Israel at War Lesson Plans
SEE ALL SEFIRAT HAOMER RESOURCES

Making Counting Count

Grade Level: 6-8 can be adjusted to high school
Time: 40-80 minutes, depending on how much the students do on their own. Ideally, there should be weekly follow-up with filling in the Sefirat Omer chart and perhaps a minute of reflection and/or two to three minutes for journaling. This can be done as an entrance (“do-now”) activity or an exit ticket if desired.

Introduction

This lesson incorporates the mitzvah from the Torah of Sefirat HaOmer, which is agriculturally based, and the various spiritual approaches to counting the Omer, with a special focus on the Chassidic concept of sefirot.

The mitzvah of Sefirat HaOmer is fundamentally agriculturally based and has little practical application or relevance to our daily lives. Particularly in the last millennia, when Jews were forbidden to own land and also culturally moved away from agrarian life, Sefirat HaOmer has taken on a much more spiritual element. We are familiar with the concept of counting toward Matan Torah, which occurred approximately seven weeks after Yetziat Mitzrayim. Kabbalistic sources discuss the sefirot – levels, or spheres, of holiness, that we move through during this period. Chassidic teachings identify each week during the Sefirat HaOmer period as aligning with one of seven mystical sefirot, and each day as its own individual sefirah, so that we identify each day of Sefirat HaOmer as a “sefirah within a sefirah.” 

This lesson incorporates all 3 aspects of Sefirat HaOmer, with a special focus on the mystical sefirot, which may be less familiar to students. The overarching idea is that there are different ways to approach God and different ways to experience and express our Judaism. The lesson also seeks to re-connect students with the agrarian life and natural cycles, and how this kind of life underscores our relationship with and reliance on nature, and the Creator.

Objectives:

  • Students will read the sections from Vayikra and Sefer HaChinuch regarding the Torah commandment of Sefirat HaOmer
  • Students will answer questions regarding the texts they have read
  • Students will consider the agricultural and spiritual focus of Sefirat HaOmer
  • Students will compare the two sources and consider how this mitzvah does/does not really connect to our modern reality
  • Students will demonstrate their understanding orally and/or in writing
  • Students will read about, consider, and discuss the concept of the mystical sefirot

Materials Needed:

  • Copies of the worksheet and writing utensils for all students
  • Sources (linked throughout the worksheet)
  • Copies of the Sefirat HaOmer chart for each student
  • Sefirat HaOmer journal for each student

Procedure:

 

1. Begin with a trigger question or two. This can be done orally as a “do-now” or entrance activity:
a. How many days do we count the Omer?
b. What is an Omer?
c. What are we counting toward?

Have students submit their answers (for example: by a “think and dump” method or by answering orally) and note what students do and don’t know about counting the Omer.

2. Begin with a K-W-L chart on the whiteboard, having students share responses to complete the “K” and “W” sections together as a class.

3. Hand students the worksheet. Students should work on part one of the worksheet first, answering the comprehension questions. Both the reading of the source and answering the questions can be done either as a whole class, in small groups, in chevrutah, or individually. The teacher can review the answers with the students.

4. Students should consider the “thought questions” on the worksheet. They can be discussed as a whole class, in groups, or even individually. Responses and reactions should be recorded in some way. This can be done by the teacher, in a group discussion, and then shared, or via journaling.

5. Repeat 3 and 4 for the Sefer HaChinuch questions on the worksheet.

6. Introduce and explain the concept of the mystical sefirot. 

NOTE: This is a deep and complex concept. Teachers are not expected to be “experts” by any means! The idea here is to introduce a different, more spiritual way of considering Sefirat HaOmer. The goal is for each student to think about how to bring God’s “traits” into the world.

7. Go through the sefirot and the thought questions on the worksheet with the students. Students need to be able to articulate how a sefirah could be made “practical” and also how it connects to their own personal strengths.

8. At the beginning of the week, students should set a sefirah/Sefirat HaOmer goal for themselves for that week. 

Teachers should introduce/clarify the sefirah of the week and give students a minute or two to jot down a goal in a Sefirat HaOmer journal. The goals should ideally be “practical” rather than just mental. Students should record progress throughout the week in their journals. These journals can be used throughout the whole Sefirat HaOmer period. 

Each student should also receive a copy of the Sefirat HaOmer chart. At the end of each week, students should fill out the correct space in the chart to share how they accomplished their goal for that week. Students can share their experiences with the class, either every week or as a cumulative summary at the end of the Sefirat HaOmer period.

9. Optional pre-Shavuot exercise: Have students review their Sefirat HaOmer charts and give students a chance to reflect on whether this process was useful, including how/why and how not/why not. In addition, encourage students to reflect on how this process helped (or didn’t help) them prepare for Shavuot/Chag Matan Torah.