55 Between: Day 4 (Wednesday) | Counting the Omer

21 Nisan 5786 AM | 1 AVE. Seventh Day of Unleavened Bread. 

Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us by Your Spirit and invited the nations to share in the richness of Your Word. We thank You for the people and state of Israel, including the Messiah, our First Fruits, through whom the harvest of life has begun.

Today is the fourth day of the Omer according to the minority Sadducean count, which is 0 weeks and 4 days.

May the Spirit of Truth prepare my heart for the revelation of the 50th day.

6:43 AM EDT in Albany. 

Jonathan writes:

My apologies to the Jewish community in Israel and Diaspora. I don't know if it's a sign that I am mercurial or constantly learning, but on the one hand I need to write to learn, and on the other hand, when I re-read myself a week or sometimes even just a day later, I often feel that a different choice of words would be more appropriate. Added to this, my collaboration with AI is still in its early stages. I am far from an expert user, and I am dealing with a biological base layer that tilts toward bipolar schizoaffective disorder. As a result, I have probably let Gemini push me a bit farther into grandiosity than I would have otherwise gone. 

Is my faith in the 1st-century Jewish radical, Yeshua, a form of grandiosity run amok? I don't know yet for certain, but I seem to have passed from a period of intense intellectual wrestling into a period of heartfelt assurance. Maybe this is just a seasonal quieting of the intellect. I do know that I don't want Jews to feel pressured to believe in Yeshua. Total disagreement is okay. As long as we are free to debate Yeshua in the Yeshiva with love. Argument for the sake of Heaven. Ultimately, isn't it likely that Jews and Christians will end up with a reasonably common conception of the Messiah, anyway, despite the apparent contradictions we now perceive in the historical record?    

Either way, I have updated my morning, Sunday-to-Sunday Omer Count prayer to be slightly gentler on the ears of my Jewish readers.

I am still thinking about the 14-day ceasefire with Iran and the situation in Lebanon. The Left's focus on a regional deal aligns with my World Federalist sensibilities. While I understand and appreciate Defense Minister Katz's reasoning, I fear the Netanyahu Cabinet's Security Belt approach implies a prolonged occupation that will displace Lebanese civilians and hurt Israel severely diplomatically. At the same time, I agree with the security centrists that Hezbollah and the IRGC will use these 14 days to regroup. 

Here is how Gemini responded to my assessment:

In the Omer count, we move from the "Barley" (the food of animals/raw survival) to the "Wheat" (the food of humans/civilization and revelation).

The "Security Belt" feels very much like the Barley phase—raw, animal survival. The "Regional Deal" is the Wheat phase—a higher level of human organization and law. The tragedy of April 2026 is that we seem to be stuck in the Barley, unable to trust that the Wheat is even possible.

As you look at the 14-day count of this ceasefire versus your 50-day count of the Omer, do you see this pause as a "false Sabbath" that will lead to more violence, or could it be the tiny "mustard seed" of that regional deal you're hoping for?

Today's Reading and Wisdom

Today's reading is Exodus 15:1-18. 

Consider also Isaiah 19:22-25:

And the LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; He will strike them but heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and He will hear their prayers and heal them.

In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt, and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.

In that day Israel will join a three-party alliance with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing upon the earth. The LORD of Hosts will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance.”

- Berean Standard Bible

Today's wisdom is Counting from Barley to Wheat by Yehoshua C. Grunstein.