Mo’ed or Memory? Sefirat Ha’Omer in Our Times | Rabbi Jeremy Perlow | April 28 2026

Hey, good morning, everyone. Hopefully everyone has the source sheets, be able to find. If not, there's some additional in the back in the desk when you walk in. I want to thank everyone for coming. It's nice to see you, those who are able to join. As always, uh it's especially nice after last week. We missed We didn't have sheer room, so it's nice to be back in the regular schedule, regular routine, regular learning. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. Good to be back. Ah, wonderful. So, today I want to talk about Moed or memory, Sefirat HaOmer in our times. I think when it comes to Sefirat HaOmer, for many of us, we are very conflicted. We don't know exactly how to feel. How are we meant to feel about this Sefira? Is Sefirat HaOmer something that we're supposed to be looking forward to? Is it something wonderful? Is it something beautiful? Is it a mitzvah? Or perhaps it's a time of mourning, right? You look around the room at the the men in the room, right? You'll see many of them have a little bit of longer a little scruff going on here, right? It's time of mourning. It's a time of aveilus. So, I think it's a little bit of a confusing time. And I think it's important that we understand the nature of of these days. And uh the truth is, I'm not the first one to talk about this. This goes all the way back way way way to the times of the Gemara, the Rishonim. I think it's important that we delve and understand what we're supposed to be feeling now during this time. So, the Torah tells us Let's start with what the Torah says. "U'sfartem lachem mimochorat hashabbat." Hopefully this is a familiar pasuk to us, that there's a mitzvah to count from the day after What does it mean, Shabbat? What does it mean? Very good. The first day of Pesach, right? Yom Tov. We know Shabbat According to Chazal, the term Shabbat is a reference to Yom Tov very often. Now, this is the Sadducees, right? The Tzedukim. They felt differently, and they would actually count always from a Sunday. And what they would try and do, they thought this was so important that there was a mitzvah derabbanan to count from the Sunday, right? From a Sunday. So, they would try and mess with the calendar, right? They would try to confuse all the Jews to make to make it so that Pesach would fall out on a Shabbat. In this way, they'd have Sunday would always be the first day of the Omer. They tried to mess us up. As a big If you read the Mishna in Rosh Hashanah, they go they talk at length about the whole plan that the Sadducees used to use to mess us over. So, it's something we have to be careful about. So, baruch Hashem, now everything's set. We have a set calendar. We don't have to worry about it today. But, the Torah says you have to count from which day? From Yom Ha'vi Omer Ha'tnufah. From the day in which you bring the Omer, the waving the We know that there's a korban Omer we're talking about here, which day unfortunately we do not have the opportunity to bring. The special korban that was waved. And the Torah tells us sheva shavuot t'mi'yotzi'ena. That you have to count seven complete weeks. Now, that's the key word we have to think about what that means. Complete weeks. What does it mean to have a complete week? Isn't every week complete? What does the word tamim here mean? So, we're going to have to circle back to this as we're learning. But, I want everyone to keep that question in the back of your mind as we're learning. And then the Torah says something If you fast forward a few psukim, you may be wondering why I put this on the sheet. Okay? shivat temim I want to tell you which holiday that we're talking about here. shivat temim takrivu l'Hashem. For seven days you shall offer this specific korban to Hashem. Bayom hashmini mikra kodesh yihyeh lachem. On the eighth day, there will be a day of mikra kodesh, a day of holiday, a day of meeting. Mikra kodesh l'Hashem. And you shall offer a korban to Hashem atzeret. Kol melachet avodah lo ta'asu. Okay, to the trick question, actually. So, we're talking Which atzeret are we talking about here? Think carefully. Which Which holiday? Ah, so I would have said Shavuot. Shavuot we know is a day referred to as atzeret. However, if you read through Tanakh, usually the term atzeret in Tanakh is referenced specifically to Shmini Atzeret. Shmini Atzeret. So, Sukkot You meant Sukkot. I think that's what you meant, right? Shmini Atzeret. The The day of we call Sukkot. It's not really Sukkot as we'll see in a second, but the last day of Sukkot, right? Shemini Atzeret, that's what we're referring to here in this pasuk. So, you might be wondering, we're talking about Sefirat Omer here, why did I put a pasuk about Shemini Atzeret on the source sheet? Okay, so you'll see why in the next source. If you look at the Ramban, the Ramban tells us a little bit about the nature of the mitzvah. I think once we read this Ramban, we can begin to understand how we're meant to be feeling during this time. The Ramban writes as follows, "Atzereti", he's talking about this last pasuk. "Atzereti, it's a day of stopping, a day of cessation from malacha." What What type of cessation? So, he tells us a more specific way. Here, usually we think from malacha cuz that's what Rashi says. Says the Ramban, "Atzereti atchem lefanai. I stopped you before me kemelech she'zimnen banav lesudah lekaf lekaf yamin." He says it's comparable to a king You might have heard this before. A king who goes ahead and invites his children to him for a special meal for a certain number of days. And he invites all of his children. And then, at the end of the party, it's been for several days it's going on. At the very end of the party, what does he do? "Please, Stay with me for one additional day. "Shekashe alai preidatchem." Because your leaving me is difficult for me. A father never wants to see his son leave. Hashem is our father in heaven. Hashem does not want us to leave. So, when Sukkot ends, the end of the seven days of partying, of celebration, Hashem the Melech, Hashem says to us, "I want you to stay with me one additional day." That's where we have Shemini Atzeret. That's why you'll notice that the nature of the day of Shemini Atzeret is very different than the nature of the rest of Sukkot. The rest of Sukkot, we know it's a day of celebration. It's a day we have all the partying. It's a day for all the nations of the world. 