Devar/5770/Emor
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< Devar | 5770
עברית
English
even unto the morrow after the shabbat shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall present a new meal-offering unto the LORD (Lev 23:16)
We are currently in the period called the "counting of the Omer", which occurs between the holidays of Passover and Shavuot, may it be a blessing for us. The Torah defines the beginning of this period with the words "the morrow after the shabbat", as our verse states. But this expression is unclear -- why doesn't the Torah state "the morrow after the holiday", or something similar?
Indeed, in our people's history there were those who understood that verse to mean the Sunday after Passover, specifically, and not the day after Passover. Therefore our Sages of blessed memory established a complex and strange ceremony for bringing the Omer offering. The Rambam explains: And why all of this? Because of those who erred and left the Jewish people during the period of the Second Temple, and said that the verse in the Torah which states "the morrow of the shabbat" refers to the shabbat of Creation (that is, Sunday). But from received tradition, the Sages learned that it refers only to the shabbat which is the holiday (of Passover). And so the prophets and the Sanhedrin in each generation always understood, and they would wave the Omer offering on the sixteenth day of Nisan, whether it was a weekday or shabbat (Laws of Perpetual and Additional Offerings 7:9). In continuation there he also brings a purely logical support for what he says.
The man principle is this: the Torah does not always explain every detail about what we are to do, but nevertheless we are required to live according to it! How is that possible, if not everything is well explained? For that reason, God gave us the "Oral Torah", which is an explanation of the details. Therefore too the Torah commanded us to listen to and obey the High Court (the Sanhedrin), and that according to their direction we will know how to act and behave. Whoever does not obey them, but rather follows the meanderings of his heart, will ultimately follow those erring ones of the Second Temple period who departed from the Jewish people and whose memories were lost -- and as their memories went, so too their merit in the World to Come, God have mercy!
Rather, what should one do and live? He should learn, and repeat again and again, the Law as our Sages established, and as our teacher Moshe ben Maimon the Sepharadi brought down to us in his work the "Mishne Torah". Even if there are mistakes in it (even in the most accurate versions available), at least we can rely on God's mercy and that He will judge us favorably, that we indeed desired His words.
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