Page 21 - Hamizrachi #30 USA 2021 Yom Yerushalayim - Shavuot

GLOBAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS

Rabbi Hershel Schachter

Counting the Omer Today

he Gemara (Menachot 66a) 191; Divrei Malkiel 3:5), the son of the a different explanation of the machloket
teaches that Ameimar would Maharam Chalavah cites this opinion in between Tosafot and the Rambam
count only the days of the the name of the Ramban. (see Chiddushei HaGrach al HaShas,
Omer, but not the weeks. The son of the Maharam Chalavah Menachot 66a, pp. 252-253).
TAmeimar’s rationale was proceeds to offer an explanation in the According to the Rambam, sefira
that after the destruction of the Beit name of his father (Imrei Shefer, Vayechi bazman hazeh is deOraita based
HaMikdash, we observe Sefirat HaOmer 49:28; Shitat HaKadmonim, Bava on the halacha that “the original
only as a zecher leMikdash, and the Kamma, pp. 334-335). According to the sanctification [of Yerushalayim and the
counting of days is therefore sufficient. Ramban, the phrase רמוע תא םכאיבה םוימ Beit HaMikdash] sanctified these areas
The simple explanation of Ameimar’s הפונתה is not merely an identification for that time and sanctified them for all
opinion is that we wish to demonstrate of the calendar day on which Sefirat future time.”
that the mitzvah is incomplete, as the HaOmer begins. The Mishnah in Eduyot (8:6) teaches
pasuk links the counting of sefira to the Rather, the pasuk establishes that it is that for this reason, “we may offer
Korban Omer, הפונתה רמוע תא םכאיבה םוימ. the hakravat haOmer which causes the korbanot [at the Beit HaMikdash site]
Chazal wanted people to realize that we obligation of Sefirat HaOmer and not even though there is no [Sanctuary]
are missing the full mitzvah because we the day of the 16th of Nissan. Therefore, building.” This is, in fact, how the
lack this korban. Sefirat HaOmer is, in fact, not a mitzvat Rambam rules with regard to the current
Tosafot (s.v. zecher) maintains that all asei shehazman grama. Although the state of kedushat haMikdash; the makom
of the opinions in the Gemara agree with day obligates the Korban Omer, it is the haMikdash retains its kedusha even
Ameimar in that sefira is deRabanan in korban that, in turn, is the direct cause of after the churban haBayit (Hilchot Beit
our day; the machloket relates only to Sefirat HaOmer. HaBechira 6:14-16).
whether one must count the weeks in According to the Ramban’s Thus, even though we are not able
addition to the days. understanding, that the mechayev (the to actually offer the Korban Omer
The Rambam (Hilchot Temidin obligating factor) of Sefirat HaOmer nowadays, since there is still a kedushat
UMussafin 7:24) disagrees. He rules is the Korban Omer, nowadays, in its makom in the makom haMikdash, there
like the Geonim, that the psak is in absence, the mitzvah of sefira cannot be exists a theoretical obligation to do so.
accordance with the opinion of Abaye mideOraita. This is Tosafot’s position. The chiyuv hakrava is in place today, just
and Rav Ashi, to count both days and The Rambam, however, disagrees, as it was when the Beit HaMikdash stood,
weeks, and that according to them, and maintains that the day of the 16th and Sefirat HaOmer therefore remains a
Sefirat HaOmer is deOraita even today. of Nissan is the mechayev of Sefirat mitzvah deOraita. Tosafot, in contrast,
One way to explain the machloket HaOmer. According to this approach, maintains that the Beit HaMikdash site
between the Rambam and Tosafot sefira remains a mitzvah deOraita did not retain its kedusha. As such, there
relates to whether women are obligated even today, while women are exempt is not even a chiyuv hakrava nowadays,
in Sefirat HaOmer. Despite the fact from sefira because it is a mitzvat asei and Sefirat HaOmer is therefore only
that sefira would seem to be an obvious shehazman grama (Hilchot Temidin mideRabanan.
example of a mitzvat asei shehazman UMussafin 7:24).
grama (timebound positive mitzvah), Thus, these two issues – whether Rabbi Hershel Schachter is Rosh Yeshiva
being that it begins on a particular sefira is deOraita nowadays and whether and Rosh Kollel at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan
calendar date and involves the counting women are obligated in sefira – are Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University.
of days, the Ramban (Kiddushin 34a, interrelated, and they depend on the
s.v. vehevei) includes this mitzvah in a identification of the mechayev of Sefirat
list of mitzvot that women are obligated HaOmer. A member of the Mizrachi Speakers Bureau
in. Although some assumed this to be a Rav Chaim Brisker did not favor the mizrachi.org/speakers
misprint (see Nefesh HaRav, 1994 ed., p. above explanation of Tosafot, and offered

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