April 2, 2021
The Counting of the Omer
Pesach, 5781
From the second night of Pesach until Shavuot, for forty-nine nights, we are commanded to count the omer (sefirat haomer). There is a traditional prayer that we recite every night after we count the omer:
HaRachaman hu Yachazir Lanu, May the Compassionate One return us, Avodat Bayt HaMikdash Li’mekomo, to the Service of the Temple in its Place, bimhayra be’yameinu, Amen Selah, speedily and in our time, Amen Selah.
Last year we modified this traditional prayer. Of course, we still prayed for a speedy return to our Beit Hamikdash, but last year as we counted the omer our shul, and shuls around the world, were unable to meet in person for the entire omer period—even in a limited capacity. So as we counted the omer we added the phrase, harachman hu yachazir lanu lebeit hakenesset shelanu, May the Compassionate One return us to our synagogue speedily and in our time!
Looking back one year later on that very difficult period we are extremely grateful to Hashem that we are now able to gather in person for worship and have been granted this blessing by Hashem.
The mitzvah of sefirat haomer is based on a biblical commandment. The Torah states, “And from the day on which you bring the sheaf of elevation offering—the day after the sabbath—you shall count off seven weeks. They must be complete: you must count until the day after the seventh week—fifty days; then you shall bring an offering of new grain to the LORD” (Vayikra, 23:15-16).
The counting of the omer begins with the bringing of the sacrifice known as the omer offering, a barley offering that was offered in the Beit Hamikdash on the second day of Pesach, and concludes with the shtei halechem, a wheat offering in the Beit Hamikdash on Shavuot.
Today the counting of the omer seems like a sweet, innocuous ritual. However, in Temple times the counting, and primarily the accompanying omer offering, were rituals charged with tremendous tension and controversy.
The Mishnah tells us about an elaborate ceremony that accompanied the Temple’s omer offering.
How would they perform the rite of the harvest of the omer? Emissaries of the court would emerge on the eve of the festival of Passover and fashion the stalks of barley into sheaves while the stalks were still attached to the ground, so that it would be convenient to reap them. The residents of all the towns adjacent to the site of the harvest would assemble there, so that it would be harvested with great fanfare. Once it grew dark, the court emissary says to those assembled: Did the sun set? The assembly says in response: Yes. The emissary repeats: Did the sun set? They again say: Yes. The court emissary next says to those assembled: Shall I reap the sheaves with this sickle? The assembly says in response: Yes. The emissary repeats: With this sickle? The assembly says: Yes. The court emissary then says to those assembled: Shall I place the gathered sheaves in this basket? The assembly says in response: Yes. The emissary repeats: In this basket? The assembly says: Yes. If the sixteenth of Nisan occurs on Shabbat, the court emissary says to the assembled: Shall I cut the sheaves on this Shabbat? The assembly says in response: Yes. The emissary repeats: On this Shabbat? The assembly says: Yes. The court emissary says to those assembled: Shall I cut the sheaves? And they say to him in response: Cut. The emissary repeats: Shall I cut the sheaves? And they say to him: Cut. The emissary asks three times with regard to each and every matter, and the assembly says to him: Yes, yes, yes. The mishnah asks: Why do I need those involved to publicize each stage of the rite to that extent? The mishnah answers: It is due to the Boethusians, as they deny the validity of the Oral Law and would say: There is no harvest of the omer at the conclusion of the first Festival day of Passover unless it occurs at the conclusion of Shabbat. The publicity was to underscore that the sixteenth of Nisan was the proper time for the omer harvest (Menachot, 65a).
In Temple times, there was a very heated polemical debate between the rabbis and a sect of Jews called Boethusians about the proper day to bring the omer offering. (The Talmud here also refers to the Boethusians as Saaducees. We will continue to refer to them as Boethusians, based upon the text of the Mishnah.) For this reason, in order to emphasize the correctness of the position of the Sages, the omer offering was brought with much pomp and circumstance on the second day of Pesach.
As part of its discussion of the polemics between the Boethusians and the Sages the Talmudic text on this mishnah records two halachic disputes between the Boethusians and the Sages.
One halachic dispute was about whether or not an individual could personally donate the funds that were needed for the daily communal offering (tamid). The Boethusians said that that was permissible. The Sages disagreed and said the money for the tamid cannot come from a specific individual. It could only come from a communal fund which was collected from the half-shekel tithe that was obligatory for rich and poor alike—the rich could not give more than a half-shekel and the poor could not give less.
A second halachic dispute was about the proper date of the omer offering. The Boethusians maintained that the omer offering should take place on the first Sunday after the first day of Pesach, while the Sages said the omer offering should always take place on the second day of Pesach.
The source of their dispute is based upon the words in the verse commanding the omer. The verse says, bring the omer, mimacharat hashabbat, the day after shabbat (23:15). The Boethusians said that this means, Sunday—the Sunday after Pesach begins. On the other hand, the Sages said that in this context “Shabbat” refers to the first day of Pesach—bring the omer on the second day of Pesach.