70 bulls are offered throughout the duration of Sukkot. Comes Shemini Atzeret, how many bulls are offered? One. That's it. One bull, corresponding to the Jewish So, the Whereas the rest of Sukkot is a holiday for all the nations of the world, including the Jewish people, comes Shemini Atzeret, it's a lone time with the king. It's a lone time time with our father in heaven. That's the nature of Shemini Atzeret. Okay, so there's a famous Rashi that we are quoting here. Fast forward, jump down a few lines. Okay, the first word on the line is sham. Okay, go to after the period, the new sentence. will offer in them. Now, fast forward on the calendar to Hag Hamatzot, to Pesach. We are commanded to have seven days b'kedusha, of sanctity, before them, and seven after them. So, we know the seven days of Pesach, we're familiar with that, right? What's the seven after them? Seven weeks. Very good. Seven weeks that we have during Sefirat Omer. And look what he says here. This is amazing, the words of the Ramban. This is actually a quote from Korach. Korach said this about Am Yisrael. He says, "The entire nation is holy, right?" But now he's using it as a a pun, so to speak. He's saying all the days, all these 49 days, and the seven days before, they're all holy. And in amidst them is Hashem. U'v'tocham Hashem. U'manami menu tisha v'arba'im yom. We count a total of 49 days. Shiv'a shavu'ot kimlo'am. Seven cycles of seven, corresponding to the seven days in which the world was created. V'kiddesh yom shmini. And we And we Hashem sanctified for us the eighth, {quote} day. What is the eighth, {quote} day? Shavu'ot. K'shmini shel Chag. Ah, just like we find by Shemini Atzeret. Says the Ramban, there's a distinct parallel that we have here between Shemini Atzeret and Shavu'ot. First of all, I want to ask you what Atzeret means. Many of you said Shavu'ot. The reason why many of you said that is because in the terms of Chazal, the term Shavuot is often referred to as Atzeret. So, you're not wrong. Okay? In the Torah, usually, the Torah refers to Atzeret as Shmini Atzeret. So, there's So, the but Chazal are clearly telling us that there's a comparison between the nature of these two days. How are they similar? Says the Ramban one more line, "Vayamim asfurim bein time k'chol hashmuid." The days in between the days of Sefirat HaOmer, which we're in right now, are like chol hamoed. So, just as we have by Sukkot, we have seven days and then we go into Shmini Atzeret, Hashem wants us to stay with him for one additional day, so too when it comes to Pesach, we have seven days, but then we also have seven weeks which Hashem asks us to, quote unquote, stay with him. And that is what we do when we're leading up to Shavuot. "Bein harishon v'hashemini b'chag." Between the first and the eighth day. So, this entire time is like one giant chol hamoed. "Hu yom matan Torah." "Sh'ram bo at Yishak d'gola u'd'rav shamu mitach ha'eish." That was the day, the 50th day, the end, what he calls here the eighth day, is the day which of Shavuot where we got the Torah, where Hashem gave us a special gift from amidst the fire. "V'chachi garu avoteinu zal b'chol makom chag hashvuot atzeret." That's why the sages for this day Atzeret, "Kihu yom kiyom hashmini shel chag sh'karu haketuv kein." Because this is comparable to the Shmini Atzeret which we find in Tanakh. The Shmini Atzeret. Look at this last line now. He tells you something incredible here. He says, and he quotes from the Gemara in Chagigah, "V'zehu mamaram." The Gemara in Chagigah, he brings this as a support for his opinion here. The Gemara in Chagigah which tells us, "Shmini regel bifnei atzmo hu." That the eighth day is a regel bifnei atzmo. We know Shmini Atzeret in some ways is similar to Sukkot, in some ways it's different. When I asked you what Atzeret meant, right? The first answer that we got was Sukkot, because we in our minds associate Sukkot with Shmini Atzeret. There are a lot of parallels between them. Yeah, but however, the Gemara tells us that there's also a key distinction. Why? Shmini regel bifnei atzmo, it's its own holiday, Shmini Atzeret. It's not linked to Sukkot directly. Regarding the following six things, and we have an acronym here that tells us the six ways in which Shmini Atzeret is unique from Sukkot. What's that? Pey, Zayin, Reish, Kuf, Shin, Vet. That stands for Pais. Okay, what's Pais? Okay, lottery. Lottery. So, we know in the Beit Hamikdash, when it came time to do the korbanot, all the Kohanim were on duty during the regalim. Right? The rest of the year you had specific specific groups of Kohanim would come in the mishmarot. But when it came to regalim, all the Kohanim would be on duty. So, everyone wanted an opportunity to offer the special korbanot on behalf of the entire seaborne. Who got the special opportunity? Well, they had to draw a lottery. They drew a lot. So, that's the first one. Pey, so it gets its own lottery, meaning it's not the same lottery as Sukkot. A special lottery for Shmini Atzeret. Zayin is Zman. Zman is a reference to the special brachah we say in the kiddush. Some do it also in Havdalah and Nerot, or instead of Havdalah and Nerot. That is Shehechiyanu. Okay, Shehechiyanu is Zman and Shehechiyanu. Okay, so we unlike Pesach, where in Pesach the last day of Pesach, we do not say Shehechiyanu. Come Shmini Atzeret, we do. It's its own special holiday. Reish is a reference to the regalim, it's its own holiday. Okay? Kuf is a reference to the korban, a special set of korbanot. We have only one par as I mentioned, unlike the rest of Sukkot, many many more parim, a total of 70 throughout the seven days. Shin is a reference to Shir, a special song sing or that was sung in the Beit Hamikdash for Shmini Atzeret. It's not the same song as the rest of Sukkot. And finally, we have the Vet, which is a reference to a brachah. There was a special brachah that was recited upon seeing the king. So, that brachah was again