Oops, I forgot to Count the Omer

Each of the seven weeks of the omer has a specific attribute designated to it. And for each day there is a sub-attribute. For example the first week is chesed/kindness, the second week-gevorah/strength. The first day pure chesed (chesed-chesed). The second day chesed combined with gevorah and so on.

In the Zohar Chadash it is written:

"When Israel was in Egypt, they became defiled through all means of impurity until they sank to the forty-ninth level of impurity. The Holy One, blessed is He, brought them out of subservience to all these powers and led them to enter the forty-ninth level of wisdom. This was not part of the original promise made to Avraham. We find that the Torah mentions the Exodus from Egypt fifty times, demonstrating G-d's great kindness to Israel. When we count the omer for forty-nine days from the first day of the Chag it reminds us that on each day He brought Israel another step away from the defilement of Egypt and led them to enter the gate of purity so that they would be worthy of receiving the Torah."

The omer is not just about counting; it's about working on oneself and trying to acquire these seven attributes of: chesed/kindness, gevorah/strength, tiferet/glory and truth, netsach/eternity-Torah, ohd/splendor, sode/foundation, and malchut/Divine sovereignty. Therefore, the counting requires continuity. If you miss one day, you miss the opportunity to advance another step and don't reach the same level.

But what happens if you do forget to count? Ideally one counts the omer at night, as soon as it is set kochavim, with a bracha. If you forgot to count at night, count in the day without the bracha. You lost the opportunity to say the blessing, but you didn't lose the count. The following day you can continue to count with a bracha. If however, an entire 24 hour day passed without counting, you are not allowed to say the bracha for the remainder of the omer. But continue to count (and of course work on yourself!), just without a bracha.

In Sefer haChinnuch we read:

"The essence of Israel is the Torah, for which heaven and earth were created. It is the primary reason that they were redeemed from Egypt; so that they might receive the Torah at Sinai and fulfill it...this is the purpose for the good done for them and it is more important than their freedom or their service. Since the Torah is the essence of Israel and because of it they were redeemed from Egypt and were raised to the elevated plateau that they reached, we were commanded to count from the morrow of the Festival of Pesach until the day on which the Torah was given, to evidence our great yearning to reach that important day, like a slave show yearns for the shade and says to himself: "When will that moment finally arrive?" When a person counts toward a known time, he shows that all of his hope and anticipation are directed toward that time."

Because the omer demonstrates our yearning for spiritual growth and acceptance of the Torah, the one should make an effort not to forget a single night of the counting. It is also important that when one speaks of the omer, not to count it before one actually is counting. For example, if someone asks which night of the omer it is, answer by stating what the previous night was and not the night's number if you haven't counted yet. This way you won't accidentally count without having the intention of doing so.

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Peaks and Valleys - The Good Omer and the Bad Omer
Omer Personalities - R' Akiva and R' Shimon Bar Yochai
From Beast to Man
From Matzos to Cheesecake
Lag B'Omer - Breaking up the Count
Mitzvah lesaper et haMispar hamesaper
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One Long Party: Pesach to Shavuot
Oops, I forgot to Count the Omer
Sheva Shabbatot temimot tiyenah
The Best Unbroken Chain
The Mourning after the Night Before
The Students of Rabbi Akiva
What Does Lev Tov Have to do with Sfira?
The Counting of The Omer
Lag B'Omer - The 33rd Day