Ariel Cohen Alloro – Counting of the Omer – ספירת העומר

בס״ד

New Book Out – “The Exiled Messiah”

Book Available for Purchase here

Omer #	# Day of Month	Davidic Generation	Aaronic Generation***	Day	Sefirah	“48 Qualities to Acquire Torah” (Avot 6:6)
1*	16*	Adam (אשם)	‘	Second Day of Pesach, Day of Yeshua’s Resurrection, Manna Ends	Chesed SheBeChesed	study
2	17	Seth (שת)	‘		Gevurah SheBeChesed	listening ear
3	18	Enosh (אנוש)	‘	Reb Leivik’s (Rebbe’s Father’s) Birthday (Chol HaMoed)	Tiferet SheBeChesed	proper speech
4	19	Kenan (קינן)	‘		Netzach SheBeChesed	understanding heart
5	20	Mahalalel (מהללאל)	‘		Hod SheBeChesed	intelligent heart
6	21	Jared (ירד)	‘	Seventh Day of Pesach, Day Red Sea Split	Yesod SheBeChesed	awe
7	22	Enoch (חנוך)	‘	Eighth Day of Pesach (‘Messiah’s Meal,’ Outside Israel)	Malchut SheBeChesed	reverence
8	23	Methushelah (מתושלח)	‘		Chesed SheBeGevurah	humility
9	24	Lamech (למך)	‘		Gevurah SheBeGevurah	joy
10	25	Noah (נח)	‘		Tiferet SheBeGevurah	purity
11	26	Shem/Melchizedek (שם/מלכי-צדק)	‘	Yahrzeit of Joshua son of Nun	Netzach SheBeGevurah	attending to Sages
12	27	Arpachshad (אַרְפַּכְשַׁ֖ד)	‘	Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day)	Hod SheBeGevurah	care of friends
13	28	Shelah (שלח)	‘		Yesod SheBeGevurah	Fine argument with disciples
14	29	Eber (עבר)	‘	Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Chaim Vital	Malchut SheBeGevurah	Meditation
15**	30**	Peleg (פלג)	‘		Chesed SheBeTiferet	Scripture
16*	1*	Reu (רעו)	‘	Rosh Chodesh Iyar, Yahrtzeit of Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk, Census of Israel (Numbers 1:1)	Gevurah SheBeTiferet	Mishnah
17	2	Serug (שרוג)	‘	First Tachanun, Birthday of MaHaRaSh (Fourth Chabad Rebbe), Solomon Begins Temple Construction	Tiferet SheBeTiferet	minimization of merchandise
18	3	Nahor (נחור)	‘		Netzach SheBeTiferet	minimization of worldly occupation
19	4	Terah (תרח)	‘	Yom HaZikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day)	Hod SheBeTiferet	minimization of pleasure
20	5	Avraham	‘	Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel Independence Day)	Yesod SheBeTiferet	minimization of sleep
21	6	Yitzhak (Isaac)	‘		Malchut SheBeTiferet	minimization of conversation
22	7	Yaakov (Jacob)	‘		Chesed SheBeNetzach	minimization of laughter
23	8	Yehudah	Levi		Gevurah SheBeNetzach	patience
24	9	Peretz	Kohath		Tiferet SheBeNetzach	generosity
25	10	Hetzron	Amram	Yahrtzeit of the RIF, Birthday of Herzl	Netzach SheBeNetzach	trust of the Sages
26	11	Ram	Aharon		Hod SheBeNetzach	acceptance of afflictions
27	12	Amminadav	Eleazar		Yesod SheBeNetzach	knowing one’s place
28	13	Nachshon	Pinchas		Malchut SheBeNetzach	gladness in one’s portion
29	14	Salmon	Avishua	Pesach Sheni (Second Passover), Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Meir	Chesed SheBeHod	erection of a fence to one’s words
30**	15**	Boaz	Bukki	Manna Begins	Gevurah SheBeHod	lack of self-aggrandizement
31	16	Obed	Uzzi		Tiferet SheBeHod	lovableness
32	17	Jesse	Zerahiah	Death of Hitler, Flood Begins (Rabbi Yehoshua)	Netzach SheBeHod	love of G-d
33	18	David	Meraioth	Lag BaOmer (33rd of the Omer), Yahrtzeit of Rema	Hod SheBeHod	love of creatures
34	19	Shlomo (Solomon)	Amariah (I)	Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg and Menachem Mendel of Rimanov	Yesod SheBeHod	love of the righteous
35	20	Rehoboam	Achituv (I)	Israel Leaves Sinai	Malchut SheBeHod	love of the upright
36	21	Abiyah	Zadok (I)		Chesed SheBeYesod	love of rebuke
37	22	Asa	Achimaaz		Gevurah SheBeYesod	distancing from honor
38	23	Yehoshafat	Azariah (I)		Tiferet SheBeYesod	lack of arrogance in learning
39	24	Yoram	Yochanan		Netzach SheBeYesod	lack of joy in issuing legal decisions
40	25	Ahaziyah	Azariah (II)		Hod SheBeYesod	lifting of a burden with one’s friend
41	26	Yoash	Amariah (II)	Yahrtzeit of RaMChaL and Saadia Gaon, Start of Six Day War, VE Day (Surrender of Nazi Germany), Day of Yeshua’s Ascension	Yesod SheBeYesod	judging him (e.g. Yeshua) with the benefit of the doubt
42	27	Amatziyahu	Achituv (II)	Noah Leaves Ark (Rabbi Yehoshua)	Malchut SheBeYesod	placing him with the truth
43	28	Uzziyahu	Zadok (II)	Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day), Yarhtzeit of Samuel the Prophet, Final Day of Hezekiah’s Passover Celebration	Chesed SheBeMalchut	placing him with peace
44	29	Yotam	Shallum		Gevurah SheBeMalchut	deliberation in study
45	1	Ahaz	Hilkiah	Rosh Chodesh Sivan, Israel Arrives at Sinai	Tiferet SheBeMalchut	questioning and responding
46	2	Hizkiyahu	Azariah (III)		Netzach SheBeMalchut	hearing and adding
47	3	Menasheh	Seraiah		Hod SheBeMalchut	learning in order to teach and learning in order to act
48	4	Amon	Yehozadak (& Ezra)		Yesod SheBeMalchut	making one’s master wiser
49	5	Yoshiyahu	Yeshua		Malchut SheBeMalchut	focusing one’s teaching
“50”	6	Yehoyakim (& Zedekiah)	Yoyakim	Shavuot (Pentecost), Baal Shem Tov’s Yahrtzeit, Giving of the Torah at Sinai	–	Say a thing in the name of him who said it
–	7	Yehoyachin	Eliashiv	Second Day of Shavuot (Outside Israel), King David’s Yahrtzeit	–