The reason why this argument became such a controversial issue is because what was at stake was not only the date of the omer offering, but also the date of Shavuot which begins 49 days after the omer offering. Thus, the correct date of a major holiday was at the center of the controversy.
The Talmud records that Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, who lived during the destruction of the Second Temple, attempted to refute the position of the Boethusians:
At the time, Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai joined the discussion with the Boethusians and said to them: Fools! From where have you derived this? And there was no man who answered him, except for one elderly man who was prattling [mefatpet] at him, and he said: Moses, our teacher, was a lover of the Jewish people and he knew that Shavuot is only one day. Therefore, he arose and established it after Shabbat, in order that the Jewish people would enjoy themselves for two days. Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai recited this verse in response to that old man: “It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the way of Mount Seir” (Deuteronomy 1:2). And if Moses, our teacher, was a lover of the Jewish people, why did he delay them in the wilderness forty years? The elderly man said to him: My teacher, you dismiss me with this retort? Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Zakkai said to him: Fool! And will our perfect Torah not be as worthy as your frivolous speech? Your claim can easily be refuted (Menachot, 65a-65b).
The dispute between the Boethusian elder and Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai superficially seems strange. What does the journey through the Sinai wilderness have to do with determining the day on which the omer offering was brought?
Underlying their argument is a deep idea. The Boethusian elder suggests that surely the holiday of Shavuot must occur over two consecutive days in order to give more extended vacation time to the Jewish people—so the holiday must always come on a Sunday, and there would be two straight days of pleasure (Shabbat + Shavuot). To which Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai responds that pure pleasure is not what our holidays are about, and certainly not Shavuot. Indeed, we see that if the purpose of the holiday was to give the Jewish people pleasure then Moshe could have given the Jewish people greater pleasure by leading them into the Land of Canaan, which was a mere eleven days journey from Sinai. Instead, Moshe led our ancestors on a journey through the wilderness for forty years. This response indicates that the purpose of the journey in the wilderness and the purpose of bringing the omer and celebrating Shavuot is not about pleasure but about something much deeper.
Looking at the two halachic disputes between the Boethusians and the Sages we see a common theme.
The first argument between the Boethesians and the Sages was about the relative value of the individual versus the community. The Boethesians argued that an individual can bring a communal offering on behalf of the whole community. The Sages disagreed and maintained that that the community must be solely about the community and not the individual, and so a communal offering cannot be sponsored by an individual.
There is a similar fundamental dispute at stake when it comes to Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai’s response to the Boethesian elder. Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai is arguing that while our ancestors could have quickly entered the land of Canaan, that was not the path Moshe chose. Instead, we needed to be in the wilderness for forty years in order to strengthen our communal bond and connection to Hashem.
This argument relates to one of the many reasons for the omer offering.
The Torah itself does not state an explicit reason for why we bring the omer offering. The Talmud records several responses of different sages to the Boethusians, each of which suggests a different underlying reason for the mitzvah of Sefirat Haomer (see Menachot, 65a-65b). So too, many medieval commentators offer their own suggestions (see, for example, Maimonides in Guide to the Perplexed; Sefer Hachinuch, mitzvah 306; Sforno to Vayikra, 23:17; and Abudraham.)
One suggestion that especially resonates this year is that of Be’er Yosef (23:11) who teaches that the daily counting of the omer reminds us of the daily manna falling from heaven each morning during the sojourn in the wilderness. Manna, a powerful symbol of faith in Hashem, is also referred to in the Torah as an omer, as the Jewish people were allowed to collect an omer’s worth of manna each day (Shemot 16:16). On a daily basis our ancestors would go sleep each night and have faith that Hashem would provide an omer for them in the morning. How many of us can go sleep with perfect faith that Hashem will provide for us an omer in the morning?
Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai’s response to the Boethusian elder itself suggests an explanation of the omer commandment. Moshe led us wandering in the desert for forty years. In addition to binding us together as a community, this long journey reminds us that redemption is a windy road and that in order to get there we need to have enormous faith, perspective, and endurance. So too, the counting of the omer with its commandment to count both days and weeks, reminds us to measure our days life through the prism of shorter and longer days.
Looking back on last year’s omer period and then traveling forward to this year’s omer, these are some of the themes that most resonate: the importance of gaining spiritual strength through community, the long road to redemption measured through prisms of different length, and the power of faith in Hashem.
Last year we counted the omer every night on zoom with our community. It was a powerful spiritual experience for me personally as I gained enormous strength from those who joined together for our improvised zoom prayer services. We were all wading through uncharted waters and reading daily depressing updates about the covid pandemic. It was a very difficult period, but by gathering each night we were able to strengthen each other. Reciting the omer every night was a way to reaffirm our faith in Hashem and to give us perspective on our situation. This year as we will again gather to recite the omer– some in person and some on zoom—we will again pray every night. This year we will pray for a coming year of gaining strength from our community, a year of spiritual growth, a year of increased health, and a year of increased connection to Hashem.
Shmuel Herzfeld
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You can now watch a Youtube recording of Rabbi Herzfeld’s D'var Torah:
https://youtu.be/1DJMDxBYjtU