said on the on Shmini Atzeret. Again, so the bracha is the last one. So, we see these six ways in which Shmini Atzeret is unique is not directly connected to Sukkot and it has its own hag. And it adds one more here. He says the tashlumin derishon hu. He says, "However, you shouldn't think that they're totally separate, right? After all, if you went ahead and you forgot offer korbanots on Sukkot, we know you can make them up later. You usually have a week to make it up and you can make them up on Shmini Atzeret." Why? He says it's like a special sanctity. It's unique. It's its own it's its own hag, but it's also a little bit connected, but it's not totally ba'achdut. It's not totally one. So, you see it is a little bit connected. After all, we know you have three hagim. We say there's three times a year they're all meant to go up to the Beit Hamikdash. But, what about Shmini Atzeret? It's not on the list. The answer is we're already there. Right? We're already there for Sukkot, so we stay. So, that's why when the Torah talks about Shmini Atzeret, it mentions only shalo shalo shalo rigalim. Shalo rigalim. O lo yaskir shmini kishama mar yer'eh kol zuchurecha. Cuz there we're again we're told that everyone has to appear. All the males have to appear. They have to come up to the Beit Hamikdash. So, in theory really there should be four, just that we're already in the Beit Hamikdash. So, therefore if I ask you now, what about Shavuot? Why is the Shavuot get its own special mentioning then when it comes to Shmini Atzeret? So, we just said we just mentioned the fact that it's that it's um not counted separately. Right? We have Sukkot, Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot. You ask people, "What are the shalo rigalim?" Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot. So, why shouldn't we say just Pesach and Sukkot then? Cut it down to two. No? Or you should have there be four. Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot, and Shmini Atzeret. Why is it we have three regalim? So, the answer is what does the term regel mean? To walk. That's what we're referring to. We're going up to the Beit Hamikdash. So, that we did three times a year. But, in terms of the special hagim, right, there's four regalim. There's four times, four moadim we could say. There's shosha shosha regalim, but there's four moadim. There's four special times that we have on the calendar that we get to celebrate. Obviously, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is a special a separate category. That's Yom Hadin. But, in terms of the times that we're in the Beit Hamikdash, we have actually four times that we're meant to be there. Correct. Shemini Atzeret say shehechiyanu. Okay. So, this is just a little bit of the the nature of the day. So, again, the main takeaway I think from this piece of the Ramban is that Sefirat HaOmer is like Chol HaMoed. It's it's like Chol HaMoed. Right? We're really in a time of hag right now. And it's a very special time. And I think we get a little bit confused sometimes because we know during this time period that students of Rabbi Akiva died. But, it is a special time. The Ramban says this is a moed. This is a moed. We're in a holiday right now. And I think it's almost counterintuitive to most of us. It's Chol HaMoed. Chol HaMoed. Not Chol HaMoed, but Chol HaMoed, right? So, we have this this this uh this feeling of of of uh sanctity that we have on on the moed, on the Chol HaMoed, we also have now. Something important to think about. So, how do we understand then what we're doing? Look at the Sefer HaChinuch. The Sefer HaChinuch is about to tell us a little bit more about some of the nature of the day. He's going to highlight to us one additional point about the special nature of these days. And then we're going to move to understand how we're how it comes to be a period of mourning aside from the students of Rabbi Akiva dying, it also has a place of mourning in today's halacha. So, let's see first the Sefer HaChinuch. The Sefer HaChinuch tells us, "Mishasheh mitzvah." We know the Sefer HaChinuch is famous for explaining the rationale behind all the mitzvot. It's said that the Sefer HaChinuch how it came to be written, so he actually his children were reportedly bored on Shabbat afternoon. You can imagine such a thing. His children are bored, so he decided that he he wanted to write something with them that they could read in their free time that wouldn't be so heavy, wouldn't be so difficult. So, he wrote the Sefer haChinuch. I mean, for most of us, the Sefer haChinuch is like an intense work. You have to read through it. There's so much writing. He wrote it as an enjoyable book for his kids that they should have something to do on Shabbos afternoon. So, so that's a beautiful thing. He goes through all the mitzvot. So, here he's talking about the mitzvah number 306, the shin vav, the mitzvah of Sefirat haOmer. And he explains Sha'arei Sha'arei Mitzvah, the root of the mitzvah is outside of p'shat, "Refi shekol ikar Yisrael einu ela haTorah." The whole essence of the Jewish people, the whole reason for creation, he goes out and explains, is for the Torah. Hashem created the entire universe for the Torah. And he says, "Umi pnei haTorah nivra'u shamayim va'aretz." That's why heaven and earth were created. "U'chmo shekatuv" and he brings many, many proofs. Okay, I want to jump down though, so we have enough time. Okay? He says, "Through the s'chut of the Torah, we were redeemed from Egypt." It's the tachlit, it's the purpose. "V'al acharei ha'olam." Look at the next bold. "V'iyun gadol hu lahem yoter min ha'cheirut me'avdut." "Inyan gadol hu." It's a greater, it's more important even than yetzi'at Mitzrayim. Right? Because it's the purpose of yetzi'at Mitzrayim. We didn't just leave Egypt just to leave Egypt. We left Egypt to become Hashem's chosen people. We left Egypt to get the Torah. We left Egypt to be Hashem's chosen nation. "V'acharei acharei Hashem l'Moshe betzeisam me'avdut l'kabel haTorah ki atah ferush siman l'olam oot l'olam al ha'ikar." Should always be a sign that we remember what's most important. And for this reason, he explains, next paragraph, "Umi pnei chein ki hi kol ikar