Starting from the night of the Omer harvest, there is a mitzvah to count forty-nine days, which are seven weeks.\u00a0 The Omer is harvested on the sixteenth of Nissan, which coincides with the night after the first day of Pesach.\u00a0 That night, [our ancestors] would go out [to the fields], cut down stalks of barley, bring them to the Temple courtyard, thresh them, winnow them, separate out the chaff, toast the grains, grind them well, produce a tenth of an eifah<\/i> of flour, sift it in thirteen sifters, mix it with a log<\/i> [measure] of oil, and place upon it a kometz<\/i> (around \u00be of a handful) of levonah<\/i> (frankincense).\u00a0 The next day, [part of the mixture] would be offered on the altar.\u00a0 First, a kohen<\/i> (priest) would wave it; and then he would separate a kometz<\/i> [approximately \u00be of a handful, from the mixture] and burn it on the altar.\u00a0 After the kometz<\/i> was burnt up, everyone was permitted to eat from the new grains.<\/p>\n
It is important to know that the holiday of Shavu\u2019ot does not have a calendar date like the other holidays do.\u00a0 For example, Pesach begins on the 15th<\/sup> of Nissan and Sukkot on the 15th<\/sup> of Tishrei.\u00a0 The date on which Shavu\u2019ot falls, however, is determined by the Omer count.\u00a0 The holiday arrives after the seven-week count is completed, which is why it is called Shavu\u2019ot \u2013 the Festival of Weeks.\u00a0 This is the meaning of the verse: You shall count for yourself seven weeks; from when the sickle begins [to cut] the standing crop shall you begin to count seven weeks.\u00a0 Then you shall observe the Festival of Weeks for the Lord your God<\/i> (Devarim<\/i> 16:9-10). \u00a0It also says, You shall count for yourselves from the morrow of the \u201cSabbath\u201d \u2013 from the day you bring the Omer of waving \u2013 seven weeks; they shall be complete. Until the morrow of the seventh week, you shall count fifty days, and you shall offer a new meal offering to the Lord<\/i> (VaYikra<\/i> 23:15-16).<\/p>\n This mitzvah is not incumbent upon the [Supreme] Rabbinic Court alone; rather, every Jew is commanded to count forty-nine days.\u00a0 And everyone must verbalize the sefirah<\/i> (count) himself.\u00a0 In general, we have a rule when it comes to mitzvot that involve speech: \u201cOne who hears is as one who responds.\u201d\u00a0 Therefore, for example, one can fulfill the mitzvah of remembering Amalek by hearing the reader [read Parashah Zachor<\/i>].\u00a0 Similarly, one can fulfill his obligation to recite a blessing over the counting of the Omer by hearing the leader\u2019s blessing.\u00a0 With regard to the counting itself, however, several poskim<\/i> hold that everyone must enunciate the count himself, as it says, You shall count for yourselves<\/i> (Levush, Chok Ya\u2019akov<\/i>).\u00a0 True, others hold that the law of sefirah<\/i> is identical to that of other speech-related mitzvot and one may therefore discharge his obligation by hearing someone else\u2019s count (Pri Chadash, Birkei Yosef<\/i>).\u00a0 Nevertheless, ideally, we try to satisfy all opinions; therefore, everyone must count for himself (see M.B.<\/i> 489:5 and B.H.<\/i> s.v. u\u2019<\/i>mitzvah).<\/p>\n The foundation of this mitzvah is rooted in our national inception.\u00a0 Chazal<\/i> explain that the Children of Israel descended to the forty-ninth level of impurity during their bondage in Egypt.\u00a0 This made them unworthy of receiving the Torah and necessitated a purification process.\u00a0 Therefore, HaKadosh Baruch Hu<\/i> waited seven weeks to enable them to purify themselves from the defilement of Egypt and reach a state in which they could receive the Torah (based on Zohar<\/i>, Emor<\/i> 97).\u00a0 The sefirah<\/i> also expresses our anticipation for the giving of the Torah.\u00a0 The Midrash<\/i> relates that when Moshe told the Jews that after leaving Egypt they would serve God on Mount Sinai and receive the Torah, they asked, \u201cWhen will this service take place?\u201d\u00a0 Moshe answered, \u201cFifty days later.\u201d\u00a0 Then, due to their great love [for HaShem], they counted every day and said, \u201cBehold, one day has passed; two days have passed,\u201d and so on.\u00a0 On account of their love and anticipation for the Torah, it seemed to them as a long time (Shibolei HaLeket<\/i> 236).<\/p>\n Thus, Sefirat HaOmer<\/i> expresses our yearning for that great day, the day on which HaShem gave us the Torah, while we simultaneously undergo a process of purification in all the forty-nine levels of which man is comprised.\u00a0 The purer and \u201ccleaner\u201d one is, the more he will be able to absorb the Torah\u2019s light.\u00a0 In this way, we prepare ourselves every year for the receiving of the Torah by way of the Omer count (see the end of halachah<\/i> 3, below).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Starting from the night of the Omer harvest, there is a mitzvah to count forty-nine days, which are seven weeks.\u00a0 The Omer is harvested on the sixteenth of Nissan, which coincides with the night after the first day of Pesach.\u00a0 That night, [our ancestors] would go out [to the fields], cut down stalks of barley, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-05-02"],"yoast_head":"\n