- Talking about Sefirat HaOmer
- How long is it?
- Where does it come from?
- Specific Rules in brief
- How is it counted?
- When is it counted?
- Question we're going to tackle
- With or without a bracha?
- If you miss counting a day, completely, do you continue counting?
- Starting with biblical source.
- Putting it here and will come back and reference it as necessary
- Will see that the word תמימות is bold. Spoilers:
- This is a lot of what our question of continuing with or without bracha will hinge on
(טו) וּסְפַרְתֶּ֤ם לָכֶם֙ מִמָּחֳרַ֣ת הַשַּׁבָּ֔ת מִיּוֹם֙ הֲבִ֣יאֲכֶ֔ם אֶת־עֹ֖מֶר הַתְּנוּפָ֑ה שֶׁ֥בַע שַׁבָּת֖וֹת תְּמִימֹ֥ת תִּהְיֶֽינָה׃(טז) עַ֣ד מִֽמָּחֳרַ֤ת הַשַּׁבָּת֙ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔ת תִּסְפְּר֖וּ חֲמִשִּׁ֣ים י֑וֹם וְהִקְרַבְתֶּ֛ם מִנְחָ֥ה חֲדָשָׁ֖ה לַה׳׃
(15) 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:(16) you must count until the day after the seventh week—fifty days; then you shall bring an offering of new grain to the LORD.
- It literally means whole, complete, and all sorts of variations on this
- But what does it mean for our question?
- Not there yet
What does it mean here?
- In our next text in Menachot, we will see it used to explain when we start countng
- First questions to be asked are when to count and how long to count for
- The question of saying it at night versus during the day does matter to some extent, but what this is really about is if you miss it completely in a 24-hour period.
- Just going to touch on it briefly since it will end up being important, but not the focus.
אי מיום הביאכם יכול יקצור ויספור ויביא ביום תלמוד לומר (ויקרא כג, טו) שבע שבתות תמימות תהיינה אימתי אתה מוצא שבע שבתות תמימות בזמן שאתה מתחיל לימנות מבערב
If one would derive the halakha from this verse: “From the day that you brought the sheaf of the waving,” one might have thought that he should harvest and count and bring the omer offering during the day, not on the night of the sixteenth of Nisan. Therefore, the verse states: “From the day that you brought the sheaf of the waving; seven weeks there shall be complete.” When do you find that there are seven complete weeks? You find it at the time when you begin to count from the evening. Only if the counting commences at night, at the start of the sixteenth of Nisan, will the seven weeks of counting be complete, without missing that first evening.
- Here תמימות is used to mean 7 complete weeks, as in 7 sets of 7 days. It's not commenting on if you have to do the whole thing or not, but when do you start to make it the 7 weeks.
- Now that we've established that we count for 7 weeks, and we start at night, we have to figure out when we count going forward.
כל הלילה כשר לקצירת העומר וכו': דאמר מר קצירה וספירה בלילה והבאה ביום: ולהקטר חלבים ואברים: דכתיב (ויקרא ו, ב) כל הלילה עד הבוקר:
It was taught in the mishna: The entire night is a valid time for reaping the omer,” as the Master said in tractate Menaḥot: The reaping of the omerand the counting of the omer must be performed at night, whereas bringing the omer offering to the Temple must be done during the day. And for burning the fats and limbs of the offerings, it is derived as it is written with regard to them: “Which shall be burning upon the altar all night until the morning” (Leviticus 6:2).
- From here we see that you can count the Omer properly (like the principle of Tefillah b'zmanah) the entire night
- It is also used as a proof text on other Tefillah issues, such as Ma'ariv and the evening Shema
- The proof of the burning of the fats and the limbs on the altar all night may seem familiar
How do we count the Omer?
גופא אמר אביי מצוה למימני יומי ומצוה למימני שבועי רבנן דבי רב אשי מנו יומי ומנו שבועי אמימר מני יומי ולא מני שבועי אמר זכר למקדש הוא:
§ The Gemara analyzes the matter itself of Abaye’s statement cited in the course of the previous discussion. Abaye said: It is a mitzva to count days, and it is also a mitzva to count weeks. The Gemara notes that in fact the Sages of the study hall of Rav Ashi counted days and they also counted weeks. Ameimar counted days but not weeks. In explanation of his practice, Ameimar said: Since there is no longer an omer offering, the counting is performed only in commemoration of the Temple. Therefore, one does not need to be so scrupulous to count both days and weeks.
