Table of Contents

Count the Days from the Offering of the Omer

Verse: וספרתם לכם

Command: Count the days from the Offering of the Omer

Vayikra 23:15

Type: Positive

SMG Mitzva # 200

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SMG

[the verse[i] states] וספרתם לכם ממחרת השבת מיום הביאכם את עומר התנופה שבע שבתות תמימות תהיינה. עד ממחרת השבת השביעת תספרו חמשים יום והקרבתם מנחה חדשה לה’. We learnt in Toras Kohanim, which is also quoted in the Gemara[ii]

[the verse states] מיום הביאכם – which might lead you to think that you count and then bring [the offering – see positive Mitzva 199 – on the day you complete the count], and whenever you wish you can reap, therefore the Torah says[iii] מהחל חרמש בקמה.

That is the [correct] version [of the Gemara] in the Toras Kohanim, and this is the explanation: you might think you can count and bring the [Omer offering] on the second day, and whenever you want you can begin the reaping – even a week beforehand, therefore the Torah says מהחל חרמש, you are not permitted to begin the reaping unless on the day of the counting. Returning to the Beraissa:

If [it had only stated] מהחל חרמש you might think you may reap and count, and whenever you wish you can bring [the Omer offering], therefore the Torah says מיום הביאכם. If it [only] said מיום הביאכם you might think you could reap, and count, and bring [the Omer offering] that day, therefore the Torah says שבע שבתות תמימות תהיינה – when will you find them complete, when you count in the evening. How would that work – the reaping [is in the evening] and the counting is at night, and the offering is by day [the next day].

We’ve already explained that Rabeinu Tam ruled according to Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Shimon that if the reaping was not done the night [before] one doesn’t reap during the day. Therefore, if the counting [of the Omer] was not done that night, one doesn’t count by day. [Nevertheless], the nation is accustomed to counting without a ברכה [if they didn’t count the night before]. However, by night, we recite the ברכה of על ספירת העומר. [the SMG notes a side point regarding] women counting the days of Taharah do not recite a ברכה for counting since if they were to see [blood after beginning the count] she would have to start the count over again, and in that case the ברכה that was previously recited would be in vain. [see positive Mitzva 242]

Abaya said[iv] there is a Mitzva to count the days, as it says in the verse תספרו חמשים יום, and there is also a Mitzva to count the weeks as it says in the verse שבע שבתות. The sages from the House of Rav Ashi would count the days and [they would] count the weeks. Amaymar would count the days but would not count the weeks, saying [after the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, this Mitzva is only performed] in remembrance.[1] The Halaĉa follows the sages from the House of Rav Ashi. Rabeinu Shimshon son of Rabbi Avraham wrote[v] that the fact that the counting of the Omer is only a remembrance counts at least so that if one counts when it wasn’t clear if nightfall had already occurred, the ברכה is recited.

The explanation of the verse עד ממחרת השבת השביעית follows Tosefos’s[vi] explanation: we count up to and not including the fiftieth day. Another way of understanding the verse is that the verse is parsed to mean ‘up to the end of the seventh week you count, and then on the fiftieth day you should bring a new Minĉa for Hashem.

[1] This would seem to imply his opinion is the counting of days is a separate Mitzva from the counting of the weeks… Or does it? We can understand his opinion by noting that if counting is for a remembrance, and during the times of the Beis Hamikdash they counted the weeks as well as the days – then why not count the weeks if it is only a remembrance? Presumably, the reason the weeks should not be counted according to Amaymar is that doing so constitutes the entirety of the Mitzva, which cannot be performed properly without the offering. So, to ensure that people note that this is only a remembrance, we do not count in full… Which would mean that actually, according to Amaymar, there is only one single consolidated Mitzva of counting the days and weeks. Unlike Abaya’s statement.

[i] Vayikra 23:15

[ii] Gem. Menaĉos 66a

[iii] Devarim 16:9

[iv] Gem. Menaĉos 66a

[v] Tosefos זכר Gem.

[vi] Tosefos כתוב Gem. Menaĉos 65b

AMUDAY SHLOMO

[Maharshal does not have a specific comment on this Mitzva. Either his commentary was lost, or the manuscript was never completed.]

