Emor/Omer

יהוה spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving to you and you reap its harvest, you shall bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest. He shall elevate the sheaf before יהוה for acceptance in your behalf; the priest shall elevate it on the day after the sabbath. On the day that you elevate the sheaf, you shall offer as a burnt offering to יהוה a lamb of the first year without blemish. The meal offering with it shall be two-tenths of a measure of choice flour with oil mixed in, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to יהוה; and the libation with it shall be of wine, a quarter of a hin. Until that very day, until you have brought the offering of your God, you shall eat no bread or parched grain or fresh ears; it is a law for all time throughout the ages in all your settlements. And from the day on which you bring the sheaf of elevation offering—the day after the sabbath—you shall count off seven weeks. They must be complete: you must count until the day after the seventh week—fifty days; then you shall bring an offering of new grain to יהוה. You shall bring from your settlements two loaves of bread as an elevation offering; each shall be made of two-tenths of a measure of choice flour, baked after leavening, as first fruits to יהוה. With the bread you shall present, as burnt offerings to יהוה, seven yearling lambs without blemish, one bull of the herd, and two rams, with their meal offerings and libations, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to יהוה.

ראשית קצירכם THE FIRST FRUITS OF YOUR HARVEST — This means that it (the Omer) shall be the first thing to be harvested (cf. Sifra, Emor, Section 10 3).

The Gemara continues to challenge Rabbi Abbahu’s opinion: And yet there is the prohibition of new grain, which was harvested before the bringing of the omer offering, as the Merciful One says: “And you shall eat neither bread, nor parched grain, nor fresh stalks until this day itself, until you have brought the offering of your God; it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings” (Leviticus 23:14). And we learned in a mishna: One may harvest grain before the omer as fodder and feed it to his animal. Apparently, one may derive benefit from this grain even though the verse says: “You shall not eat.” Rav Shemaya said: It is different there, as the verse said: “Your harvest” (Leviticus 23:10), indicating that your harvest will be yours. In other words, one may benefit from it, as it is still considered to be his. The Gemara asks: And what does the other Sage, Ḥizkiya, derive from this phrase? The Gemara answers that according to his opinion, “your harvest” is referring to the harvest of the entire Jewish people. This is common biblical vernacular, and nothing may be derived from it.

Rabbi Yirmeya then said: What I said is nothing, and my question had no basis, as it can be demonstrated that the Sages know how to determine that produce has reached one-third of its growth. As Rav Kahana was once asked by the other colleagues of the academy as follows: With regard to the omer offering that the Jewish people brought when they first entered Eretz Yisrael in the days of Joshua, from where did they bring it? If you say that this omer offering was brought from grain that grew in the possession of a gentile, there is a difficulty, as the Merciful One states in the Torah: “You shall bring an omer of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest” (Leviticus 23:10), from which it can be derived that it must be your harvest, grown in the possession of a Jew, and not the harvest of a gentile. The Gemara first questions the assumption of Rav Kahana’s colleagues: From where is it known that the Jewish people actually brought an omer offering that year? Perhaps they did not offer it at all. The Gemara rejects this argument: It should not enter your mind to say this, as it is written: “And they did eat of the produce of the land on the next day after Passover” (Joshua 5:11), which teaches: Only on the next day after Passover did they eat from the new grain, but initially they did not eat from it. Why? It is because they first brought the omer offering on the sixteenth of Nisan as is required, and only afterward did they eat from the new grain. Therefore the question remains: From where did they bring the omer offering? Rav Kahana said to them: Anything that came into the possession of a Jew and did not reach one-third of its growth in the possession of a gentile is fit to be harvested for the sake of the omer offering.

והניף AND HE SHALL WAVE [THE OMER] — Every form of the root נוף used in connection with sacrifices signifies that one moves the latter about both horizontally (מוליך ומביא) and upwards and downwards (מעלה ומוריד); he moves it about horizontally to prevent (i. e. the act was symbolical of preventing) destructive winds, he moves it about upwards and downwards to keep away injurious dews (cf. Rashi on Exodus 29:24) (Menachot 62a).