Ariel Cohen Alloro – Counting of the Omer – ספירת העומר

Video Transcript:

“Shalom! Good evening!

We are right now in the time of ‘Sefirat HaOmer’ (the ‘Counting of the Omer’). We have two holy days and they are connected together with the counting of 50 days (‘Pentecost’). It means here Am Yisrael (the People of Israel) is born (Pesach, Passover). Egypt is like a big mother. We go out of Egypt like a kid and then we grow up. We develop our ‘middot’ (‘attributes’). There are seven middot in the Kabbalah which represent the ‘Heart.’ ‘Middot’ are the ‘attributes’ of the heart (Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut). The qualities of the heart are also laughter, fear, etc. We count seven times seven. We make a connection between each one of the seven to each other. It’s what we call a ‘square.’ Seven is squared, until we get to something which is on top of the ‘body,’ on top of the ‘heart,’ and we get to the ‘head,’ which has to do with the ‘50 Gates of Understanding,’ and we receive the Torah on the holy day of Shavuot.

We have seven squared plus one (50). The eight or the fiftieth always has to do with something which is higher than reality. If the physical reality is limited to seven, then above the reality and creation of the world is always eight, which has to do with ‘Binah’ (‘Understanding’) and the ‘50 Gates of Understanding.’ Binah is the eighth sefirah from Malchut. We have the eighth or the fiftieth as the same concept. 7 plus 1 equals ‘Chet’ (8). 7 squared plus 1 squared equals ‘Nun’ (50).

There are two holy days like this which are called ‘Atzeret.’ There is ‘Shemini Atzeret,’ which is after the seven days of Sukkot. ‘Atzeret’ means that we ‘stop,’ we get to a new place and dimension which has to do with the number ‘8.’ Here we count more (until Shavuot) probably because after coming out of Pesach, it takes more time for Am Yisrael to get ready to receive such a mind of Torah, so we count 50 days. Then, we get to the holy day of Shavuot, the ‘Matan Torah’ (‘Giving of the Torah’), which is also called, ‘Atzeret.’ 

