I remember, as a kid, longing for the first chametz after Pesach. We would dream about what we’d eat in those first moments that leavened foods were permitted to us. Would it be a bagel and cream cheese? Or a hot slice of pizza? We would plan and scheme and the moment we could, we would devour that chametz as if we had been starving all of Pesach. The last several years, I have found myself without this urge, without the desire, or even the need, to eat chametz right away.
Sure, the foods I eat during Pesach aren’t so dissimilar to what I eat the rest of the year, but I think there’s a spiritual element at play here, too. Throughout Pesach, there is such an intense focus on redemption and hope. There is such belief in change, such determination for justice, for the good and right thing to prevail. Pesach gives us a type of spiritual boost that is specifically about liberation and the belief that we can all be more free, and we can all work to make others more free.
And this year I realized, I want to stay in that. I’m ready for yuntif to be over, and I’m ready to eat oatmeal in the morning, but I never want to lose the intensity of believing in the freedom that Pesach offers. I am left thinking about what I can take from Pesach, what values I can let linger. How can I keep that sense of hope and the belief in redemption with me?
I think it's precisely the counting of the Omer that can help us. We count, every single night, until we reach the holiday of Shavuot. The counting offers us a framework to continually keep connecting to Pesach and what the holiday stands for. With every passing day, we mark how many days it has been since the second night of Pesach. While on the one hand, each day is a reminder of being further and further from what Pesach represents. But on the other hand, continuing to acknowledge the connection and our distance from the holiday grounds us in our relationship to it and keeps it at the forefront of our minds.
So we count. Today is the 8th day of the Omer. The taste of redemption is still so close. Crumbs of matza still abound. Maybe the tunes of the seder are still an earworm. And I hope that there is still the belief in what is possible, and a connection to the redemption that may just be around the corner.
