{"id":5816,"date":"2010-02-02T05:00:07","date_gmt":"2010-02-02T03:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=5816"},"modified":"2010-02-02T05:00:07","modified_gmt":"2010-02-02T03:00:07","slug":"05-02-05","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/05-02-05\/","title":{"rendered":"5 \u2013 When to Count"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Omer count begins on the night of the sixteenth of Nissan, as it says, <i>You shall count for yourself seven weeks; from when the sickle begins [to cut] the standing crop shall you begin to count seven weeks<\/i> (<i>Devarim<\/i> 16:9-10).\u00a0 \u201c<i>From when the sickle begins [to cut] the standing crop<\/i>\u201d refers to the cutting of the Omer, for the first harvest of the yearly produce is designated for the Omer offering.\u00a0 And the Omer is harvested on the night after the first day of Pesach, which is the sixteenth of Nissan.\u00a0 That is when the count begins.<\/p>\n<p>One must count at night, because the Torah says about the Omer count, <i>Seven weeks; they shall be complete<\/i> (<i>VaYikra<\/i> 23:15), meaning whole.\u00a0 As is well known, a calendar day consists of night and day, and if we want to include all the nights and days of the seven weeks, we must start counting on the night of the sixteenth of Nissan (<i>Menachot<\/i> 66a).\u00a0 And in order to include all [twenty-four] hours of the day, it is worthy to count at the beginning of the night.\u00a0 People are careful about this especially at the beginning of the count, on the first night, so that the count will include every hour of the seven weeks.\u00a0 Nonetheless, it is meritorious to count at the beginning of the night every night, so that each day\u2019s count will be whole and will include the entire 24-hour period.<\/p>\n<p>Even though it is best to count at the beginning of the night, one is not obligated to do so.\u00a0 Therefore, one who needs to pray <i>Ma\u2019ariv<\/i> must do so before counting the Omer.\u00a0 After all, the rule is that more frequent mitzvot take precedence over less frequent ones, and the mitzvot of reading the <i>Shema<\/i> and praying <i>Ma\u2019ariv<\/i> are in practice all year round, making them more frequent than the Omer count (<i>Chok Natan<\/i>; see <i>B.H.<\/i> 489:1, s.v. <i>achar<\/i>).<sup><a href='#_ze01ftn2_4' id='_ze01ftnref2_4' class='aup1'>[4]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<div>\n<hr size=\"1\" \/>\n<div>\n<a href='#_ze01ftnref2_4' id='_ze01ftn2_4'>[4]<\/a>. It seems that the Rambam and the Ran hold that it makes no difference when one counts at night.\u00a0 However, our Sages say regarding all mitzvot, \u201cThe zealous do mitzvot promptly.\u201d\u00a0 According to Tosafot and the Rosh, it is better to count at the beginning of the night, because then the count is more complete.\u00a0 The Shulchan Aruch (489:1) rules that one should count at the beginning of the night.\u00a0 The Mishnah Berurah (2) and Kaf HaChayim (12) agree.\u00a0 Nevertheless, we pray <i>Ma\u2019ariv<\/i> first, because the mitzvot of reading the <i>Shema<\/i> and praying <i>Shemoneh Esrei<\/i> are more frequent (<i>Chok Ya\u2019akov<\/i>).\u00a0 However, the author of <i>Mor U\u2019Ketzi\u2019ah<\/i> holds that one should count first, because the time for counting is at the very beginning of the night, while <i>Shema<\/i> and <i>Shemoneh Esrei<\/i> can be delayed, <i>le\u2019chatchilah<\/i>, for a half-hour.\u00a0 In practice, we count after the <i>Ma\u2019ariv<\/i> prayers (<i>B.H.<\/i> 489:1), because counting at the beginning of the night is not an obligation, just an embellishment, for as long as one counts at night, he fulfills \u201c<i>They shall be complete<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0 Therefore, we give precedence to <i>Shema<\/i> and <i>Shemoneh Esrei<\/i>, which are more frequent.<\/p>\n<p>In order to avoid delaying the count, many [<i>poskim<\/i>] suggest that we count immediately after the \u201c<i>Titkabel<\/i>\u201d <i>Kaddish<\/i>, with which we end the <i>Amidah<\/i> (standing prayer), before <i>Aleinu<\/i>, which is an additional prayer.\u00a0 This is found in the <i>Mishnah Berurah<\/i> (489:2) and <i>Nahar Mitzrayim<\/i>, and most Jews follow this custom, including all Ashkenazim and most Jews who come from North Africa.\u00a0 Nonetheless, many Jews who pray according to the Sefardic version of prayer count after <i>Aleinu<\/i>, in order to first finish everything that is usually said in the <i>Ma\u2019ariv<\/i> service.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Omer count begins on the night of the sixteenth of Nissan, as it says, You shall count for yourself seven weeks; from when the sickle begins [to cut] the standing crop shall you begin to count seven weeks (Devarim 16:9-10).\u00a0 \u201cFrom when the sickle begins [to cut] the standing crop\u201d refers to the cutting [&hellip;]<\/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-5816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-05-02"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>5 \u2013 When to Count - Peninei Halakha<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/05-02-05\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 \u2013 When to Count - Peninei Halakha\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Omer count begins on the night of the sixteenth of Nissan, as it says, You shall count for yourself seven weeks; from when the sickle begins [to cut] the standing crop shall you begin to count seven weeks (Devarim 16:9-10).\u00a0 \u201cFrom when the sickle begins [to cut] the standing crop\u201d refers to the cutting [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/05-02-05\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Peninei Halakha\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-02-02T03:00:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/05-02-05\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/05-02-05\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/8822293bfa4f7cd35b44a3c311851b63\"},\"headline\":\"5 \u2013 When to Count\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-02-02T03:00:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/05-02-05\/\"},\"wordCount\":609,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"2 - The Laws of Counting the Omer\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/05-02-05\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/05-02-05\/\",\"name\":\"5 \u2013 When to Count - Peninei Halakha\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-02-02T03:00:07+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/05-02-05\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/05-02-05\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/05-02-05\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\u05d3\u05e3 \u05d4\u05d1\u05d9\u05ea\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"5 \u2013 When to Count\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Peninei Halakha\",\"description\":\"HaRav Eliezer Melamed\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Peninei Halakha\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2020\/08\/logo-ph-.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2020\/08\/logo-ph-.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":64,\"caption\":\"Peninei Halakha\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/8822293bfa4f7cd35b44a3c311851b63\",\"name\":\"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4839847e1f630d0e0f5d54879b51b427c551b51611b74d6558e54ff6e69ce498?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4839847e1f630d0e0f5d54879b51b427c551b51611b74d6558e54ff6e69ce498?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"\u05e6\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05ea\u05e8\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/author\/shlomit12\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"5 \u2013 When to Count - Peninei Halakha","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/05-02-05\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"5 \u2013 When to Count - Peninei Halakha","og_description":"The Omer count begins on the night of the sixteenth of Nissan, as it says, You shall count for yourself seven weeks; 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