An Originalist Approach to Sefirat HaOmer

(1) And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: . . . (4) These are the set times of the Lord, the holy occasions which you shall proclaim, each at its appointed time. (5) In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at dusk, there shall be a Passover offering to the Lord. . . . (9) And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: (10) Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When you come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap the harvest, then you shall bring the Omer of your harvest to the priest. (11) And he shall elevate the Omer before the Lord, to be accepted for you; on the day after the Shabbat the priest shall elevate it. . . . (14) Until that very day, until you have brought the offering of your God, you shall eat no bread, nor parched grain or fresh ears; it is a law for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. (15) And from that day on which you bring the Omer of elevation offering -- the day after the Shabbat -- you shall count seven complete weeks. (16) You must count until the day after the seventh week -- fifty days; then you shall bring an offering of new grain to the LORD. . . . (21) And you shall make proclamation on that same day; it shall be a sacred occasion to you; you shall not work at your occupations; it is a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. (22) And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corner of your field, neither shall you gather the gleaning of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor, and for the stranger: I am the Lord your God.

The Boethusians say, Shavuot falls on Sunday [because they hold that "the day after the Shabbat" refers to Sunday after Shabbat Chol HaMoed Pesach]. Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai entered into discussions with them and said, "Fools, from where do you derive this?" Not one of them was able to answer him, save one old man who commenced to babble and said, "Moses our teacher was a great lover of Israel, and knowing that Shavuot lasted only one day, he therefore fixed it on the day after the Shabbat [during Pesach] so that Israel might enjoy themselves for two successive days." Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai then quoted to him the following verse: "It is eleven days' journey from Horeb unto Kadesh-Barnea by the way of Mount Seir." If Moses was a great lover of Israel, why did he detain them in the wilderness for forty years?"

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Our Rabbis taught, "And you shall count," that is, the counting is a duty on every one. "On the day after the Shabbat," this refers to the day after the Festival [i.e., the first day of Pesach]. Perhaps it is not so, but rather it refers to the day after the Shabbat of creation [i.e., Sunday]. Rabbi Yossi ben Yehudah says, "You shall count fifty days," that is, every time that you count, it shall not be more than fifty days. But should you say that the verse refers to the day after the Shabbat of creation, then it might sometimes come to fifty-one and sometimes to fifty-two and fifty-three and fifty-four and fifty-five and fifty-six. Rabbi Yehudah ben Betheyra says, That is not necessary. Where the Torah says, "You shall count," the numbering depends upon the Bet Din; accordingly the Shabbat of creation cannot be intended as the numbering would then be in the hands of all men. Rabbi Yossi says, "The day after the Shabbat means on the day after the Festival. You say that it means on the day after the Festival, but perhaps it is not so, but rather on the day after the Shabbat of creation! I will prove it to you. Does it say, "On the morning after the Shabbat that is in the week of Pesach"? It merely says, "On the morning after the Shabbat" -- and as the year is full of Shabbatot, then go and find out which Shabbat is meant!

(1) Setting out from Elim, the whole Israelite community came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt. (2) In the wilderness, the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. (3) The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, when we ate our fill of bread!

(4) And the Lord said to Moses, "I will rain down bread for you from the sky, and the people shall go out and gather each day that day's portion, that I may thus test them, to see whether they will follow my instructions or not. (5) But on the sixth day, when they apportion what they have brought in, it shall prove to be double the amount they gather each day." (6) So Moses and Aaron said to all of the Israelites, "By evening you shall know it was the Lord who brought you out from the Land of Egypt; (7) and in the morning you shall behold the presence of the Lord because He has heard your grumblings agains the Lord. For who are we that you should grumble against us?" ...

(14) When the fall of dew lifted, there, over the surface of the wilderness, lay a fine and flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. (15) When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" -- for they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, "That is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. (16) This is what the Lord has commanded: Gather as much of it as each you requires to eat, an Omer to a person for as many of you as there are; each of you shall fetch for those in his tent." (17) The Israelites did so, some gathering much, some little. (18) But when they had measured it by the Omer, he who had gathered much had no excess, and he who had gathered little had no deficiency: they had gathered as much as they needed to eat.