This is one of the secrets of the name ‘Chen.’ We have ‘Chet’ (8, ח) and ‘Nun’ (50, ן). Together this is the word ‘Chen,’ which all of my book is based on and makes the Gematria of, ‘Yimach’ (58, ימח), the curse which we talk about. We say that all of the secrets of Mashiach have to do with this word. So we see that the secrets of this word are the ‘50 Gates of Understanding.’ It’s why Moshe (Moses) was buried in a place called, ‘Nevo.’ The mountain of Nevo (נבו) which is spelled, ‘Nun bo’ (נ בו, ‘the 50 [Gates of Understanding] are in it’). It is written that Moshe in his life didn’t achieve the ‘50 Gates of Understanding.’ Only when he died, did he achieve this level of understanding. It’s why if they waited more in Egypt, Moshe could not anymore take them out from there because they were trapped in the ‘50 Gates of Understanding’ of the ‘Other Side.’ (‘Nun Shaarei Tumah’). It’s like the paradox of evil. It’s like to be a liar, a clown. Everything can be anything. Nothing is important. These are the ‘50 Gates of the Other Side.’

Moshe was buried in a place called ‘Nevo’ (‘nun bo’). It means that the Mashiach (Messiah) will arise from this place (which has the same Gematrie as ‘chen,’ 58). It’s like the ‘Ark of Noach (Noah),’ so when Noach goes to the Ark, he builds it for 120 years and then goes inside. “Bo el haTevah” (“go into the Ark”) equals ‘mavet’ (‘death,’ 446). So Moshe after 120 years also died. He went to the ‘Ark’ (‘Tevah’) and he has to go out of the ‘Tevah,’ which is like eternal life and the Resurrection of the Dead, which has to do with going out of the ‘Ark of Noah.’ First step, we have to go in and then, go out. All this has to do with this number which represents these two holy days and something more high than the nature of this world, on top of the seven and seven squared. 

This was a general introduction. Now we count 50 days and one of the intentions of this 50 days. There are many intentions to think about on each of these days. One of the very important intentions is to parallel these 50 days to the 50 generations from the first man (Adam) until the destruction of the First Temple. There are exactly 50 generations here and we can see each day what’s happening parallel to each person and the relation.

For example, one of the important days here is Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel ‘Independence Day’), which we celebrate on ‘Hei’ (the fifth of) Iyar. This is the 20th day of the counting of the Omer, after Pesach. The twentieth day is parallel to the twentieth generation, which is Avraham. So the first Jewish man appears in the world then. Avraham is parallel to Yom HaAtzmaut. By the way, Avraham was born in the year of 1948 to the creation of the world. This is the date we (Israel) got independence, if we count the date from the birth of Yeshua (Jesus). ‘Elef tsha meot arbayim v’shemoneh,’ 1948) is the year that Medinat Yisrael (the ‘State of Israel’) became independent and Avraham was born exactly this number after the creation of the world.

Now, to convert this date to the Hebrew is ‘Tashach’ (תש״ח). It has a ‘Hei’ which we don’t mention because it represents five thousand. Usually we call it ‘Tashach,’ or ‘tashach lifrat katan.’ ‘Lifrat gadol’ is ‘HaTashach,’ but usually we use this number (‘lifrat katan’) when we want to mention the year. ‘Tashach’ equals 708 (‘tav’ is 400, ‘shin’ is 300, etc.) 708 in Gematria equals the word, ‘Chen,’ when we count the ‘Nun Sofit’ as 700 (instead of 50). It means that if we have a connection to the word ‘Chen,’ we have a connection to the coming of the Mashiach. The beginning of Medinat Yisrael has some connection to the coming of Mashiach. It’s not yet, but close. 

Why do we have ‘Chen,’ because usually we say that ‘Chen’ equals 58? About this letter, there are final letters that when they come at the end of the word, they are written differently. We talk about these letters: ‘Khaf Sofit’ (ך), ‘Mem Sofit’ (ם), ‘Nun Sofit’ (ן), ‘Peh Sofit’ (ף), ‘Tzadik Sofit’ (ץ). We have five letters like this, so there are two ways to write each letter. There is the regular way that ‘Khaf’ (כ) equals 20, so ‘Khaf Sofit’ (ך) can also equal 20, etc. There is a different way to count it, where we continue and add these letters after the ‘Tav’ (400). ‘Khaf Sofit,’ which is the first one that comes after the ‘Tav,’ equals 500, ‘Mem Sofit’ equals 600, ‘Nun Sofit’ equals 700, ‘Peh Sofit’ equals 800, and the ‘Tzadik Sofit’ equals 900. What comes after this? ‘Alef.’ ‘Elef’ in Hebrew, means, ‘one thousand.’ ‘Alef’ (which equals ‘one’) and ‘Elef’ (meaning, ‘one thousand’) are exactly the same letters (אלף). It means that the ‘one’ becomes a ‘thousand.’ “How can one run after a thousand” (“eichah yirdof echad elef”)? There is a verse like this (Deuteronomy 32:30). This makes all the Hebrew alphabet a cycle from one to a thousand and starts over.

