Emor 5780

וּסְפַרְתֶּ֤ם לָכֶם֙ מִמָּחֳרַ֣ת הַשַּׁבָּ֔ת מִיּוֹם֙ הֲבִ֣יאֲכֶ֔ם אֶת־עֹ֖מֶר הַתְּנוּפָ֑ה שֶׁ֥בַע שַׁבָּת֖וֹת תְּמִימֹ֥ת תִּהְיֶֽינָה׃ עַ֣ד מִֽמָּחֳרַ֤ת הַשַּׁבָּת֙ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔ת תִּסְפְּר֖וּ חֲמִשִּׁ֣ים י֑וֹם וְהִקְרַבְתֶּ֛ם מִנְחָ֥ה חֲדָשָׁ֖ה לַיהוָֽה׃ מִמּוֹשְׁבֹ֨תֵיכֶ֜ם תָּבִ֣יאּוּ ׀ לֶ֣חֶם תְּנוּפָ֗ה שְׁ֚תַּיִם שְׁנֵ֣י עֶשְׂרֹנִ֔ים סֹ֣לֶת תִּהְיֶ֔ינָה חָמֵ֖ץ תֵּאָפֶ֑ינָה בִּכּוּרִ֖ים לַֽיהוָֽה׃ וְהִקְרַבְתֶּ֣ם עַל־הַלֶּ֗חֶם שִׁבְעַ֨ת כְּבָשִׂ֤ים תְּמִימִם֙ בְּנֵ֣י שָׁנָ֔ה וּפַ֧ר בֶּן־בָּקָ֛ר אֶחָ֖ד וְאֵילִ֣ם שְׁנָ֑יִם יִהְי֤וּ עֹלָה֙ לַֽיהוָ֔ה וּמִנְחָתָם֙ וְנִסְכֵּיהֶ֔ם אִשֵּׁ֥ה רֵֽיחַ־נִיחֹ֖חַ לַיהוָֽה׃ וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֛ם שְׂעִיר־עִזִּ֥ים אֶחָ֖ד לְחַטָּ֑את וּשְׁנֵ֧י כְבָשִׂ֛ים בְּנֵ֥י שָׁנָ֖ה לְזֶ֥בַח שְׁלָמִֽים׃ וְהֵנִ֣יף הַכֹּהֵ֣ן ׀ אֹתָ֡ם עַל֩ לֶ֨חֶם הַבִּכּוּרִ֤ים תְּנוּפָה֙ לִפְנֵ֣י יְהוָ֔ה עַל־שְׁנֵ֖י כְּבָשִׂ֑ים קֹ֛דֶשׁ יִהְי֥וּ לַיהוָ֖ה לַכֹּהֵֽן׃ וּקְרָאתֶ֞ם בְּעֶ֣צֶם ׀ הַיּ֣וֹם הַזֶּ֗ה מִֽקְרָא־קֹ֙דֶשׁ֙ יִהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֔ם כָּל־מְלֶ֥אכֶת עֲבֹדָ֖ה לֹ֣א תַעֲשׂ֑וּ חֻקַּ֥ת עוֹלָ֛ם בְּכָל־מוֹשְׁבֹ֥תֵיכֶ֖ם לְדֹרֹֽתֵיכֶֽם׃ וּֽבְקֻצְרְכֶ֞ם אֶת־קְצִ֣יר אַרְצְכֶ֗ם לֹֽא־תְכַלֶּ֞ה פְּאַ֤ת שָֽׂדְךָ֙ בְּקֻצְרֶ֔ךָ וְלֶ֥קֶט קְצִירְךָ֖ לֹ֣א תְלַקֵּ֑ט לֶֽעָנִ֤י וְלַגֵּר֙ תַּעֲזֹ֣ב אֹתָ֔ם אֲנִ֖י יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃ (ס)

Leviticus 23:15-22

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 Holy One. . . . On that same day you shall hold a celebration; it shall be a sacred occasion for you; you shall not work at your occupations. This is a law for all time in all your settlements, throughout the ages. And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I, the Eternal One, am your God.

