Parashas Emor - Go 'Perfect' from 0 to 49 days!

This week's Dvar Torah has been sponsored for:
Refua Shelema: Rozet Bat Shafika
May you have a quick recovery!
(If you would like to sponsor a Dvar Torah, feel free to email me: SharingTorah@gmail.com)
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We are holding in the days of Sefiras Ha'omer; the forty-nine days between the Omer offering (a day after Pesach) and Shavuos. In this week's parasha it says, "You shall count for yourselves... from the day you bring the Omer Offering, seven complete weeks they shall be."[1] The 50th day is Shavuos, the day we received the Torah.

People generally look at the forty-nine days as two units: Days 1 - 33 as one unit, and 34 - 49 as the second.

The first thirty-three days is a period of mourning. We refrain from doing certain activities like listening to music, shaving or getting haircuts, etc... The reason for this is because 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva passed away within these days.

The Gemara explains that the students did not respect each other. The Chofetz Chaim and Ben Ish Chai say the reasons for their deaths were because they desecrated the Name of Hashem by the way they spoke and acted with each other. They gave people a negative impression of how a Ben Torah (one who learns Torah) should act. In this very same parasha, the Torah also tells us "They shall not desecrate My (Hashem's) Name." [2] We see already there could be a connection between the days of counting the omer and preventing oneself from desecrating Hashem's Name.

People try working on their character traits during these forty-nine days in order to perfect their ways. The Torah says, "Sheva Shabasos temimos" which means, "Seven complete weeks" (as mentioned above). The word 'temimos' can also be translated as 'perfect'. In other words, when counting the omer, count 'seven perfect weeks.' Perfecting another midda (trait) each day.

A lesson I learned in Parashas Emor is to use these 49 days to work on ourselves.. You can be doing two things at one time: repenting from the ways Rabbi Akiva's students acted with one another, and preparing ourselves for the holy day of receiving the Torah! There's no better way to receive and accept the Torah by working on ourselves to reach our goals of purity.

Have a good Shabbos,
Nisso

[1] 23:15
[2] 22:2