Counting the Omer: Imagine What Could Be

In her book, Omer: A Counting, Rabbi Karyn Kedar identifies a theme for each week.  This 5th week, beginning today, she names, “Imagine.”  Kedar writes:

“God declared that the land was flowing with milk and honey.  But it was not.  the land had date palms, tall, ready to yield their fruit that could become honey.  And it had goats grazing peacefully on the side of mountains, ready to give milk,  And we bless God who brings forth bread from the earth.  But God does not.  Rather, the fields are abundant with golden grain, waiting for harvest, waiting for human endeavor.  The sustenance from milk, the satisfaction from bread, the sweetness of honey all require us to see what is, imagine what could be, and create what we can.

“This is the secret of our power: To see the invisible!  To pull back the veil that obscures all that is good.  To bear witness to what is possible despite what others believe is merely probable.  To look at what is and see what could be.  To see the path to hope, courage, meaning, and purpose.

“Magnificence is possible, and joy is possible.

“This is the secret of our power: To imagine!  And then to create!  To step out of the darkness that blinds us to possibility.  To see that our accomplishments begin with potential, with an idea, with thought.  To envision ourselves as capable of so much more.  To behold and then to make manifest.

Baruch Ata Adonai, Elohenu Melech ha-olam asher kidishanu b’mitzvotav vitzivanu al s’firat ha’omer. Blessed are You, Eternal our God, Ruler of the universe, who makes us holy with sacred actions and enjoins us to count the omer.

Hayom chamishah ushiloshim yom, shehem chamishah shavuot la-omer.

Today is 35 days which is 5 weeks of the Omer.