Rambam, Moreh Nevuchim 3:43
Shavuot is the time of the Giving of the Torah. In order to honor and elevate this day we count the days from the previous festival until it [arrives], like someone who is waiting for a loved one to arrive, who counts the days by the hours. This is the reason for counting the Omer from that day that we left Egypt until the day of the Giving of the Torah, as this was the ultimate purpose of leaving Egypt: "And I will bring them to Me" (Ex. 19:4)

ספר החינוך ש״ו:ב׳

(ב) וכתב הרמב''ם זכרונו לברכה (סהמ''צ שם) ואל יטעה אותך אמרם זכרונם לברכה מצוה לממני יומי ומצוה לממני שבועי. ותחשב שהם שתי מצות, שאין הכונה בזה לומר שתהיה מצוה בפני עצמה, אבל הוא חלק מחלקי המצוה. ואמנם היו שתי מצות, אלו אמרו מנין הימים מצוה ומנין השבועות מצוה, וזה מה שלא נעלם ממי שידקדק בדבר ויבארהו, שאתה כשתאמר יתחיב שיעשה כך וכך, לא יתחיב מן המאמר הזה שהענין ההוא מצוה בפני עצמה, והראיה המבארת על זה, היותנו מונין השבועות כמו כן בכל לילה באמרנו שהם כך וכך שבועות וכך וכך ימים, ואלו היו השבועות מצוה בפני עצמה, לא סדרו מנינם אלא בלילי השבועות בלבד, והיו להן שתי ברכות אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו על ספירת ימי העמר, ועל ספירת שבועי העומר, ואין הדבר כן, אבל המצוה היא ספירת העמר ימיו ושבועותיו כמו שכתבנו, עד כאן.

Sefer HaChinukh 306:2

(2) The reason that we count from the [bringing of the] Omer “So many days have passed in our counting,” rather than counting how many days remain, shows our great desire to reach the time [of Shavuot]. Therefore, we do not want to mention at the beginning of our counting such a large number of days that remain until we reach the offering of the Two Loaves on Atzeret (Shavuot). We should not find it difficult [to understand] that once we have passed halfway through the seven weeks we do not count down the few days remaining, as one should not change the nature of the counting in the middle.

Rabbi Aryeh Carmel, Masterplan, Feldheim - p. 205

The Omer on Pesach was from the barley harvest. The offering on Shavuot was wheat. Barley is mainly food for animals. Wheat is food for human beings. The Torah hints to us that physical independence by itself still leaves humankind – from the Torah perspective – on the animal level. The counting of the forty-nine days signifies a sevenfold refining process and marks our progress to full human status with our acceptance of the Torah at Sinai, seven weeks after the Exodus.

Rabbi Michael Strassfeld, The Jewish Holidays: Tradition mandates the observance of mourning customs during part or all of the omer period. It is forbidden to marry, have your hair cut, or attend concerts during this period. Some people do not shave. While these practices may date from talmudic times, authorities as late as Maimonides seem to be unaware of them. The reasons for this mourning are very obscure. The most common explanation derives from a talmudic passage stating that thousands of disciples of Rabbi Akiva died in a plague because they did not treat one another with appropriate respect. This passage, however, does not mandate any morning practices, which are not mentioned in traditional sources before the eighth century. In the Middle Ages, this observance of mourning was reinforced by the persecutions and massacres of Jews in Europe during the Crusades.

יבמות ס״ב ב:ט׳-י״א

ר"ע אומר למד תורה בילדותו ילמוד תורה בזקנותו היו לו תלמידים בילדותו יהיו לו תלמידים בזקנותו שנא' בבקר זרע את זרעך וגו' אמרו שנים עשר אלף זוגים תלמידים היו לו לרבי עקיבא מגבת עד אנטיפרס וכולן מתו בפרק אחד מפני שלא נהגו כבוד זה לזה והיה העולם שמם עד שבא ר"ע אצל רבותינו שבדרום ושנאה להם ר"מ ור' יהודה ור' יוסי ורבי שמעון ורבי אלעזר בן שמוע והם הם העמידו תורה אותה שעה תנא כולם מתו מפסח ועד עצרת אמר רב חמא בר אבא ואיתימא ר' חייא בר אבין כולם מתו מיתה רעה מאי היא א"ר נחמן אסכרה

