Using Alexa for Sefirat HaOmer: Reminders, and Can It Be Trusted?

Dear Rabbi, I just got a smart clock connected to Alexa and was wondering: can I use it to notify me every evening to say the Sefirat HaOmer and what the count of that day is?

Thank you for your question.

I would like to start by dividing your question into two parts:

1. Relying on Alexa to tell you what that day's Sefirah count is.
2. Relying on Alexa to remind you to count the Sefirat HaOmer.

We will start with the first part of the question:

Can one rely on the count that Alexa has told you is that night's Sefirah, or do I have to look it up in a siddur to verify?

One cannot rely on the count that Alexa says, one of the reasons is that the Sefirah count changes every night after nightfall, Alexa may not be able to detect that change accurately. It might calculate the count based on the secular date change at midnight. Therefore, the count might not be correct at the time of nightfall.

Relying on Alexa to remind you to count the Omer:

That may be a good solution, and I would like to explain why.

The halacha is that when the time of Sefirat HaOmer arrives, one may not begin to eat a meal (the Mishnah Berurah adds that even half an hour before nighttime this restriction applies). This halacha is even when one has a fixed minyan later on in the evening.

שולחן ערוך אורח חיים הלכות פסח סימן תפט סעיף ד
וכשהגיע הזמן, אסורין לאכול עד שיספור.

Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, Laws of Pesach, Siman 489, Seif 4:
And when the time arrives, it is forbidden to eat until one counts the Omer.

However, Hagaon Harav Amrom Fried in Azamrah Lishmecha (page 251) writes that we find that the Mishnah Berurah in Hilchos Kriyat Shema (Siman 235, Seif 2) writes that with regard to Kriyat Shema, one may not eat before having recited Kriyat Shema; however, if he appoints a “shomer” (a person to remind him later to recite Kriyat Shema) then one may start a meal as usual and can rely on the shomer to remind him lest he forgets.

This is the quote of the Mishnah Berurah:

משנה ברורה על שולחן ערוך אורח חיים הלכות קריאת שמע ותפילה של ערבית סימן רלה סעיף ב
ואם ביקש מאחד שיזכירנו להתפלל ליכא אסורא להתחיל לאכול אפילו כשכבר הגיע זמן ק"ש :

Mishnah Berurah Siman 244, Seif 2:
And if one asked someone to remind him later to pray, then there is no prohibition to begin eating, even if the time for Kriyat Shema has already arrived.

Therefore, according to this, we can say the same too with regard to Sefirat HaOmer — that one can appoint a shomer to enable him to eat.

So Hagaon Harav Amrom Fried, shlit"a, says that if someone sets an alarm clock, or like in your case, asks Alexa to remind him to count the Sefirah later, then it would be permissible for him to eat a meal as usual even if the time of the Sefirah counting has arrived.

To summarize:
One cannot rely on the actual count that Alexa will tell you; however, one can rely on Alexa to remind him later to count the Sefirat HaOmer in order to allow him to eat a meal before counting Sefirat HaOmer.

This solution is even better than one who would want to recite the Sefirah as soon as it gets night and then daven Maariv later with a minyan. This idea is less optimal, since generally if one were to do so, when it comes later and one is davening with a minyan, one is liable to forget that he already said the bracha and will probably recite it again, which would be considered a bracha le’vatalah.

It is also brought in the Chok Ya’akov 489 seif katan 16 in the name of the Shelah that there is an added advantage to recite the Sefirah with a minyan.

Wishing you much success.

Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, Hilchot Pesach, Siman 489, Seif 4

Mishnah Berurah on Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, Hilchot Kriyat Shema and Maariv, Siman 244, Seif 2

Azamrah Lishmecha by Harav Amrom Fried, page 251

Chok Ya’akov, Siman 489, Seif Katan 16 (quoting the Shelah Hakadosh)