Yisrael." Since this is our entire essence, "U'varani galu v'alu l'chol gedulah she'alu aleha." For this reason, we were redeemed. For this reason, we rose to our point of greatness. "Nistavinu im motzei Yom Kippur ad Yom tov shel Pesach ad Yom Matan Torah." Why we're commanded to count, why The road to demonstrate our souls to demonstrate our national months. This tremendous desire that we have our Yom and this desirable day, this wonderful day to each of them like a servant who desires to is getting respite who's getting shade or finally comforted after a long journey through the desert with a long period of Exodus we're finally going to be comforted. We'll have that moment of shade. We have a net to me my table. We're always looking forward we're always counting hate and he suffered away a lot to give me a new the counting demonstrates to others and more importantly I think to ourselves the importance of this time period. Though how much we're looking forward to show what we're looking forward to achieving our purpose to even winning for the achieving our mission. The show money call my coffee coffee and yes I do know who he asked some important questions. So that's the case. So why do we count up? Why don't we count down? Wouldn't that be more logical? Right? He explains with there we are going to call my coffee coffee mean I'm sorry we read that one. He calls them and he will give us money. This is all to demonstrate our tremendous desire to arrive at this time but I will came loan yourself as give a three out of the movie we don't want to start off with a big number. He calls them I'm sorry I mean she is going to give us he says this is why he says because we know during this time period we want to demonstrate our strong desire to achieve to acquire the Torah and therefore we start we don't want to start with a big number. I mean she is going to give us because we start with a big number people feel like oh we're never going to get there. Oh, it's too difficult. It's too far away." So, we start actually small. And in fact, I think it's important. I once heard a beautiful analogy. You know, when it comes to I was in New York for many years before I came here, before I made Aliyah. In New York, they have a big the Big Apple, right? The state of the Big Apple. They have the apple drop on New Year's Eve, right? And everyone has a big countdown. In Times Square, everyone's so excited. Everyone's looking. 10 9 8 7. And the excitement is building. It's building. So, what do people feel in the during those 10 seconds? What are they feeling? They can't wait for it to get this over with, to get to the point of when the ball drops. Right? That's not what we're doing during this time period. It's true we're excited. We're looking forward to Shavuot. That part is true. But we're trying to use this time. We don't want to get rid of it. So, we're trying to benefit from this time. This is our Hol Hamoed. This is our eight ratzon. We're building. Every day we're working on ourselves. We're trying to improve. We're trying to get one step closer to Matan Torah. What a beautiful opportunity we have. That's the goal. We don't want to get rid of it. So, we count up. He concludes here. He asks an important question. He says, He says, "How it shall we count the Omer in case of Shavuot? Why don't we count 20 days?" Okay, we talked about that. He says, "This is not the question he says the question in case of Shavuot. If this is true, why don't we count from the day after Shabbat if after all we're trying to count from the time that we left Egypt? So, why then would it be more logical to start the count the first day of Pesach, right? We count from the second day of Pesach. Why then do we count from the second day of Pesach and not the first day? Says the Sefer Hachinuch, "The answer is because the first day is holy. Turning the page. Holy because of the great miracle." Because the entire goal of the first day of Pesach is to remember that great miracle for who yet see at me trying. So who oats that was the amazing day it was a sign for the entire world to recognize a shame to recognize trying to accomplish during this time. So we don't want to take away from that even one iota. The most room to work here. Don't mix and match says the Torah king. Pesach the first day of Pesach is for recognizing that is in charge of the whole world. That's what we do on Pesach. We're not looking at we're not looking forward demonstrating recognizing mastery of the universe. Following Pesach now we can begin the count. Now we can begin to look forward. There's a concept maybe many of you are familiar with. Someone once asked me are you allowed to do a wedding on Moed? It's a very interesting question. Are you allowed to conduct a wedding during Moed? So we know the answer is Very good. We're not allowed because we're not supposed to mix joys. You have the joy of the Moed and you have the joy of the wedding and we're not supposed to intermix. We want to celebrate one thing at a time. Focus on this. People always talk about you know uh Are you allowed to do let's say you ever see a ceremony when they had a wedding two there's two weddings going on at the same time? Why would save money right? It'll be beautiful. One simple everyone join together all have one wedding. We don't do that right? We want to give each and their moment. Their time to shine. So too we have the Moed and then we have the wedding separate. So it says the says the that is why we don't have the counts begin on the first day of Pesach. Give it the highest give it the pedestal and then we can begin the count. Okay jump down to the last line. He says, "Volcane had came notes on minion we count from the day from what happened the cool carbon of Omer. What did happen on the second day of Pesach though? That was the day that we brought the carbon of Omer. Shu who carbon carbon and it's a beautiful respectful carbon. Shu it demonstrates that we believe that Hashem has on the Adam Hashem has tremendous over man. Hashem wants us to live. We reduce for us each and every year there we killed seed food of grain right seed of grain. In order we should live. So you see in the beginning of when we left Mitzrayim we