Passover

==Counting of the Omer==
{{Main|Counting of the Omer}}
Beginning on the second night of Passover, the 16th day of Nisan,<ref>[[Karaite Jews]] begin the count on the Sunday within the holiday week. This leads to Shavuot for the Karaites always falling on a Sunday.</ref> Jews begin the practice of the [[Counting of the Omer]], a nightly reminder of the approach of the holiday of [[Shavuot]] 50 days hence. Each night after the [[Maariv|evening prayer service]], men and women recite a special blessing and then enumerate the day of the Omer. On the first night, for example, they say, "Today is the first day in (or, to) the Omer"; on the second night, "Today is the second day in the Omer." The counting also involves weeks; thus, the seventh day is commemorated, "Today is the seventh day, which is one week in the Omer." The eighth day is marked, "Today is the eighth day, which is one week and one day in the Omer," etc.<ref>{{cite book|title=Understanding Jewish Holidays and Customs: Historical and Contemporary|first=Sol|last=Scharfstein|pages=36–37|year=1999|publisher=Ktav Publishing House |isbn=0881256269}}</ref>

When the [[Temple in Jerusalem|Temple stood in Jerusalem]], a sheaf of new-cut barley was presented before the altar on the second day of Unleavened Bread (Passover). [[Josephus]] writes:<blockquote>
On the second day of unleavened bread, that is to say the sixteenth, our people partake of the crops which they have reaped and which have not been touched till then, and esteeming it right first to do homage to God, to whom they owe the abundance of these gifts, they offer to him the first-fruits of the barley in the following way. After parching and crushing the little sheaf of ears and purifying the barley for grinding, they bring to the altar an [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/issaron issaron] for God, and, having flung a handful thereof on the altar, they leave the rest for the use of the priests. Thereafter all are permitted, publicly or individually, to begin harvest.<ref name=Barley>Josephus, Antiquities 3.250–251, in Josephus IV Jewish Antiquities Books I–IV, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1930, pp.&nbsp;437–439.</ref></blockquote> Since the destruction of the Temple, this offering is brought in word rather than deed.

One explanation for the Counting of the Omer is that it shows the connection between Passover and Shavuot. The physical freedom that the Hebrews achieved at the Exodus from Egypt was only the beginning of a process that climaxed with the spiritual freedom they gained at the giving of the Torah at [[Biblical Mount Sinai|Mount Sinai]]. Another explanation is that the newborn nation which emerged after the Exodus needed time to learn their new responsibilities vis-a-vis Torah and [[mitzvot]] before accepting God's law. The distinction between the Omer offering – a measure of barley, typically animal fodder – and the Shavuot offering – two loaves of wheat bread, human food – symbolizes the transition process.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=In Search of the Omer|first=Ellen|last=Cohn|title=Ecology and the Jewish Spirit: Where Nature and the Sacred Meet|editor-first=Ellen|editor-last=Bernstein|page=164|year=2000|publisher=Jewish Lights |isbn=1580230822|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d8qvQcZeAv4C&pg=PA164|access-date=April 10, 2017|archive-date=April 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170410231434/https://books.google.com/books?id=d8qvQcZeAv4C&pg=PA164|url-status=live}}</ref>