We are now in the days of Sefirat HaOmer, the counting down (or rather, up) of the Omer. If you ask the average fellow why we count the Omer, 9 out of 10 people would probably say it’s because are counting down to Matan Torah, when we receive the Torah on Shavuot.
But it’s not so simple. There is actually an argument among the Rishonim about whether counting the Omer nowadays is a Mitzvah from the Torah or a rabbinical Mitzvah.
Why wouldn’t it be from the Torah? Because if we are counting from the Korban HaOmer, which is a barley offering given on the second day of Pesach, nowadays we don’t have a korban, so we don’t have a place to count from. According to this opinion, our counting is only in order to remember what took place when the Bet HaMikdash was around. That is why we make a request, when we say the Sefirat HaOmer, that G-d should return the Bet HaMikdash- Because we don’t have the Omer anymore. Our counting is only a mitzvah of remembrance for some thing we no longer have. That is what many Rishonim, if not most, hold.
They are of the opinion that counting the Omer these days is only rabbinical.
And why would it be from the Torah, as the Rambam holds?
The Chida explains, as do others, that we are counting from Pesach to Shavuot because we are looking forward to the Torah, and it has nothing to do with the korban HaOmer. It’s almost coincidental that we start counting from the second day of Pesach, when we also have the Korban HaOmer. According to this opinion, we don’t count from the first day because we don’t want to mix Yetziat Mitzrayim with Matan Torah, and it actually has nothing to do with the Korban HaOmer.
Most people, when they think of Sefirat HaOmer, only think of counting to Matan Torah, but as we’ve said, it’s not that simple.
The simple reason for our counting is that we count from the barley offering on the second day of Pesach to the wheat offering which was given on Shavuot.
Why are these korbanot so important, what does this have to do with Bitachon?
In order to understand this, we have to understand the message of the Korban HaOMer.
The Sefer Chinuch says that the purpose of the korban HaOmer is so that we think about the great kindness that Hashem does for us, with creation. Every year, G-d renews the wheat, which is our source of sustenance. So in order to recognize that our success and our grain comes from G-d, we bring Him an offering. Barley developed earlier than wheat so we bring a barley offering first. In this way, we remember G-d’s kindness and goodness, before we benefit from it. Then, because we are recognizing that G-d is the source of our goodness, we will be fit for blessings to come upon us, and our wheat and grains will be blessed. Hashem will fulfill what He wants to do, which is bless us. But He can only bless us if we are receptacles of goodness and we can only become receptacles of goodness by recognizing that G-d is the Source of goodness.
This is the reason we bring the Korban HaOmer. And it’s connected to Pesach (being that we give it on the second day of Pesach), because it’s also an important Emuna lesson.
The Sefer Hachinuch says further, that this is a very honorable korban, because it causes us to strengthen our belief that Hashem supervises every person, and wants us to live, so every year He renews the growth of the fields. This is something we always have to think about, but the time of Sefirat HaOmer was designated (originally in the days of agricultural societies) on a simple level, every day, for 49 days, as a time to appreciate G-d’s sustenance and G-d’s Hashgacha in our food.
I recently read something related to this, from Rav Shmuel Birnbaum. He tells us to look at the most simple food, such as an apple, or a piece of bread, and think about where it came. It came from a clump of dirt. But dirt has no flavor, or color. How did flavorless, colorless dirt produce this wonderful tasting fruit, full of nutrition, with beautiful color and design?
He says that if someone would land here from Mars, and eat an apple, a pear, a cherry or a plum, he would ask where it came from. When told that it comes from a tree, he might try and taste the tree, but he would break his teeth.
Dirt has no flavor, so how did this apple come out of that dirt? That is a miracle of G-d. Rav Shmuel Birnbaum says that if you look at any fruit, you should be amazed at the architecture, so much so, that it is almost a crime to eat it. Sometimes there’s a beautiful cake that nobody wants to cut into, because it looks too good. I once even saw at a party, a cake with a sign next to it that said, “Please do not cut.” That should be our feeling about fruit.
It’s not for eating it’s just for looking at! How can we cut into this apple with such a beautiful design?
These are the thoughts that we are supposed to be having during Sefirat HaOmer, on the simple level.
And we will soon see, over the next day or so, how the simple level connects to the deeper level, B’ezrat Hashem. But for today, we should start off going back to basics. Safirat HaOmer is about the Korban HaOmer, and now we understand what it’s all about.
It’s so important that we will think about it for 49 days.
Have a great day.