Emor | The Natural and the Historical

Summarized by Yaakov Aduram. Translated by David Strauss
 

We are in the midst of the counting of the Omer, and this Shabbat we will read the commandment to do so:

And you shall count to you, from the morrow after the day of rest, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the waving; seven weeks shall there be complete; until the morrow after the seventh week, you shall count fifty days, and you shall present a new meal-offering to the Lord. (Vayikra 23:15-16) 

At first glance, the counting of the Omer marks the period between the Omer offering of barley and the two-loaf offering of wheat. Therefore, it is clear that the counting is connected to nature, agriculture, and the period of the development and ripening of the grain.

And yet, people say, and thus we have received by tradition, that the counting of the Omer is from the Exodus – from the forty-ninth gate of impurity – to the giving of the Torah, and that it marks the period of spiritual preparation and ripeness to receive the Torah. This idea is echoed in the midrashim of Chazal. Accordingly, some say a prayer after counting: "May it be Your will… that by the merit of the counting of the Omer that I have counted today, the deficiency that I have caused in the sefira [of that day] will be rectified, and I will be purified and sanctified with supernal sanctity…”

The Ramban expresses a similar idea:

And He commanded regarding the Festival of Matzot that it be observed for seven days, with holiness before and after them, “for they are all holy, and the Lord is among them.” From them are counted forty-nine days [of the Omer], which are seven weeks, comparable to the [seven] "days of the world,” and the "eighth day" [i.e., the Festival of Shavuot] is sanctified like the eighth day of Sukkot; and the [forty-nine] days that are counted between them are like chol hamoed (the "intermediate days") between the first day and "eighth day" of Sukkot. And this is the day of the giving of the Torah, when He showed them His great fire and they heard His words out of the midst of the fire. (Ramban, Vayikra 23:36)

It is well known that there are two aspects to each of the holidays: the historical aspect and the agricultural-natural aspect. This is clearly evident in our parasha: chapter 23 describes the festivals, including Sukkot on the 15^th of Tishrei (vv. 34-36), and the passage is brought to a close with verses (vv. 37-38) that parallel its opening (vv. 2, 4); yet the Torah then speaks about Sukkot again, this time as a celebration of the gathering of crops (beginning in verse 39).

With this conjunction of the natural and the historical, the Torah seeks to emphasize the inherent connection between nature and the Jewish people's relationship to God: this connection is expressed in the historical aspects of God's providence over us, which is perfectly in tune with the natural cycle. This is the reason for the intercalation of the year, which seeks to ensure that Passover is always in the springtime and that Sukkot is aways at the time of gathering.

Indeed, there is a “lacuna” in the Torah, in that the historical aspect of Shavuot is never mentioned. Chazal determined by tradition that we received the Torah on the Festival of the Harvest,[1] and it is therefore only natural that the counting of the Omer should also take on a historical aspect and link the Exodus with the giving of the Torah: just as the grain ripens and is ready for man's sustenance during this period, so too is our spiritual nourishment ready for us on Shavuot.

To explain further: The Omer period is still a sensitive time agriculturally; as we saw this week, storms can still be expected until Shavuot – or, of course, in the other direction, a heat wave could strike and destroy the grain. As a midrash says:

“The weeks of the harvest, He shall keep for us” [Yirmiyahu 5:24): He will keep (protect) us from the heat and from evil dews; and these are the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot. (Vayikra Rabba 28:3 [Margaliyot edition])

Hence, it is clear why a counting was established for this time period – to serve as a link between the various agricultural festivals. However, as noted, there is still an additional, historical dimension to this period – from the Exodus to the giving of the Torah. This is the source of the idea that the Counting of the Omer constitutes a time of preparation and anxious anticipation for receiving the Torah — an anxiety that parallels the farmer’s apprehension during this season.

This bond between the earthly natural world and the heavenly spiritual world is emphasized in the Talmudic and midrashic passages that link the blessing of Torah with the blessing of food.[2] This is also the reason for the mitzva of hakhel at the end of the shemitta year, on the eve of the new agricultural year: as the Jewish people re-accepts the land of Israel for another seven-year cycle of plowing and sowing, we also re-accept the Torah, at the hakhel ceremony, for another cycle of seven years.

Now we are in a position to explain the prohibition of new grain in the Diaspora. The prohibition against eating new grain until after the omer offering is brought is mentioned in our parasha: "and lechem and kalei and karmel you shall not eat until this very day" (Vayikra 23:14). This appears to be one of the mitzvot ha-teluyot ba-aretz (a mitzva that is bound up with the land) and should apply only in Eretz Yisrael, but Chazal determined that it applies in the Diaspora as well (see Kiddushin 37). However, throughout the ages, and especially in Europe, climactic conditions that differ from those in the Middle East led to a tendency to be lenient regarding this prohibition. Matters came to such a pass that, while the Rosh was unwilling to permit it, neither was he willing to forbid, for he knew such a declaration would not be heeded; he therefore said nothing publicly, but personally, he and his household observed the prohibition stringently.[3]

Why is the prohibition of new grain, which the Torah says must be observed "in all your settlements" (Vayikra 23:14), also observed in the Diaspora? What is the purpose?

It would seem that the intent is this: As I have already emphasized, the connection between nature and Torah is fundamental to the Jewish people. Perhaps the Torah sought to emphasize this idea via the most basic food a person eats – including one who lives far from Eretz Yisrael, where there is no natural interface between the seasons of the year and the world of the spirit – and therefore decreed (as Chazal explain) that even those in the Diaspora should be careful not to eat new grain until the time of the Omer offering in Eretz Yisrael.

[This sicha was delivered by Harav Baruch Gigi on Shabbat Parashot Acharei Mot-Kedoshim 5783.]

(Edited by Sarah Rudolph)

[1] A straightfoward reading of Scripture also indicates that the Torah was given in the period of Shavuot – “in the third month” (Shemot 19:1). In this regard, see the Gemara’s discussion in Shabbat 86-87 about the specific day on which the Torah was given.

[2] See Berakhot 21a, as well as Yerushalmi Berakhot at the beginning of the seventh chapter.

[3] See Beit Yosef, YD 293. See also Bach, ad loc., who innovated the idea that the prohibition of new grain applies only to crops grown by Jews, which would essentially negate the application in the Diaspora on a practical level. (As we know, few Jews engaged in agriculture in the Diaspora.) However, it is not clear from the earlier sources that this distinction can be made, and it stands to reason that one should not rely on it to be lenient in Eretz Yisrael.