חמץ תאפינה, בכורים, the Omer was the first ripened barley; the offering mentioned in our verse here represented the first ripened stalks of the wheat harvest. This is why the festival of weeks is also known as יום הבכורים, “the day of the firstlings offering.” (compare Numbers 28,26 where this מנחה חדשה, “new gift offering” is described). The more appropriate translation would be the “gift offering consisting of the new (grain) harvest.” The reason that the Torah added the word לה', “for the Lord,” [after all, all offerings are exclusively for the Lord, so why single out this one by name? Ed.] is that after first presenting this offering to G’d, the whole people may now enjoy the new wheat harvest. The verse from Jeremiah 5,24 which we quoted earlier, referred to the סכנה, period of “danger” which this crop was exposed to while growing during which period so many things could have happened which would have ruined the eventual crop. Thanksgiving prayers are therefore called for, expressing our gratitude that nothing of what we worried about during those many weeks actually happened. [the word חקות in that verse may mean that the laws of nature according to which the crop would ripen was not upset by bad weather, and other climatic phenomena which would have ruined all of the farmer’s efforts during the season of ploughing and seeding. Ed.] The Torah, appropriately, legislated that in addition to the two loaves baked from the new wheat, which did not get on the altar, of course, also 2 sheep, etc., were offered as explained in connection with שלמי תודה, thanksgiving offerings in Leviticus 7,13.

חמץ תאפינה, בכורים, the Omer was the first ripened barley; the offering mentioned in our verse here represented the first ripened stalks of the wheat harvest. This is why the festival of weeks is also known as יום הבכורים, “the day of the firstlings offering.” (compare Numbers 28,26 where this מנחה חדשה, “new gift offering” is described). The more appropriate translation would be the “gift offering consisting of the new (grain) harvest.” The reason that the Torah added the word לה', “for the Lord,” [after all, all offerings are exclusively for the Lord, so why single out this one by name? Ed.] is that after first presenting this offering to G’d, the whole people may now enjoy the new wheat harvest. The verse from Jeremiah 5,24 which we quoted earlier, referred to the סכנה, period of “danger” which this crop was exposed to while growing during which period so many things could have happened which would have ruined the eventual crop. Thanksgiving prayers are therefore called for, expressing our gratitude that nothing of what we worried about during those many weeks actually happened. [the word חקות in that verse may mean that the laws of nature according to which the crop would ripen was not upset by bad weather, and other climatic phenomena which would have ruined all of the farmer’s efforts during the season of ploughing and seeding. Ed.] The Torah, appropriately, legislated that in addition to the two loaves baked from the new wheat, which did not get on the altar, of course, also 2 sheep, etc., were offered as explained in connection with שלמי תודה, thanksgiving offerings in Leviticus 7,13.

Rabbi Akiva says that the verse should be understood as follows: If one studied Torah in his youth he should study more Torah in his old age; if he had students in his youth he should have additional students in his old age, as it is stated: “In the morning sow your seed, etc.” They said by way of example that Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of students in an area of land that stretched from Gevat to Antipatris in Judea, and they all died in one period of time, because they did not treat each other with respect. And the world was desolate of Torah until Rabbi Akiva came to our Rabbis in the South and taught his Torah to them. This second group of disciples consisted of Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Yosei, Rabbi Shimon, and Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua. And these are the very ones who upheld the study of Torah at that time. Although Rabbi Akiva’s earlier students did not survive, his later disciples were able to transmit the Torah to future generations. With regard to the twelve thousand pairs of Rabbi Akiva’s students, the Gemara adds: It is taught that all of them died in the period from Passover until Shavuot. Rav Ḥama bar Abba said, and some say it was Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Avin: They all died a bad death. The Gemara inquires: What is it that is called a bad death? Rav Naḥman said: Diphtheria.

Rabbi Akiva says that the verse should be understood as follows: If one studied Torah in his youth he should study more Torah in his old age; if he had students in his youth he should have additional students in his old age, as it is stated: “In the morning sow your seed, etc.” They said by way of example that Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of students in an area of land that stretched from Gevat to Antipatris in Judea, and they all died in one period of time, because they did not treat each other with respect. And the world was desolate of Torah until Rabbi Akiva came to our Rabbis in the South and taught his Torah to them. This second group of disciples consisted of Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Yosei, Rabbi Shimon, and Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua. And these are the very ones who upheld the study of Torah at that time. Although Rabbi Akiva’s earlier students did not survive, his later disciples were able to transmit the Torah to future generations. With regard to the twelve thousand pairs of Rabbi Akiva’s students, the Gemara adds: It is taught that all of them died in the period from Passover until Shavuot. Rav Ḥama bar Abba said, and some say it was Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Avin: They all died a bad death. The Gemara inquires: What is it that is called a bad death? Rav Naḥman said: Diphtheria.

One should add to the joy of the day of the thirty third of the Omer in honor of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, may his merit protect us - as it is the day of his memory (the day he died). And it is known that it was his will that [people] rejoice on this day - as is known from the story of our teacher, the Rabbi Avraham HaLevi (Amigo), may his memory be blessed for life in the world to come, and from other stories that we have heard. And we know them from the mouths of holy rabbis. And there is one who is accustomed to engaging in study on the night of the thirty third of the Omer with ten [men] to teach the praises of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochat that are scattered in the Zohar and the Idra Zuta; and that is a nice custom.