Omer Calendar of Biblical Women by Rabbi Jill Hammer

Introduction The counting of the Omer, which spans the forty-nine days from Passover to Shavuot, stems from the biblical commandment to harvest the first sheaf of barley on the second day of Passover, and then to offer bread of the wheat harvest on Shavuot. In between these two grain-offerings are forty-nine days, and there is a biblical commandment to count each of these forty-nine days. After the destruction of the Temple, the command became simply to count the days sequentially: Today is one day of the Omer, today is two days of the Omer‌ today is one week and one day, that is eight days of the Omer, and so forth. The seven weeks of the Omer represent a process of completion: the first sheaf of grain becomes a full loaf of bread. So too, the liberation of Passover flowers into the giving of Torah at Shavuot.

The story of the Omer begins with Passover, the liberation from Egypt.

Women are prominent in that story, from the midwives who saved Hebrew babies, to Miriam who watched over the infant Moses in the Nile, to Tziporah who saved Moses from the Angel of Death. The story of the Omer ends with the wheat harvest, when Ruth the Moabite went down to the threshing floor to ask Boaz to create new life with her. The birth, growth and harvest of seed from the earth is a process intertwined with the lives of women and with the Shekhinah, the Divine Presence who is embodied in the life-force of the world.

This Omer calendar offers the story of one biblical woman for each of the forty-nine days of the omer. It is meant both to teach about the women of the Bible and to honor the Shekhinah at the season of harvest. My prayer is that this calendar will help everyone to recognize the Shekhinah working in their lives.