Count for yourselves

(Leviticus 23:15)

Iyar 16, 5777/May 12, 2017

In this week's Torah reading, Emor, following a series of commandments describing the required physical prerequisites for kohanim (Temple priests) and for the animals being brought as offerings, the Torah turns its attention to setting out the annual calendar of holy days and appointed seasons. We are told what day to bring the Passover offering (the 14th of Nisan), what day to begin the seven day festival of Passover (the 15th of Nisan), what day to celebrate Rosh HaShana, (described here as a day of "rememberance and shofar blasts"), as well as the date assigned for Yom Kippur, the day for beginning of the seven day festival of Sukkot and the one day observance of Shemini Atzeret. Only one of the three pilgrimage festivals and two holy days is not assigned a specific calendar date for its observance: Shavuot - the festival commemorating the receiving of Torah at Mount Sinai. Why?

In its description of the observance of Passover, Torah adds "And you shall count for yourselves, from the morrow of the rest day [the first day of Passover] from the day you bring the omer as a wave offering seven weeks; they shall be complete. You shall count until the day after the seventh week, the fiftieth day, [on which] you shall bring a new meal offering to HaShem." (Leviticus 23:15-16)

The fiftieth day referred to is the holiday of Shavuot, (literally, 'Weeks'). The day of its observance is not designated by Torah according to its calendar date, although it falls on the same day every year. Rather, it is described as falling on the day following the completion of the counting of the seven full weeks of the Omer, that being the fiftieth day. Seven complete weeks (forty nine days) separate the first day of Passover from the one day celebration of Shavuot. The observance of Shavuot, Torah is telling us, is not intrinsically tied to its calendric date, the sixth of Sivan, but is instead intrinsically bound to the fulfillment of the commandment cited above to count the seven complete weeks of the Omer. Only once, and only if, that commandment is fulfilled does Shavuot occur!

The first commandment given by G-d to the nation of Israel, while Israel was still in the land of Egypt, was authority over time: "This month shall be to you the head of the months; to you it shall be the first of the months of the year." (Exodus 12:2) Israel was assigned the responsibility for determining the new moon, that is, the starting day of each new month. In this regard, Israel has a say in the Hebrew calendar. But, nevertheless, each festival and holy day has its G-d designated date for its observance. But in the case of Shavuot, its observance is entirely contingent upon Israel properly fulfilling the commandment to count the days of the Omer. Were Israel to neglect to count the Omer, or err in its counting, (G-d forbid), then Shavuot, the holiday which both commemorates the day of receiving Torah at Sinai, and the entry of Israel into the land of Israel, simply would not occur. This is indeed a colossal responsibility for Israel to shoulder!

When Israel first arrived at Sinai, having escaped Pharaoh's Egypt, crossed the Sea of Reeds, defended itself from the murderous Amalek and fended off hunger and thirst, Torah tells us that "they arrived in the desert of Sinai, and they encamped in the desert, and Israel encamped there opposite the mountain." (ibid 19:2) The Hebrew word for "encamped" - vayichon - is written here in the singular. Israel arrived at Sinai, one nation, one heart, united. It was this perfect unity that signaled to G-d that Israel was ready to receive Torah. The word of G-d can only be heard, and His Torah can only be internalized and universally observed, by a nation united, at one with itself and at one with G-d. This was Israel at Sinai.

Now it becomes clear why Shavuot, the holiday which marks the anniversary of the receiving of Torah at Sinai, can only exist, can only possibly occur, if Israel arrives at that appointed place in time united and indivisible. This is the purpose of, and this is the metaphysical "magic" of the counting of the Omer. While, on the surface, it is a mere forty nine day count-down (or count-up, as the case may be), its daily performance synchronizes the individuals who perform it and molds them into a single unified nation. Likewise, its daily computation maps out and informs an incremental spiritual maturation from the day Israel left its slave reality behind and began ascending toward the receiving of G-d's Torah as free men. The counting of the Omer each year is not a 'remembrance' of those forty nine day which marked Israel's journey from slavery to freedom, it is a yearly reliving of that spiritual journey, no less vital and no less necessary for us today than it was for Israel then.

Passover was a gift outright, earned through the courage of our forefathers who performed the Passover offering, but an 'undeserved' gift, nevertheless, in light of Israel's spiritual diminishment while still in the grip of Egyptian servitude. It was an expression, pure and simple, of G-d's love for His people. To receive Torah, however, is to enter into an eternal covenant with G-d. And that requires unity and maturity.

Little wonder, then, that the modern day miracles of the birth of the nation of Israel in 1948 and the liberation of Israel's heartland, reunification of Jerusalem and return to the Temple Mount in 1967, all took place during the forty nine day period of the counting of the Omer. Unity is an expression of spiritual growth and the fruit of faith in G-d and adherence to His word. Unity is liberation and sovereignty. Standing as one nation before G-d is to be a free people.

-The Temple Institute