The Torah reading for the Second Day of Pesah, which details the mitzvot of the Omer, offers a compelling opportunity to reflect on how a simple measure of barley flour could carry such weight as to generate multiple commandments:

“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you come into the land that I am about to give you and you reap its harvest, you shall bring a sheaf, the first of your harvest, to the priest. He shall elevate the sheaf before the Lord for acceptance on your behalf; on the morrow of the Shabbat the priest shall elevate it… And you shall count from the morrow of the Shabbat, from the day you bring the elevation sheaf, seven complete weeks. Until the morrow of the seventh Shabbat you shall count fifty days…” (Leviticus........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)