This was to explain that when we talk about the year of the Independence of Israel, which is ‘Tashach’ (‘708), we talk about the year of ‘Chen,’ with a ‘big Nun’ which we can count as 700 and not 50, as usual. This is about one of the days of the Omer. Let’s see another important day of the Omer…

Soon we will have the holy day of ‘Lag BaOmer,’ for the remembering of Rashbi (Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai) who wrote the Zohar. The tradition says that he died on this day, so it’s a big happiness that has to do with the learning of the secrets of the Kabbalah of the Torah. ‘Lag BaOmer’ is the 33rd day of the Omer. ‘Lag’ is ‘33’ in Hebrew. It’s a day that relates to the generation of David, which is the 33rd generation from the first man (Adam), so it’s another important point. 

We have in Ko’ach (כ״ח, the ’28th’ of) Iyar, the Day of Jerusalem (‘Yom Yerushalayim’) and this is parallel to the king called Uzziyahu (Uzziah), the one that wanted very much to be a cohen (priest). He probably had something very strong with Jerusalem, because Jerusalem is connected to the Priesthood. There is a verse written about Uzziyahu, “Uzziyahu built towers in Jerusalem” (2 Chronicles 26:9). There is a popular song from this verse about Uzziyahu who built towers in Jerusalem. This is the day of Jerusalem. 

The three last generations around the destruction of the Temple are Yoshiyahu (Josiah), Yehoyakim (Jehoiakim) and Yehoyachin (Jehoiachin). I don’t count Tzidkiyahu (Zedekiah) that came after this, because he’s the brother of Yehoyakim and I don’t count Yehoachaz who is the brother of Yehoyakim as well. We don’t count them, because they are in the same generation and the kingdom is continued only by these three people. The Mashiach comes from Yehoyakim and not Tzidkyiahu. These are the last three generations, so it means these generations are the 49th one (Yoshiyahu) and the 50th one (Yehoyakim, the main king which has to do with the destruction of the Temple). Now, we can ask what the ‘Churban’ (the ‘destruction’ of the Temple) has to do with Receiving of the Torah? The Receiving of the Torah, which is the ‘50 Gates of Understanding,’ is exactly the mind that we have to get to understand (and rectify) this idea (of Yehoyakim). Yehoyachin, which is 51st, is like a new beginning…”

Note On Month of Iyar

 The whole book of Numbers (Bemidbar) begins exactly on Rosh Chodesh Iyar (Numbers 1:1). The first date ever mentioned in the Bible is also in the “second month,” when the Flood began (Genesis 7:11). In the Talmud, Rabbi Eliezer said this was the second month from Rosh HaShanah (Marcheshvan), but Rabbi Joshua said it was the second month from Nissan, Iyar. The Sages say that if the world was worthy, G-d would have sent a ‘flood’ of blessings on the world at that time, but since the world was wicked, they received a ‘flood’ of judgment.

On the fifteenth day of the second month, G-d first gave the Manna to the Israelites (Exodus 16:1). In the month of Iyar, both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem began to be constructed (2 Chronicles 3:2, Ezra 3:8). In the month of Iyar, King Hezekiah kept the Second Passover (Pesach Sheni) for an additional seven days (the last day later becoming Yom Yerushalayim [Jerusalem Day]; 2 Chronicles 30:13). That was one of the greatest times of rejoicing in the whole history of Jerusalem (Ibid. 30:26).

Messiah Rising

Ascension of the Messiah

“There were nine who entered the Garden of Eden [Heaven] alive, viz.: Enoch the son of Yered, Elijah, the Messiah, Eliezer the servant of Abraham, Hiram, king of Tyre, Ebed-melech the Cushite, Jabeẓ the son of R. Judah the Prince, Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh, and Seraḥ the daughter of Asher. Some say: Also R. Joshua b. Levi.”

-Talmud Bavli, Tractate Derekh Eretz Zuta 1:18

“At the entrance of Rome and so on.” See Rashi, and based on what is explained in the Midrash Rabba, for the Messiah was born already during the time of the destruction of the Temple and was taken from among men to the Garden of Eden.”

