Thursday, May 20, 2021

Counting the Omer 2020 - Day Forty-eight

Day Forty-eight

10th of Sivan 5781 – from sundown on May 20th to sundown on May 21st, 2021

Begin by reciting the following blessing:

ברוך אתה יהוה אלוהינו , מלך העולם , אשר קדשנו במצותי
וציונו עלי לספירת העומר
Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu Melekh ha'Olam asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav
v'tizivanu al sefirat ha'omer.
Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with your commandments and commanded us to count the omer.

Recite the day of the count:

היום שמונה וארבעים יום שהם ששה שבועות וששה ימים לעמר
Hayom shemonah v'arba'im yom, sh'hem shishah shavuot v'shishah yamim la'omer.
Today is the forty-eighth day, making six weeks and six days of the Omer.
Psalm 67:  (NKJV)
God be merciful to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us. Selah. That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.  Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You.  Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You shall judge the people righteously, And govern the nations on earth. Selah  Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You.  Then the earth shall yield her increase; God, our own God, shall bless us.  God shall bless us, And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him. 
Psalm 138
A Psalm of David. I will praise You with my whole heart; Before the gods I will sing praises to You. I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name For Your loving-kindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name. In the day when I cried out, You answered me, And made me bold with strength in my soul. All the kings of the earth shall praise You, O Lord, When they hear the words of Your mouth. Yes, they shall sing of the ways of the Lord, For great is the glory of the Lord. Though the Lord is on high, Yet He regards the lowly; But the proud He knows from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand Against the wrath of my enemies, And Your right hand will save me. The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands. 
Prayer for day 48: 
Heavenly Father, we humbly ask that You preserve and protect Your people who are called by your holy Name. Forgive us, shine your face on us and heal our land that has been defiled by the shedding of innocent blood. Sovereign of the universe, You have commanded us through Moses Your servant to count the days of the omer, in order to purify and cleanse us. Therefore, may it be Your will, Lord our God and God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that in the counting of the omer which I (we) have counted today, I (we) may be purified and sanctified. And through my (our) obedience to your commandments, may Your abundant bounty be granted all the world. May it rectify our soul and our spirit from every impurity and evil intent, and may it purify and sanctify us with all your holiness. 
Abba, father, on this, the forty-eighth day of the counting of the omer, we remember your bountiful kindnesses to the Israelites, how when Moses sanctified the people they were not allowed to go up on the mountain until they heard the Tekiah Gedolah, the long great blast of the trumpet. Then they were to come near the mountain. We humbly ask that You in the same way, help us to purify ourselves so that after the time of separation, we may come to the mountain and into the fullness of a convenient relationship with you. Amen.
After the reciting the prayer, continue to pray and meditate on how Moses sanctified the people and they washed their clothes. How husbands and wives refrained from sexual relations and waited for the third day. And how more than 1,500 years later, the disciples remained consecrated in Jerusalem as Yeshua had instructed, waiting for the arrival of the Holy Spirit.

The Sefirot for Day forty-eight is: Yesod of Malchut: Foundation (bonding) in Kingship (Nobility). Effective leadership should be built on the foundation of sound human relationships. When others are inspired by our noble actions to admire and appreciate our divinely granted sovereignty, they will respect and follow our leadership to the end.  

Suggested activity for today: Strive to be the kind of leader others want to follow.

Selections for further reading include the special readings for Shavuot – 6th Reading
Numbers 28:26-31; Deuteronomy 16:9-12; Haftarah reading for today: Habakkuk 3:1-19
Suggested reading from the Brit Hadashah: Heb 12:22-29

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