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Counting the Amirs
(Sefirat ha'Amirim)
On the second night of Pessah1, Jews all over the world begin to count the Omer2. This continues until Shavout3, 7 weeks (49 days), or until Moshiah comes4.
This is the problem with Judaism. Every year, the same thing
over and over again! This year we decided to do something new,
and instead of endlessly counting wheat, which we dont actually do any more, count Amirs. If this takes off, there are unlimited long range posibilites: Counting of the Bobs, the Cathy's, the David's, and so on. Lots of letters out there. Crows, cats(Katz's?), dogs(dagim?5),......
So here is how it goes: You don't have to be Jewish to be counted, nor a male. We just want to have 49 lovely Amirs for the next 49 lovely days! Since we don't have the first clue how this is going to turn out, be prepared for some creativity. Also, if you would be interested in becoming one of our Amirs, please send us an e-mail!
 |
Amir
Yussof |
Amir
Sharon |
Amir
Luz |
Amir
 Yalda |
Amir
~ didn't have a pic, only a profile ): ~
A-nonymous |
Amir
Rahim |
|
|
Hal
Amir |
Where's 
Waldo
Amir? -the coolest guy ever! |
Amir
@amazing.domain.il |
Amir
Arvand |
Amir
@8 days |
Amir
"before" Dabirian
~for after, mouse through his page! (; |
Amir
h8Z m$ux! |
|
Amir
Joseph |
Amir
Even Or |
Amir
"The Protector"
Raz |
Amara
Amir |
Amir
BenDavid |
Goldman
Amir
loves Gold fish |
Amir
Arsalan Afkhami |
|
Amir
Dekel |
 |
Amir Iqbal
Naviwala |
ˇHappy Birthday
AMiR
MIMRAN! |
Amir
Rahimi |
Amir
"Our
1st Martian!"
Aghdam |
Amir
Madany Mamlouk |
|
Amir
Nawabi |
Amir
"Fearless"
Pour-Heidari |
Amir
"Mr. TartarNet"
Shabashvili |
Amir
Borges y Mattos |
Amir
Lev |
Babak
Amir
" se le vende muebleria" |
Amir
Husain |
|
Amira
visited Camp Saginaw |
Amir
"grew some hair & got married"
Johnson |
Amir
Bahador
Farhoumand
et le Super-Fourchette! |
Sara 
"ˇGo GREEN!"
Amir |
Amir
Salzberg |
Amir
"helwa helwa"
al-Saghir |
Assaf
Amir |
|
Amiri
Baraka |
Amir
Shafie |
Amir
Khan |
Amir
Idan |
AMiRA
AMiRA |
Agent
(Amir)
X |
Amir
Farhi |
AMiR: The Name
Nuuuuuuu, what about this name, AMiR? Have you been asking that through all our spamming (not really! ;) you for sites and imploring the USENET community to visit this place? Here
follows some information on this name of the many of the
world's most interesting people (;
An administrative title in the early Islamic period6. Hence the Amirate of Bahrain,
of which we are not certain if "khalifiyyeh" is a similar
colloquial Arabic word, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, and Kuwait. Saudia
was ruled by the Amir of Dariyah and the Amir of
Najd. In Yemen, there are the Amiri Amirate of Dhala and
the Habili Hashimi Amirate of Bayhăn al Qasăb, which are part
of the Arab Amirates (renamed on 04.04.62 as the Federation of
South Arabia). In Lebanon the Emir is the head of the
sovereign family (Chehab dynasty).7
Admiral was first used in English in the thirteenth
century, and was taken from the Arabic title Amir al-,
which means "Commander of the-." We use it of naval
commanders because the Arabs in Spain and Sicily had an officer
called Amir al-Bahr (Commander of the Sea) or Amir al-Ma (Commander of the Waters). When Europeans took over Spain and especially Sicily, they kept the beginning of the title, Amir al-, (Commander of the), and left off the
end. The curtailed title was adopted both in English and in
Latin because of European contacts with the Arabs, especially
military contact during the crusades. The word was subject to
various changes which made it look more like a Latin word
starting with ad- and ending with mir- (as in admire).8
In the Muslim dictionary of names, Aamir(sic)
is defined as "Commander, Orderer, and Ameera as
Leader; Princess.9
In Hebrew, which might be an older version
of the name, AMIR signifies top of the tree. (Look for a special Shavout page with a
charming story!).
This is all for now, but please help us to update!
Footnotables: 
Pessah ( Passover) is a time when Jews remember our victory over slavery, the going out of Egypt and the eventual return to their historic land. However, Pessah is also wrought with allegory and metaphor, a story of survival. It is a means for all to find empathy with others who are persecuted or suffer hardships. It is a vision of a world in which there is benevolence (whether you wish to call that G-d or not) which sees us through not only spiritually, but in concrete ways such as providing manna.
Today Pessah is celebrated today in our at a Seder(order) where we read the Passover story in a special order from the Haggadah(to tell), a book which puts in order the historical events surrounding the first Pessah. Here is a very lovely and interesting cyber.Haggadah.
Sheaf. A measure for a grain offering (Biblical).
Shavuot was
originally a feast of first fruits, the observant focus
commemorates the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai. Today we
take this on as an annual celebration of re-accepting the Torah
upon ourselves. In the Torah portion, Emor(speak, Lev.23:10-16 --which is echoed in Deut.16:9-1), we are enjoined concerning Counting the Omer.
"Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. ....'From the day after the shabbat, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave
offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to
the day after the seventh shabbat, and then present an offering
of new grain to HaShem."
Israely and Reform Jews observe Shavuot for one day and non-Reform diaspora Jews, two. Shavuot is one of the three pilgrimage festivals (joining Pessah and Sukkot). In the days
of the Temple, Jews would 'ascend' to Jerusalem to present
offerings and to receive the priestly blessings. As with all
holidays, no work is done on Shavuot, nor is there attendance at
school or to other normal obligations. A Yizkor(memorial) service
ends Shavuot (as it does on Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Pessah). On
this particular holiday, it is also traditional to refrain from
eating meat. Here are some delicious Shavuot recipees.
Never....but we have it on good authority that, "HE is already
breathing heavy."
Hebrew, the language in which
i = me
me = who
hu = he
he = she
& dog = fish
For those of you more interested in using Hebrew on the Net, here are some resources to help you download and install fonts:
6. From the Tour Egypt site.
7. From the Almanach de Bruxelles.
8. From the About Islam and Muslim's pages.
9. From the Spelling Bee
site.
©1999 Zarele & Gracie