–Maharsha, Chidushei Aggados, Sanhedrin 98a

The Talmud tells us that the Messiah was one of only nine to ever ascend to Heaven alive and that this happened during the “time of the destruction of the Temple.” If Yeshua resurrected on the sixteenth of Nissan, on which day did Yeshua ascend alive to Heaven?

Although we aren’t told explicitly on which day of the week or month this occurred, we are told how many days transpired between his resurrection and his ascension.

“to whom he [Yeshua] also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom (Malchut) of G-d.”

-Acts 1:3

Christianity uses inclusive counting of forty days from Easter to mark the Feast of Ascension, but this is yet another one of its innumerable mistakes. This is the same mistake, lehavdil, that Bnei Yisrael made in the sin of the Golden Calf. The ascent of the Moshiach after forty days must be understood in the same manner as the descent of Moshe after forty days.

“For when Moses ascended the mountain he said to them (to the Israelites): at the end of a period of forty days (i. e. on the fortieth day) I shall return during the first six hours of the day (before noon). They thought that the day on which he ascended the mountain (the seventh of Sivan) was to be included in this number (thus — Sivan having 30 days — he was expected back before noon on the sixteenth of Tammuz). In fact, however, he had said to them “after forty days” meaning complete days — forty days, each day together with its night that precedes it — (as is the customary Jewish reckoning; cf. Genesis 1:5: ויהי ערב ויהי בקר). Now, as regards the day of this ascent, its night was not part of it that it can be reckoned as a complete day, for he ascended on the seventh of Sivan early in the morning (cf. Rashi on Exodus 19:3); it follows therefore that the fortieth day really fell on the seventeenth of Tammuz and not as the people had believed on the sixteenth. On the sixteenth of Tammuz Satan came and threw the world into confusion, giving it the appearance of darkness, gloom and disorder that people should say: “Surely Moses is dead, and that is why confusion has come into the world!””

-Rashi on Exodus 32:1

Counting forty full days from the morning of the Sixteenth of Nissan (resurrection) brings us to the Twenty-Sixth of Iyar (just as there were forty full days from the morning of the Seventh of Sivan to the Seventeenth of Tammuz). What is some significance of this day? In Kabbalah, it represents a perfection of the Sefirah of Yesod (‘Yesod SheBeYesod’).

When the Omer count begins on a Sunday, then the days of the week line up perfectly with the Sefirot, as it did in the year of Yeshua’s ascent. The twenty-sixth would have landed on a Friday, the sixth day which also represents Yesod (Yesod is generally represented by the number six).

“‘In any tree’ [Deuteronomy 22:6] refers to Mashiach ben Yosef, because Yosef signifies Yesod (‘Foundation’), and Yesod is called ‘All’ and it is the ‘All’ of the Tree, which means Tiferet (‘Beauty’). ‘Or on the ground’ refers to Mashiach ben David, who is rooted in Malchut (Kingship), which is called ‘Earth.'”

-Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, Razin Genizin, p.43

“… the ‘visitation‘ was in the nature of a ‘first coming in [biah]’ from the left, the attribute of Din (Judgement), and in the ‘remembrance‘ there would be a ‘second coming in’ from the right, the attributes of Hesed and Rahamim (Mercy and Compassion), and then the Messiah ben David would emerge from the husks [kelipot]… The source of the expressions ‘first coming in’ and ‘second coming in’ is a rabbinic saying in Sanhedrin 98b.”

-Isaiah Tishby, Messianic Mysticism, p.275

Yesod is the Sefirah of Messiah Ben Joseph, which is the first coming. The second coming is associated with Messiah Ben David, who is the Sefirah of Malchut (‘Kingdom’). The day after Friday is Shabbat, which also represents Malchut and therefore, the Final Redemption. All of the remaining days after the twenty-sixth until Shavuot are explicitly associated with Malchut (‘Kingdom’).

“Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him [Yeshua], saying, “Lord, will you at this time restore the Kingdom (Malchut) to Israel?” And he said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.”

-Acts 1:6-7

Now we know why Yeshua was teaching them about the ‘Kingdom’ (‘Malchut’) yet to come and why they asked him about ‘Malchut,’ since in his first coming as Messiah Ben Joseph, he did not yet restore the ‘Kingdom’ as Messiah Ben David (MB”D). Only in the second coming of MB”D, may there be realized the “day which will be entirely Shabbat and rest for everlasting life.” May it be immediately! Amen.