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to seek to better the world, to express Tikkun Olam in ways that our interests and skills guide us to.  Information about the teams and a volunteer sign-up form are available at JCORAnnArbor.org.  

And, finally, we want to share a brief update on JCOR’s Colombian refugee family who arrived in Ann Arbor in mid-August 2022.  Now, twelve months in, both parents are fully employed, both children have completed their first year of school in the United States in good form and planning for the first day of classes in late-August. The father has earned a driver’s license, and the family has purchased a (used) car, which saves $700/month that previously paid for contracted transportation to and from work.  The family has completed their first year in the U.S.—both financially and operationally independent. 

About JCOR: Jewish Congregations Organized for Resettlement is a participant in JFS’ refugee Co-Sponsorship Program. JCOR member congregations are Ann Arbor Orthodox Minyan, Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation, Beth Israel Congregation, Jewish Cultural Society, Pardes Hannah, and Temple Beth Emeth, with administrative assistance from the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor.  JCOR’s goal is to help refugee newcomers become our independent neighbors over the course of their first year