were very far from perfect. We were filled with flaws, mistakes, we had all these problems. We weren't a good nation to say the least. We were on the 49th level of tumah. Had we sunk even one more level we wouldn't have made it out. And Hashem in his Hashem took us out. And we count each day as we're building towards Shavuot we're improving we're working on ourselves a little bit. So it's interesting that's the day right after Mitzrayim that we offer the carbon of Omer. It says the why? Because that's the day when Hashem is demonstrating his love for us. He's demonstrating his love for mankind. Because even though we're not worthy, even though we have all these flaws, we have all these imperfections, Hashem says, "This is the carbon of Omer. From this carbon you can now begin to eat yourselves." We know before we eat the carbon of Omer there's an Omer. There's a question does this apply today? In Israel it's not so relevant but there's a big question does this apply today? We know we're not supposed to eat any of the new grain until we go ahead and offer the carbon of Omer. So we're only allowed to begin eating the new grain from after that carbon is brought. Hashem says comes the first day when we offer the carbon of Omer it's Hashem's way of saying I love you. I know you're imperfect, I know you have problems, but I'm here and I want to demonstrate my love for you. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's 100% correct. We have to be thinking about Hashem's kindness towards us both with the money and all the gifts Hashem give us all the stuff on us. It's very important. So again, so we answered now why was the why is it that according to the you know why was the world created? Again, the world was created for the Torah. That's the highlight to be building towards Shavuot. According to what is the count demonstrates we're building up towards it. And why don't we start counting from the first day of Pesach? Again, we want to give Pesach the highlight. We want to give Pesach its pedestal before we move on to the count. So we now that we have this background, we know that the counts that we do is very important. So if that's the case, we have to ask the burning question which is if it's so important to count, why is it there's no Shehechiyanu? Right? We know we go ahead we say the lulav we say Shehechiyanu. We go ahead we we hear this so far we say Shehechiyanu. Every Yom Tov we say Shehechiyanu. And yet there's no Shehechiyanu when it comes to Sefirat HaOmer. Isn't this something important? Isn't this a mitzvah? Why are we not to say Shehechiyanu? Ask the Kaf HaChaim this question and he gives we're going to see here three answers in the Kaf HaChaim. Okay? First answer was just to do the both at the same time. The reason is it was a remembrance of the Temple. He says remembrance of the Temple. He says because today we don't have a Temple. In the times of the Temple, we could actually offer the korban omer. He says but now it's just a remembrance of the Temple. It's something we're doing to remember the times of the Temple. So obviously that's a sad thing. We're missing out. We're missing out. Okay? And he goes ahead and he explains he gives examples where we all the other times we say Shehechiyanu. He says all the other times we say Shehechiyanu we always say the blessing of Shehechiyanu when we're getting some type of benefits. We're getting some type of good feeling. You go on that you don't love you shake the lulav she bought a similar right that's the purpose of getting joy providing us with joy but to get so far hearing the shofar the avenue Shabbat shamayim to remember our father in heaven. We make a megillah the national redeemed us at the time of the Purim story. Who beat you in a band so my wife have you been shaking you out of your tummy so thick maple he knows his child is alive now he's not worried that he's going to pass away he lived for 30 days already beautiful. And he says. Um I've also feared of Omer ain't going to say was human not over a good nervous the carbon base my event. He says when it comes to. The spirit of Omer. It's not a memory of something good. What are we remembering when it comes to spirit of Omer? Remembering the fact we do not have a beta migdash. We're lacking the essence as I'm homeless. So how can you say shehechiyanu as I'm homeless? As I'm does never house you in this world. Yeah. So I would think it's a mitzvah that's very stressful because you have to remember for the next 49 days so you're not really getting simple you keep saying I hope I remember the next day. And so so you're you're a lot of you at your mind that you're nervous about it the whole the whole 49 days. I have from people like me I'm not quite as nervous but I could see if that's an additional reason that we could throw in yeah. Very good so comes out it's very good excellent so comes out according to this answer in the of I'm and not all three answers but according to this answer in the of I'm the answer is yes. So you're only going to say it on the. Sounds like it right. So it's not so clear probably only say the first day cuz that's usually the rule when it comes to me it's worth usually if you haven't done a. Correct if you haven't done a mitzvah usually in the 30 days so then you have the mitzvah comes up again you say shehechiyanu. What? Very good. Which brings us to third answer. Look at this. He quotes from the Levush. Second to last line. The Levush Katav, Hatam, what's the reason the Levush provides? And he assumes that Sefirah is because of Sorer Yom Tov. Why do we count? It's in order for the It's for the Yom Tov. The same Chinuch on Zman Deregel. Remember I told you what Zman means? The Zman? Zman of Shehecheyanu. Relying on the Shehecheyanu, the Zman, the Shehecheyanu that we already recited on Pesach. So says the Levush, Very good. Says the Levush, we already said Shehecheyanu. We said it. Perfect. That's my favorite answer, right? So again, we saw three answers the Kaf Hachaim is quoting from here. So the last answer is only the Levush, but we saw two other answers. So according to the first two answers, it seems that it's it's really about mourning. We're not getting Hana'ah. Right, those