Yevamot 62b:9-11

Rabbi Akiva says that the verse should be understood as follows: If one studied Torah in his youth he should study more Torah in his old age; if he had students in his youth he should have additional students in his old age, as it is stated: “In the morning sow your seed, etc.” They said by way of example that Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of students in an area of land that stretched from Gevat to Antipatris in Judea, and they all died in one period of time, because they did not treat each other with respect. And the world was desolate of Torah until Rabbi Akiva came to our Rabbis in the South and taught his Torah to them. This second group of disciples consisted of Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Yosei, Rabbi Shimon, and Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua. And these are the very ones who upheld the study of Torah at that time. Although Rabbi Akiva’s earlier students did not survive, his later disciples were able to transmit the Torah to future generations. With regard to the twelve thousand pairs of Rabbi Akiva’s students, the Gemara adds: It is taught that all of them died in the period from Passover until Shavuot. Rav Ḥama bar Abba said, and some say it was Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Avin: They all died a bad death. The Gemara inquires: What is it that is called a bad death? Rav Naḥman said: Diphtheria.

Rabbi Arthur Green: Kabbalists see the period of the omer as a time of intense preparation for the renewed receiving of the Torah that will take place on Shavuot. Some see it as a penitential period, others as a time for the uplifting of consciousness to make the mind ready to receive revelation.
The forty-nine days form a multiplication of seven times the seven sefirot which represent aspects of both the divine and human personalities: hesed (love), gevurah (power, judgement, including anger), tiferet (glory, pride, also inner
balance), netzach (triumph), hod (beauty), yesod (the "foundation"), and malkhut (sovereignty, authority, but also the feminine component in the male personality). Each of these seven in turn contains all seven within itself, making a total of forty-nine inner aspects of the divine/human self. On each day of the counting, the Kabbalist seeks to restore or elevate within him or herself the combination of sefirot that belong to that day. This is readily comprehensible on a moralistic or psychological level, which is the way many Hasidim read the kabbalistic system. Thus on the first day of the omer, one works on the hesed within hesed, on the purest love the soul can find within itself. On the second day, attention is focused on gevurah within hesed, the anger or judgment within one's love; the third day on tiferet in hesed, the glory that lies within love, and so forth. Thus the counting becomes a series of meditative and morally restorative exercises, purging the self and preparing it to stand again at Sinai

Rabbi Andrea Steinberger: Each day we must take one more step away from the impurities of Egypt that have remained within us. Today counting the omer can be a time of meditation where we can renew our spirits as we prepare for Shavuot.
The counting of the omer serves us as a link between Passover and Shavuot. It reminds us of the liberation we celebrated during Passover, and just how easy it is for us to slip back into slavery. Let each day of the 50 days bring us a moment of meditation, to work on our best selves and ready ourselves for receiving rules to live by (Torah) on Shavuot. May we learn how to make our lives easier, yet more meaningful as we celebrate in a small way each day, focusing on the important moments of life.

Rabbi Simon Jacobson: The word mitzrayim--Egypt in Hebrew--means limitations and boundaries, and represents all forms of conformity and definition that restrain, inhibit, or hamper our free movement and expression. Thus, leaving Egypt means freedom from constraints. After leaving Egypt, the Jews spent the next forty-nine days in the desert preparing themselves spiritually for the most monumental experience of all time: the giving of the Torah to Moses and the Jewish people at Mount Sinai.
This forty-nine day period was one of intense character refinement. For forty-nine days, the Jews climbed one step at a time up the emotional ladder toward a higher purity. This period of character refinement has just as much relevance to our lives today as it did over 3000 years ago. Just as we were slaves in Egypt, we can also be slaves to our personalities, driven by forces over which we often seem to have no control.
The counting of sefirah that followed the exodus from Egypt is a process that we must continuously recreate in our lives in order to achieve personal freedom.

תהילים צ׳:י״ב

(יב) לִמְנ֣וֹת יָ֭מֵינוּ כֵּ֣ן הוֹדַ֑ע וְ֝נָבִ֗א לְבַ֣ב חָכְמָֽה׃

Psalms 90:12

(12) Teach us to count our days rightly, that we may obtain a wise heart.