(א)סדר תפל' ליל שני של פסח וספירת העומר. ובו י"ס:בליל שני אחר תפל' ערבית מתחילין לספור העומר ואם שכח לספור בתחל' הלילה הולך וסופר כל הלילה ומצוה על כל אחד לספור לעצמו וצריך לספור מעומד ולברך תחל' וסופר הימים והשבועו' כיצד ביום הראשון אומר היום יום אחד (בעומר) עד שמגיע לשבעה ימים ואז יאמר היום שבעה ימים שהם שבוע אחד (בעומר) וביום שמיני אומר היום שמונה ימים שהם שבוע א' ויום א' (בעומר) וכן עד שיגיע לארבע' עשר יאמר היום ארבעה עשר ימים שהם שני שבועו' (בעומר) ועל דרך זה מונה והולך עד מ"ט יום:
(1) On the second night after the evening prayer, we begin to count the Omer. And if someone forgot to count, [that one may count] from the beginning of the evening onwards. He may account all night. It is a mitzvah for each person to count for themselves. He needs to count standing and bless before. He should count the days and weeks. How? On the first day he should say “today is day one of the Omer”, until he arrives to seven days. [At which point he should say], “they are one week of the Omer.” And on the eighth day he should say “today is eight days and they are one week and one day of the Omer.” And also, when he arrives to the 14th day, he should say “today is 14 days, they are two weeks of the Omer.” And in this way he should count and onwards until the 49th day.
- Omer is counted from the 2nd night of Pesach
- A person can count the entire night
- The count continues for 7 full weeks
- A person counts the days and the weeks
(כה) וְצָרִיךְ לְבָרֵךְ בְּכָל לַיְלָה בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה׳ אֱלֹקֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ עַל סְפִירַת הָעֹמֶר קֹדֶם שֶׁיִּסְפֹּר. מָנָה וְלֹא בֵּרֵךְ יָצָא וְאֵינוֹ חוֹזֵר וּמְבָרֵךְ:
(25) Every night, before counting, one is required to recite the following blessing: "Blessed art thou, Lord our God, King of the universe, who hast sanctified us with thy commandments, and commanded us concerning the counting of the omer." If one has counted without the blessing, he has fulfilled his duty, and need not count over again.
(כג) שָׁכַח וְלֹא מָנָה בַּלַּיְלָה מוֹנֶה בַּיּוֹם וְאֵין מוֹנִין אֶלָּא מְעֻמָּד. וְאִם מָנָה מְיֻשָּׁב יָצָא:
(23) If one forgot and failed to count at night, he may count at daytime. The counting must be performed while standing; but if one counted while sitting, he has fulfilled his duty.
What happens when someone completely skips counting for a day? Do they continue counting with or without a bracha? We're going to look at both the affirmative and the negative?
Note that one remains obligated to count each day of the Omer. Many Jews today incorrectly assume that if they are no longer reciting the blessing then they need not continue to count the Omer. This is an unintended consequence, and stems from a misunderstanding of the rabbinic obligation to count the Omer.
First, let's take what has been the common understanding and practice - that if one misses a day they should not continue counting with a bracha.
ואי איניש חד יומא (אי נמי תרי יומי) ולא בריך לא מברך בשאר ויומי.
Sefer Halakhot Gedolot, Hilkhot Atzeret
And if one forgets an entire day (or two days) and doesn't bless, a blessing may not be recited subsequently.
[translation from CJLS teshuva]
Babylonian halakist of the first half of the ninth century.
- Comes from his understanding of תמימות
- In his eyes the completeness expressed by תמימות means the entire counting
(ח)אם שכח לברך באחד מהימים בין יום ראשון בין משאר ימים סופר בשאר ימים בלא ברכה אבל אם הוא מסופק אם דילג יום אחד ולא ספר יספור בשאר ימים בברכה:
(8) If he forgot to bless on one of the days, between the first day [of the omer] and the rest of the days, he should count the rest of the days without a blessing. But, if he uncertain if he skipped a single day and didn’t count, he should count the days with a blessing.
- First, going to take a look at an argument specifically against what the BeHaG wrote
אם שכח ולא מנה באחד מהם שוב לא ימנה שאינן תמימות. אלה ודאי לא אמר רחמנא תמימות אלא שיתחיל המניינה מבערב ולא שיעכבו זה את זה, שכל יום ויום מצוה בפני עצמו.
Sefer ha-Makriah - Sof Halakha 29
[One might think that] If one forgets and doesn't count an entire day, subsequently, one may not count for there would not be תמימות. Rather, the Torah only says תמימות [to teach] that the counting begins at night and not that they [the days] should excluse one another; for every day is a mitzvah in and of itself.
[translation from CJLS teshuva]
- Does this feel like enough? [open for answers]
- It comes back and uses this word תמימות
- Very direct connection to earlier generations
- Hearkens from the way we saw it used in Menachot 66a
- So far, we just have some amount of a refutation of what was said by the BeHaG, but how does he come to that?