RASHI

Rashi provides the following commentary on the verse:

ממחרת השבת – from the day after the holiday.
תמימת תהיינה – This teaches us that one begins and counts from the evening, because if not so, they would not be complete [days].
השבת השביעית – as translated in the Targum (Unkelos) – the seventh week.
עד ממחרת השבת השביעת תספרו – [until] but not inclusive [of the final day], and they [the days counted] are forty-nine (49) days.
חמשים יום והקרבתם מנחה חדשה לה’ – on the fiftieth (50^th) day offer it. And I [Rashi] say this follows the Midrash. However, the simple meaning of the verse is count until the day after the seventh (7^th) week, which is the fiftieth (50^th) day. And the verse is transposed[1].

[1] Meaning, the verse should be read as if it stated תספרו עד יום חמשים (שהוא) ממחרת השבת השביעת – at which point והקרבתם מנחה חדשה לה’.

Discussion by SMS

a שאלת חלום – a dream question

I once determined to ask a שאלת חלום – a dream question. The question I chose was the following: How were the sages able to determine that ממחרת השבת truly means the day after the holiday of Pesaĉ, and not the day after Shabbos.

Granted there is a detailed discussion in the Gemara as to how one can prove that this phrase does not mean the simple meaning – the day after Shabbos. But it seems to me that this discussion is based on pre-knowledge that the verse does not mean the day after Shabbos, and that was the question I wanted answered. How did the sages know to seek out an alternate meaning of the verse, instead of accepting that this verse means what it literally states.

In my dream, a fearful being answered the question, while facing away from me. I was made to realize that if one counts seventy-three (73) letters from the letter פ in the word וספרתם, you will reach the letter ס in the word תספרו. If one then counts seventy-five (75) letters from the letter ס in the word תספרו, you will reach the letter ח in the word חמץ. This makes up the word פסח which has a Gematria of one hundred and forty-eight (148) equal to the number of letters that are counted in between the letters making up the word פסח.

I then asked the obvious question: why would the letters be split into groups of seventy-three (73) and seventy-five (75) instead of being split evenly into two (2) groups of seventy-four (74), which would have the same Gematria.

At which point the Being turned around to face me and stated, ‘because, by splitting it into an uneven grouping this would prevent computers[1] from being able to figure this out leaving this answer available to me.’ I immediately woke up terrified.

on the nature of the Obligation – Personal or Communal

The verse וספרתם לכם identifies the obligation of the individual to count. However, in establishing the holiday, the verse states תספר לך, which, according to Rabbi Yehuda son of Besayra[i] לך means the Sanhedrin, who are commissioned establish the holiday.

Recognizing this split between the establishment of the holiday by the Sanhedrin and the obligation of the individual to count the Omer would resolve many issues:

A minor who has a birthday during Sefira still has a personal obligation to count, even though he hasn’t counted the prior days, nor does he start then from day one since the communal count has already begun.
A convert who converts during Sefira still has a personal obligation to count, even though he hasn’t counted the prior days. Nor does he start from day one since the communal count has already begun.
Someone who forgot to count one of the days still has an obligation [albeit without a ברכה] to continue the count in accordance with the community and does not simply ignore the missed day continuing his personal count to forty-nine (49).
Women, who (possibly) are not obligated in the Mitzva of counting are still obligated in the Mitzva of the holiday since the individual count doesn’t define nor establish the holiday.
People who cross the dateline during Sefira and lose a day or gain a day, should continue without a ברכה for the remaining days in line with the destination’s calendar – although he hasn’t lost count, his individualistic count no longer aligns with the establishment of the holiday by the Sanhedrin.
The Ĉazan has the ability to satisfy the obligation of reciting the ברכה for the counting by the community – as the representative of the Sanhedrin – even if a person among the community forgot one of the days. But the Ĉazan does not remove the personal obligation of counting that day for those who are maintaining the individualistic count.

[1] The impression I received was that this answer was provided to me particularly and was not the basis for the understanding of the sages. Which is why it was important that I could not have read this in a book of ‘Torah Codes’ as computers would not pick up a pattern with such a discrepancy.

Meaning, by asking that question, I displayed a lack of faith in our sages. Therefore, I was provided an answer that I could not refute. And when I pressed the question further, it caused me terror.

My niece Daniella suggested my subconscious mind made the entire dream up. I pointed out that it was unlikely that I could correctly visualize the hundreds of letters in that section of the Torah and correctly count them while asleep..

[i] Gem. Menaĉos 65b