are the first three answers. It's either mourning or not getting Hana'ah, there's no Simcha. But here, according to the third answer, we actually are, and that's the reason we do recite Shehecheyanu. We already did at the Seder. Okay. So I think again, so this Kaf Hachaim I think highlights for us the dual nature of the day. Are we in a state of Simcha or are we mourning? Right? I think this Kaf Hachaim really sets the tone for what is being accomplished here. That's why I called this year Moed or Memory. Right? What are we doing? Is this a holiday or is this a memory of the past? That's I think something we have to be thinking about during this time. What I want to do now, I want to switch over. I wanted to talk about the very first Halacha in the Shulchan Aruch regarding Sefirat HaOmer. I thought to go through the whole thing would be too difficult in the time that we have, but to go through the first Halacha and really do it properly, I think is important. This is the very first Halacha. It says the Shulchan Aruch, source five. Ba Leil, and I want you to notice four things the Shulchan Aruch is telling us as we're reading this. Four different things we have to think about. Okay? And I'll point them out as we go. Ba Leil Sheini, we start on the second night of Pesach, Acharei Tzeis HaKochavim, after Maariv, after Arvit, Matri'in LiSfor HaOmer. Okay, so he tells us the God he tells us the timing of the Omer. We start right after Mariv. Look at the wording right after Mariv. If you forgot to count at the beginning of the night we can still count the entire night. We need to know if you know if you forgot to count the entire night what do you do? You count the next day without a bracha. That part's not in the Shulchan Aruch. We'll see later that comes up later. Okay, he just says you can count the entire night. And then he tells us it's a mitzvah for each and every individual. We support that small. Okay, so who is he? Why does he say we support that small? To count for yourself. Who is he coming to exclude? So historically, ah very good. So historically this was a mitzvah which was done in the Sanhedrin. Right? We know the Sanhedrin would be in charge of counting. A little bit of a different nature to their count. But here he tells us there's a mitzvah for each individual to count. We'll have to figure out who is included in this, who is excluded. Number two. So again, so far he told us the timing. He now he told us the who's included in the country has to do the mitzvah of counting. Number three, we support you have to count while standing. Okay, sometimes people ask they're tired at night. Should we get up to count the Omer? The answer is yes. It should ideally be done standing. We should say bracha before you count. And then he tells us what you're supposed to count. So far he says you count the days and then you count the weeks. Okay, and he tells you the specific format in the rest of the paragraph. So again, so we're told the timing beginning of the night. Who should count? He said each individual. We're told what position we need to be. We need to be standing. And we're told that we need to be recite both the we have to say a bracha and then we count the days and then we count the weeks. Yes. As we were saying this morning, actually I said like I Yeah, the slave if the doesn't have two things basically. Can't talk as much as he wants and what is that? Flowing mouth and timing. We have no sense of time. Our first mitzvah was a holiday show in the house. So, here we're almost It's like almost a tikkun. By Thanksgiving over there, we are speaking. We have to say it, and we have to say it. And we're talking about time. Now we have our speech back, and we have acknowledgement that we are in control of our time, thanking Hashem for giving us these things. Very nice. So, I think we have to think about again, what are what are we supposed to be doing? What are we supposed to be thinking about when we're counting? And I think as we're going to learn through the halakha, we'll see a little bit more about this this idea of what we're supposed to be thinking. So, this is one very nice idea. Let's go through I want to go through in detail now with these four elements. We're going to go through quickly cuz we don't have a lot of time. These four elements of what we're trying to accomplish. So, says the Sefer ha-Chinuch, source number six, he's going to talk to us about the timing. Okay, the timing of the mitzvah. So, midina mitzvah, now he goes through the law. So, he mentioned up till now the reason behind the mitzvot in the Sefer ha-Chinuch that we had earlier, source number three in the source packet. Now we have the the laws. So, he goes through the some of the laws first. He says, "Masha Ruzichanam de Brakha." He quotes the Gemara in Menachot, "She mitzvah minotan mi ba'erev." Why does the Gemara tell us that it's a mitzvah to specifically count from the evening? "Kedei sheyiyu" And this is the key word, "temimot." In order that the count should be complete. Says the Sefer ha-Chinuch, "In order for the count to be complete is 49 complete days, you have to count each night at the beginning of the night. Don't wait until 12:00 at night. Don't wait till 1:00 in the morning, 2:00 in the morning. Count right away, the first opportunity." "Komosha Katuv Temotzei'ena." As the pasuk says, now obviously best thing is to wait till it's certainly the next day, which is after nightfall, but as soon as it's nightfall is the best time to count. And he quotes here "Rav Ruzichanam de Brakha, eimatai it's temimot?" When do they consider it complete? Complete 49 days is mashma matzil be ba'erev, when you start the count in the evening. on my coma comb, another way for human for a shin, shimshacha will be my hobby bear. If you forgot to count the night, what do you do? So, we know more than a half hour later, you can count the next day without a bra ha. You can count the entire next day. And now he quotes a very interesting opinion, which I'm sure many of you have heard before. Yesha Miriam, I'll be very impressed if anyone knows who this is. The Yesha Miriam sham, shimisha shacha will be my hobby bear. If someone forgot and did not count he forgot