Tonight we begin the festival of Pesach. Tomorrow night, we begin counting the omer. Originally the omer was a measure of barley brought to the Temple for 50 days between Pesach and Shavuot. It also remembers the 49 days from leaving Pharaoh and slavery to our standing at Sinai, ready to receive the Torah on the 50th day.

To count our days and get ready to receive Torah again, I've asked 49 congregants to write something on this theme: What Torah means. To me.

Each day, at my blog, you can read what Torah means to your friends and neighbors. This week, we start off with:
Lynne Arnold
Stacy Yerger
Nava Herzog
Alan Siegel
Paul Mayer
Barbara Rubin
Rachelle Harmer