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Rabbi Chaim Coffman
Rabbi Coffman has helped people from all across the spectrum to prepare themselves properly for Orthodox Conversion to Judaism. His students admire his vast knowledge and appreciate his warm, personal attention and endearing sense of humor.
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Followers

Welcome to Rabbi Chaim Coffman's Blog!

I would like to thank you for visiting my blog, Beyond Orthodox Conversion to Judaism.

The conversion process can be a lengthy and daunting one to say the least and I want you to know that I am here to help you through it.

I have been teaching newcomers to Judaism for over a decade and over the last few years I have seen that conversion candidates really lack the support and knowledge they need to navigate the conversion process and successfully integrate into the Orthodox Jewish community.

I created my mentorship program in order to help make this whole experience as smooth and as painless as possible! (Can't do much about the growing pains, though ;)

Feel free to get to know me a little through the posts on my blog and visit the mentorship and syllabus page if you are interested in possible joining us.

I sincerely wish you all the best in your search for truth and spiritual growth.

Looking forward to meeting you,
Chaim Coffman

My Rebbe, Rav Moshe Sternbuch

In case you were wondering why I have all of these articles written by Rav Moshe Sternbuch, he is my Rebbe, and one of the gedolei hador (greatest Rabbis of our generation).

Rav Sternbuch fully endorses me and supports my mentorship program.

He is the address for all of my halachic or hashkafic (practical and philosophical) questions that I or my students may have.

The articles are based on his weekly talks on the Torah portion that the Rav gives in Jerusalem in his kollel. As a member of the kollel I get first dibbs on the photocopies and I type them up for my blog so you can all benefit from the Rav's erudition and insight.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Sefiras Ha'Omer, what does it mean?

Even though there may be the simple explanation of why we do a particular mitzvah, nonetheless there are many hidden explanations as well. For examples, the mitzvah of blowing the shofar, the Rambam writes in the Laws of Teshuvah Chapter 3 Halacha 4) that even though the blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is really a Divine decree written in the Torah, there is a hint as to why we do it. The reason is because we are sleeping most of the year in our performance of mitzvos and the shofar helps wake us up to get back to our true selves. There are other mitzvos as well like eating matzah on Passover or sitting in a sukkah on Sukkos that the reasons that we do these mitzvos  are pretty clear. What about Sefiras Ha'omer? The reason why we count days, weeks seems to be extremely hidden  and unclear why we do it.

The Torah tells us to count 7 weeks and each week we count seven days..but why? When we count the days, are they good days or bad days? There are a lot of things we could do in a day and what we can fill it with so why count the seven weeks with seven days seven times?

The Sefer Ha'Chinuch in Mitzvah 306 tells us: "The foundation of the mitzvah is that the essence of the Jewish people is to keep the Torah and because of the Torah the heavens and earth were created as well as the Jewish people. The reason that the Jewish people were redeemed and came out of Egypt was to accept the Torah on Mount Sinai and keep the mitzvos that G-d gave us.

We are then commanded to count from the day after the first day of Passover until the holiday of Shavuos (the day of the giving of the Torah).The reason that we count up until the day of the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people is to show out happiness that G-d freed us and took us out of Egypt. 

We therefore count each day, then the week and the day until you reach "That Day!", the day that G-d gave us the Torah and the ability to keep His mitzvos! Each day is significant because it relates to the past (all the miracles that happened in Egypt and our leaving Egypt) to our status as a nation that saw G-d face to face at Mount Sinai to be His people to perpetuate His message for the world, ie the Torah!

May we use each day productively!

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