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 Chayei Sarah from the book of Genesis. Today’s insight was generously provided by Jane B.

The end of Sarah’s life. The marriage of Isaac. The remarriage of Abraham!! Abraham’s death. Chayei Sarah is the story of the passage of the torch to the next generation of matriarchs and patriarchs. Two things in the Parsha really struck me. First, Abraham’s marriage to Keturah. And second, the fact that Ishmael is their to join Isaac in the burial of their father.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks seems to be the only commentator I could find that deals with what struck me the most. In the modern world, where, for more than a century, the Muslims and the Jews seem to be in an intractable conflict, this Parsha shows that even the first split between these people was able to be healed. The sages says Sacks, identify Keturah as Hagar. Both Abraham and Isaac felt guilty about casting Hagar and Ishmael into the wilderness. It was only God’s assurance that they would be provided for and that listening to Sarah was the right thing to do, makes it bearable. Thus, after Sarah’s death, Abraham brought Hagar/Keturah back – as his wife. And created a dynasty with her that would be fruitful through the ages.

Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer speaks of Abraham twice going to visit Ishmael without identifying himself, He was not at home either time, but, after the second visit, when he was greeted warmly, he prayed to God to treat Ishmael and his family bountifully. When told this, Ishmael knew it was Abraham and that he was still loved by his father. Thus, when Abraham died, he was surrounded by his entire family and was buried by his two sons, who were separated for so long, but in the end, reunited.

As Rabbi Sacks says – “there was conflict and separation, but that was the beginning, not the end.” Let’s all hope that history can repeat itself in modern times.