<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><span style="font-size: 22px;" class="">As we know, Passover is the beginning which connects to Shavuot, the end (Atzeret).<br class="">This is the essential message of sefira. We are told in the Midrash (Vayikra Rabba):<br class="">Al y’dei mitzvat ha’omer, oseh Ha kadosh boruch Hu shalom bein ish l’ishto<br class="">“By means of the mitzvah of counting the Omer, God establishes peace between <br class="">husband and wife.” What a remarkable insight into human nature. <br class=""><br class="">The same Midrash asks: “What was it that earned the Jewish People the right to inherit<br class="">the Promised Land? The answer: mitzvat ha’omer.” They inherited the Promised Land<br class="">because they learned what counts and how to count, from freedom to redemption, from<br class="">independence to the rule of law and from liberty to a commitment to Torah.</span><br class=""><br class=""><br class=""><span style="font-size: 19px;" class=""><i class="">Envy is the art of counting the other fellow’s blessings instead of your own.</i></span><br class=""><b class="">Harold Coffin, famous author and columnist (1921-1993) </b></body></html>