Instructions for counting the omer are found on our Omer Overview Page. You can find the specific blessing for today at chabad.org.

We’re dedicating a new Sefer Torah on the first day of Shavuot. In honor of this joyous occasion, we’re using the counting of the Omer to take a whirlwind trip through the Torah

Today’s portion is Chukat, Balak from the book of Numbers. Today’s insight was generously provided by Gabriel A.

Verses of note: Numbers 20:1, 20:9 – 13, 22-29,

What caught your attention in this parashah?

As soon as I read these verse, I thought of how the same thing is happening now, and that thought just stuck in my head. I feel very strongly about this, and I’ve always felt like not enough is happening to spread the horrors of the Holocaust. I feel pretty lucky that I have this parsha because I get to talk about this.

What’s one explanation for these verses?

Hukkat represents a generational transition for the people of Israel. Aaron dies, Myriam dies, and Moses gets banned from ever entering the land of Israel. With the passing of their leaders, the Israelites will little by little have to take responsibility for their own future. While some of the elders experienced in first person the miracle of the Exodus and the disastrous mistake of the Golden Calf, soon there will be no one who actually stood at mount Sinai, and no one who was born a slave in Egypt, only those who heard about it from parents and grandparents. It was now their responsibility to ensure that the treasure of this experience could be put to good use for centuries to come.

Something similar is happening now. There are fewer and fewer persons left that have seen the Holocaust and remember the brutality of the labor camps. Just like how in Hukkat people were faced with the task of passing down the gift of knowledge, those of us who had the privilege to meet survivors of the holocaust need to spread the story. If not, the world will forget, and that part of history will fade away.