an entire day, did not count. In your holy note old but a shana that you cannot count anymore the rest of that year. Now, we don't hold that way, right? We don't we don't do that. We continue to count. We count without a bra ha, but we continue to count. Who says you cannot count anymore? That's the opinion of the Beha. The Beha was of the opinion he's the only one of the Rishonim who had a very interesting opinion that the entire 49 days is like one unit. And therefore, you miss the day, you're out. Now, we get we don't ask in this way. We ask in you continue to count. It's a mitzvah to continue to count. Everyone should know. I hate when people tell me they they walk away. They they tell me they say I can't they said I missed the day, I'm out. It's not true. You're very much in it. Every day is a special it's only unique mitzvah. But the Beha got a difference to the Beha, we don't say a bra ha cuz we're nervous about the opinion of the Beha. But really, you can still in the mitzvah. Almost everyone agrees it's a separate mitzvah each and every day. Yes. The The Beha seems to be the only one mitzvah. Correct. So, he doesn't have a bra ha every day. So, that's the big question on the Beha. Everyone discusses this. I don't want to go too much into it right now. It's a whole separate sheer. Why the Beha goes ahead and he does say a bra ha every single day. He did say 49 bra hot. Okay? Uh but that was the opinion of the Beha. Next to give some guidance for boys who are bar mitzvah during this time of year. That's also another sheer. Another sheer. We have to talk about that, too. If you turn bar mitzvah during this year, okay? I still have to come back next week. They have to do a a more, okay? So, he says here "Below, do you mean Marino Super Dino as far as you?" He tells us that our teachers in our generation, they do not agree with the Bhag. And what means such a human heart you might what should you do if you forgot an entire day? Very interesting. He says, "Amash." What's Amash? The day before. Yesterday, how you cut. You say, "Yesterday was such and such a day." Below brocha. Who would not have even called it so that you can continue to count. It's interesting. He says you should say yes. Most people don't talk about this. He says, "Yesterday was day X of the Omer, right? Number X number of weeks, Y number of weeks." And then you can get then you continue to count. That's what we do. Without a brocha. You count without a brocha. Okay, so this is in terms of the timing on a regular basis. But again, we should try and count at the beginning of the evening. A Harav of mine actually was very happy about this. He says, "I don't He says that we have to count the first opportunity we have." The first opportunity we have. See, he never wants to miss. He goes to always the first Mariv and then we start a Harav afterwards. Cuz he wants to always count the first opportunity. It's a beautiful thing. My wife also, she sets a reminder on her phone. We should always try to count as early as we can. It's a beautiful thing. You otherwise you forget. But not only that, but it says the an additional reason the Harav said, "So be tamim." So be complete. You should always run to do the mitzvah and then make sure that it'll be tamim. Look at the Kaf Hachaim. Now we're just He's going to address a very interesting question. What about the first night? The first night. When do I just by show of hands, who here counts the Omer right before they start the Seder? Show of hands. Who here counts the first night before they start the Seder? Ah, so it doesn't come up. So, everyone here made out of you. Baruch Hashem. It's not relevant to us. I'll tell you, I almost didn't put on the source sheet for this season. Ah, so before I think everyone here made out of you. Everyone here speaks English, so I assume most people made out of you, okay? So, in whose house who here counted before they started the Seder? Who counted the Omer before they started the Seder? Who here counted after this after the end of the conclusion of the Seder? The end, okay. Most people at the end, interesting. Okay, so here he quotes an interesting debate about this topic. It's a very interesting debate. He quotes here I saw those who are very pious and very careful with the mitzvot. She really on the second night of Pesach in outside. No I didn't want to do the seder. They would first have the seder and then after they finish the seder at the very conclusion of the seder, they would then go ahead and say the bracha of Sefirat Omer. Why? That's very counterintuitive. We just said we should count at the first opportunity. It's the same thing as the first night of Pesach where you're concentrating on the knees on the knees and then afterwards. Ah, so he says a different reason. He says the same time, they give a reason. They give a good reason because he doesn't quote the reason here but the reason is because why? No, different reason because that reason you should do it first. Why do some people count at the end, he says? Because it's it's a contradiction if you live in outside. If you live in outside, why are you doing a seder? Because you're treating it like First day of First day of Yom Tov. So first finish your seder, then it's like the in some ways like the Yom Tov is over. Okay, it's not really over, right? But what are you going to do? You have to count. So then after you finish your seder, then you can count the Omer. What's the problem though, he says. He says why do most people not do this? He says he says most people do not because he says in the next bold line, "What are we to do? What are we to do? What are we to do?" You're forbidden to eat after you eat so you count the Omer. Right, we know we're not allowed to have a big meal before you do a mitzvah. You have a mitzvah opportunity arrives, first you do the mitzvah and then you go ahead and you can have your meal. So how can you have a whole seder? You might come to the whole seder and you might forget to do it. As you mentioned correctly, right? We might forget to count. So better to count at the the beginning of the night and then he quotes the the Narei Shalom here which is a work written by Shalom Sharabi, an 18th