Counting of the Omer

Leviticus 23:15-17 “Then you are to count from the morrow after the Shabbat, from the day that you brought the omer of the wave offering, seven complete Shabbatot. Until the morrow after the seventh Shabbat you are to count fifty days, and then present a new grain offering to Yahweh. You are to bring out of your houses two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour. They are to be baked with hametz as firstfruits to Yahweh.”

The traditional way to count the 50 days between First Fruits and Shavuot is by reading 8 verses of Psalm 119 each day. For reference, that reading program is outlined below.

note: There are discrepancies between how people interpret day to begin counting. The rabbinic tradition in Judaism is to start counting the day after Passover, because Passover is a Sabbath, regardless of the day of the week it falls on. This, however, creates a discrepancy between First Fruits, Passover, and beginning the count the day after the Sabbath of First Fruits.

At Beit Lechem, we interpret First Fruits to be the first Weekly Sabbath (Saturday) following Passover, so the count will always begin on a Sunday, and the 50th day will also, then, be a Sunday, so Shavuot is also always on a Sunday. This year, on May 24th. Please consider coming and celebrating Shavuot with us.

2026 Reading Schedule