The Omer is the 49 days between the holidays of Passover and Shavuot…
Today these are a time for self reflection, working on improving personality traits and mindfulness around counting. These are all beautiful practices, but divorced from the ancient Israelite practice. For them, and for modern farmers in Israel, the Omer is the time of the barley harvest. This is at once a time of abundance around the harvest and trepidation of late rains or scorching heat which could ruin the yield. Each day, the Israelites would separate a bushel or Omer of barley to be offered up as a sacrifice in the Temple in Jerusalem.
In memory and celebration of this, the Boston Synagogue will be working with barley during the Omer. We will not be harvesting, but will be partnering with Ganei Beantown and master brewer Aiden Acker to learn how to brew our own beer. During some of the waiting periods during process we will be talking about the Omer as well as some of the rabbinic traditions around beer and brewing. Its guaranteed to be fun and educational! Best of all, its free!
“Fermenting the Omer” is open to all young professionals (20-30s) regardless of denomination, previous Jewish background, previous brewing background, sexual preference or anything else. Beer (pre-brewed) and snacks will be provided. I’m looking forward to meeting you all there — in the meantime, feel free to catch up with me on Twitter.
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