ומה שאנו מברכין בכל לילה ולילה שמע מינה שכל יום ויום מצוה בפני עצמו הוא ואין מעכבין זה את זה.
Sefer ha-Makriah - Sof Halakha 29
From the fact that we make a (separate) blessing every night, learn from this that each and every day is a mitzvah in and of itself and one does not prevent another.
[translation from CJLS teshuva]
*If need be to move discussion along:
- Remind about concept of bracha levatala
- What's interesting/unique about the way he gets to this answer?
- Something interesting about this is that it's predicated on what is already happening. Di Trani is saying that he knows that it's a separate mitzvah every night because people are saying a unique bracha every night.
- Bases his answer in text and in practice that's already happening - this is definitely the most interesting source to me because of that.
- the Tosafot
- the Meiri (Rabbi Menahem ben Solomon Meiri, 1249-1316, France
- the Ritva (Rabbi Yom Tov Ibn Asevilli, 13th to 14th)
- the Rosh (Rabbi Asher ben Yehiel, 1250-1327, Germany and Spain)
כתב עוד בה"ג שאם שכח לברך באחד מן הימים שלא יברך עוד בימים שלאחריו ורב סעדיה כתב שאם שכח באחד מן הימים יברך בימים שלאחריו חוץ מלילה הראשון שאם שכח ולא בירך בו שלא יברך עוד ורב האי כתב בין בלילה הראשון בין בשאר לילות אם שכח ולא בירך בו יברך בשאר לילות וכ"כ הר"י:
The BeHaG also wrote that if one forgets to make a blessing one of the days, then a blessing should not be said subsequently. Rav Sa'adia wrote that if one forgets an entire day, a blessing may be recited subsequently, with the exception of the first night. If one forgets (the first night) and doesn't say a blessing, a blessing may not be said any longer. And Rav Hai wrote that whether it is the first night or any other, if one forgot to make a blessing on it, a blessing may (still) be made on the remaining nights. And Rabbeinu Yonah also wrote this.
[translation from CJLS teshuva]
ומי שאכל שום וריחו נודף יחזור ויאכל שום אחר ויהא ריחו נודף.
Ritz Ghayyit in the name of Rav Kohen Tzedek and Rav Hai
If one has eaten garlic and has strong breath, should he eat garlic again so that he shall have even stronger breath?
- What is the foundation of the argument?/What is the linchpin of this debate?
- Is there a way to reconcile these two opinions or must it be win/lose?
- Looking at these two approaches in contrast - might they be good p'sak halacha in different situations?
- What might those situations be?
- What is the implication of this for us?
- As future Rabbis/community leaders
- As halachic Jews for ourselves
- What is this telling us and asking of us?
- Does this change you answers about taking different approaches in different situations?
- What about what it means for us as halachic Jews vs. as future Rabbis?
Judaism, while affirming the obligatory nature of halakhah as a whole, has encouraged a pedagogy of gradual growth and a resistance to the kind of all-or-nothing mentality that would preclude most of our people from exploring the possibility of a deeper engagement with halakhah and mitzvot. [...] excessive stringency may discourage growth in mitzvah observance. We must help cultivate an atmosphere of increasing observance by celebrating each positive step forward, rather than necessarily imposing a stultifying all-or-nothing approach to observance. To encourage our people to grow gradually in mitzvot in a host of areas is a prudent pedagogical response both to the living nature of Torah and to creating access for our people to meaningful growth in shmirat mitzvot.
In light of the encouragement Judaism offers to exploring greater observance and our recognition that many Jews can only reclaim their heritage if encouraged to move from where they are gradually, it is counter-intuitive and counter-productive to always assert a rigid line separating those who observe the mitzvah each and every day from those who might occasionally forget. As we seek to help Jews maximize their observance, maintaining a rule which discourages engagement in the mitzvah seems misguided and out of character.
At the same time, this return to permit an earlier position is rooted in education and a pedagogy of encouragement and gradualism, rather than in an ethical imperative. As such, there is no need to prohibit the form in which most Jews have observed sefirat ha-omer since the time of the Shulhan Arukh. Jews who observe this mitzvah ought to be able to rely on the historical consensus of generations of faithful Jews, and we are not interested in calling that commitment into question.
Wrap-up:
- Looked at the Torah source for Sefira and some quick basics about when and how to count
- Examined two opinions about counting with/out a bracha after missing an entire day
- Seemingly comes down to the question of if it's one mitzvah to count the whole thing or if each day is a mitzvah on it's own
- Summarize implications from discussion for us as halachically minded Jews and future Rabbis