Blessing
Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the counting of the Omer.
Barukh atah, A-donai E-loheinu, Melekh Ha-ʿolam, asher qid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu ʿal S’firat Ha-ʿomer.
Count
Today is eight days, which is one week and one day of the Omer.
Meditation
Exodus 2:6
When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
Devotional
God moved Moses from the house of his mother and father to the house of Pharaoh. Moses was born into a world that did not value his people except for slave labor. But he found love in the arms of his mother who saw him as good and protected him as long as she could. Pharaoh’s daughter drew his basket from the waters. His basket could have been his casket. But she took pity on him realizing that he was a Hebrew child. The basket was like a womb from which Moses was born a second time into another family. She demonstrated empathy by adopting Moses and raising him as her son. At the end of this chapter, like Pharaoh’s daughter God will look upon his people in empathy and move to save them.