Reviewing: “The Illuminated Omer Counting Book” by James N Gershfield. Scribal Scion Publishing. 2023. English. Hardcover. 106 pages. ISBN-13: 979-8886650013.
(Courtesy of Scribal Scion Publishing) There used to be a tradition of displaying a beautiful, hand-illuminated book during the period of the 49 days of counting the Omer. Most of those books were created long ago, either as manuscripts or as printed books, and have been out of print and unavailable for purchase for a very long time. Now, a new hand-illuminated book titled “The Illuminated Omer Counting Book” is available in both paperback and hardcover editions, with beautiful large Hebrew letters showing the count of the day, and designed to be displayed in the home or office. Modern illustration software was used to create the custom brush, which was then used by the author to draw the letters by hand on the computer, following the tradition of the ancient scribes but using computer technology.
In Judaism, there is a concept of hiddur mitzvah, which involves beautifying the performance of mitzvot. Most people are familiar with this concept, for example, as it relates to selecting a lulav and etrog for Sukkot. However, many people don’t associate hiddur mitzvah with counting the Omer. This new book hopes to change that. Instead of the counting of the Omer being something that is done quickly during evening services at shul, and then forgotten about for the rest of the evening and the next day until the next counting, this book provides the owner a way to display the current count in a prominent place so that they can be reminded about the Omer throughout the day and evening.
The author, James N. Gershfield, was inspired by his late father, Rabbi Edward M. Gershfield, who was a Jewish scribe, in addition to being an eminent Jewish legal scholar and teacher, to create a new book publishing company called Scribal Scion Publishing. The “Illuminated Omer Counting Book,” which makes a great gift to give your Seder host, is the first book published by the company. More Jewish non-fiction books are in the works, on topics such as Jewish law and customs, Jewish biography and Jewish memoir.
