From Barley to Wheat: The Spiritual Growth Journey of the Omer

Celebrating Passover: Traditional Seder plate elements with a Haggadah, tulips, and the greeting "Chag Pesach Sameach" to wish a joyful holiday.

Just fifty days after departing Egypt our people received the Torah. From slave to embodied spiritual alignment. How can you completely transform your life in fifty days? The secret is in the grain.

On the second day of Passover we bring an offering of barley grain called the “Omer” offering after which the counting up to Shavuot is named. At the conclusion of that fifty day count on Shavuot we present an offering of wheat grain.

The difference? You, hopefully.

You see, one of our lesser-known sages, our 14th century Spanish ancestor Rabbi Menachem ibn Zarach, explains that barley is animal fodder while wheat is typically designated for human consumption - the process of Sefirat Ha’Omer, counting these 50 days, is one of transforming ourselves from animal to human, from reactionary survivalist to thoughtful consciousness.

We could take this in two ways: the first rejects our base inclinations and clings to the soul. The challenge there is that Sefirat Ha’Omer seems to teach the opposite: both the barley and the wheat are offered to G-d, and the two offerings are firmly connected through the counting. The alternative understanding: humanity can only grow out of animality, embracing our roots. As we say every day in our Amidah prayer, “sprout redemption’s dawn;” redemption is the outcome of a process that sprouts forth from the ground up.

A great fallacy has participated in bifurcating our nation from left to right: evolution and creationism are at odds. It couldn’t be farther from the truth, and just as infinity eventually approaches zero, so, too, the two theories of our universe’s inception eventually merge into one. Many sages, Rav Kook, Rav Ginsburg, Rav Kaplan to name a few, beautifully merge the two to compliment and refine one another, but that research project I will leave to you.

The blessing, the message? Growth flows from embrace. May we be blessed to offer loving awareness to every part of us, to offer our barley and count from one, growing slowly and compassionately into our highest selves.

Chag Sameach Pesach!