(19) And Moses said to them "Let no one leave any of over until morning." (20) But they paid no attention to Moses; some of them left of it until morning, and it became infested with maggots and stank. And Moses was angry with them. (21) So they gathered it every morning, each as much as he needed to eat; for when the sun grew hot, it would melt.(22) On the sixth day, they gathered double the amount of food, two Omers for each; and when all the chieftains of the community came and told Moses, (23) he said to them, "This is what the Lord meant: Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Shabbat of the Lord. Bake what you would bake and boil what you would boil; and all that is left put aside to be kept until morning." (24) So they put it until morning, as Moses had ordered; and it did not turn foul, and there no maggots in it. (25) Then Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a Shabbat of the Lord; you will not find it today on the plain. (26) Six days you shall gather it; on the seventh day, the Shabbat, there will be none. (27) Yet some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found nothing.

(28) And the Lord said to Moses, "How long will you people refuse to obey my commandments and my teachings? (29) Mark that the Lord has given you the Shabbat; therefore, he gives you two days food on the sixth day. Let everyone remain where he is: let no one leave his place on the seventh day." (30) So the people rested on the seventh day. (31) The house of Israel named it man; it was like coriander seed, white, and it tasted life wafers in honey.

(32) Moses said, "This is what the Lord has commanded: Let one Omer of it be kept throughout the ages, in order that they may see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out from the land of Egypt." (33) And Moses said to Aaron: "Take a jar, put an Omer of man in it, and place it before the Lord, to be kept throughout the ages." (34) As the Lord had commanded Moses, Aaron placed it before the Ark, to be kept. (35) And the Israelites ate the man forty years, until they came to a settled land; they ate the man until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. (36) And the Omer is a tenth of an Epha.

(2) At that time the Lord said to Joshua: ‘Make knives of flint, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.’. . . (8) And it came to pass, when all the nation were circumcised, every one of them, that they abode in their places in the camp, till they were whole. (9) And the Lord said to Joshua: ‘This day I have rolled the disgrace of Egypt from off you.’ So he called the name of that place Gilgal to this day. (10) While the Israelites were encamped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. (11) On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. (12) The man ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had man; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.

Rabbi Yossi said, just as a prophet would tell Israel what is hidden in the holes and the clefts, so too did the man tell Israel what is hidden in the holes and the clefts. How? Two men came before Moses for judgment: one said, he has stolen my slave, and the other said, I bought the slave from him. Moses said to them, in the morning there will be judgment; if the Omer of the slave is found in the home of his first master, then the slave has been stolen; but if the Omer of the slave is found in the home of the second master, then the slave was purchased. Similarly, a husband and wife came before Moses for judgment. The husband said, she acted offensively to me, and the wife said, he acted offensively to me. Moses said to them, in the morning there will be judgment; if her Omer is found in the house of her husband, then she has been offensive to him; but if her Omer is found in the house of her father, then he has been offensive to her.

"Put an Omer of man in it": Rabbi Elazar said, "For the generations." Rabbi Eliezer said "For the days of the Messiah." When Jeremiah asked Israel, "Why do you not engage in the Torah?" they replied, "If we engage in the Torah, how will we support ourselves?" At that moment, Jeremiah took out the jar of man and said to them, "Generation, see the word of the Lord. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, a land of darkness? Why do my people say, 'We will come no more to you.'" (Jeremiah, 31:2). Your fathers engaged in the Torah, see from where they supported themselves? If you engage in the Torah, I will support you from this.

Rabbi Berachyah said: The Holy One, Blessed be He said to Moses: Go and tell Israel that when I gave them the man, I provided enough for each person, as it says "an Omer for a person." Now that you give me the Omer, I only ask for one Omer from all. And moreover, the Omer is of barley not wheat. Thus, Moses instructed Israel and said to them: "And you shall bring the Omer."