century Kabbalist. He says he quotes the page, cut up the the gum up here so even according to the Kabbalah. Cut right away. Because it's a biblical mitzvah. Interesting assumption. It's a big machlokes about this. He's assuming it's a biblical mitzvah to count the Omer. Whereas the Seder is only a mitzvah d'rabbonan. So first do the d'oraita, first count the Omer, and then you'll have the Seder, which is only d'rabbonan. And Yom Tov Sheini is d'rabbonan. Yom Tov Sheini is d'rabbonan because if you are outside outside of Eretz Yisrael, the mitzvot d'oraita are really the first day, like eating matzah, etc. But on the second day really it's we're doing it because that's our minhag. So it's only d'rabbonan on the second day. So he says that's why we count the Omer first. So he's just making a lot of assumptions in that sentence, okay? Uh that first of firstly that again the the mitzvah of Sefiras HaOmer is only a mitzvah is already a mitzvah d'oraita. We actually pasken counting the Omer is a mitzvah d'rabbonan. That's what we assume like Tosfos. Okay, but it's a big big debate. We'll see soon later if we have time, we'll try and get there, that there's a big debate regarding the nature of counting today. Some have a compromise even that might be somewhat d'oraita, somewhat d'rabbonan, we'll see soon. But most assume like Tosfos that today the counting is only d'rabbonan. So again, there's a big debate when you should count the Omer the at the night of the Seder. My Morei v'Rabbi Rav Hershel Schachter he used to have this every year he'd have this debate with his wife on the count of Omer. He would always count Omer right away, first thing. And his wife said it says in the Haggadah we're supposed to count at the end. So she would count at the end. That was her family custom. She would count at the end. So okay, so different customs. Some of Eretz Yisrael. Yeah. Yes, that's what I do, that's what my rabbi he You should count first. Most I think do this, really. According to it seems most most assume you should more correctly is to count first and then have the seder. But again, each custom has its supports in halacha. Correct. Correct. That's the best practice. So, baruch Hashem, we live in Eretz Yisrael now. No one in the room has to worry about this. You can count first thing and you don't have to stay up late. It's beautiful. Okay. So, there's an interesting question. I don't know if we have time for this. Okay, let's jump ahead. I want to make sure we have time. Well, then let's skip source eight. So, today it's d'oraita cuz we don't have the korban Omer. That's what most assume. You're right, in the time of the Beit Hamikdash it was d'oraita. It is a pasuk, you're correct. But today, cuz we don't have the korban Omer, most assume that today it's d'rabbanan. Okay. So, we talked so far about when to count. We should talk about who should count. There's a big question, should women count the Omer? Now, are they obligated to count the Omer as an option, or are they forbidden to count the Omer? How do we treat counting the Omer? So, just by show of hands, which of the women in the room, who counts the Omer? Okay. So, I think almost all women in the in the room count, okay? That's based on the Pri Megadim. Says the Pri Megadim, he quotes from the Magen Avraham, he quotes nashim tzeruchot misfirah. Women are technically exempt from counting. Why? Davar mitzvah she'as zman grama. It's a time-bound positive mitzvah. So, strictly speaking, women are exempt. And that's he's quoting from the Rambam here. The Rambam says strictly speaking women are exempt. However, um you kvar kiblu alaihu chova, they've already taken upon themselves as an obligation. And therefore, it's appropriate that they should count. That's the psak of the Pri Megadim. Again, strictly speaking, they're exempt, but they've accepted upon themselves as an obligation. We find the same terminology, by the way, when it comes to davening Maariv. Right? We also, technically speaking, the Gemara says, strictly speaking, Maariv is not an obligation. You have an obligation to say the Shema, mention Yitziat Mitzrayim, there's certain things we have to do. But the the concept of davening, the Shemoneh Esrei, that strictly speaking is not an obligation, but we took it upon ourselves, all Klal Yisrael, that today it is binding. Okay, so is the case for men. So is the case of Mishnah Sota and he explains a little bit according explaining this Rambam. What is the Rambam mean? He says the women and slaves are exempt from counting the Omer. We should be able to say it because we are able to say it. We should be able to say it because we are able to say it. Explains again like we mentioned because it's a time bound positive mitzvah. Who disagrees with this? Famously the Rambam says something mind-boggling. The Rambam said that actually it is a it's not a time bound mitzvah, says the Rambam. And he felt the women are obligated. They are obligated according to the Rambam. Pages and pages have been written trying to understand this Rambam because it is a time bound mitzvah. What does it mean? Something the Rambam is just wrong, something was a mistake. And many explanations have been given. Not today's year, but you should know it's a machloket. Finally we get to Sefer HaChinuch. The mitzvah of Sefirat HaOmer is Torah law. The Sefer HaChinuch also believes it's a mitzvah Torah law to count for males. But that's in the times of Beit HaMikdash. She eats some Omer. There we have the Omer. But everywhere else when we don't have a Beit HaMikdash it's Torah law. Therefore, if you don't count, you'd be in you'd be ignoring a biblical mitzvah. Okay, so according to the Sefer HaChinuch, are women obligated in Sefirat HaOmer? No, they're not obligated, but as we saw from the Magen Avraham, they've accepted upon themselves an obligation and therefore they should count. Someone when you should know Sephardi women do not say a bracha when they count. Most Sephardi women do not say a bracha when they count. Why is that? Because most assume that it is a time bound positive mitzvah and therefore technically they're exempt. Sephardi women hold if you're not obligated in a mitzvah, you don't say a bracha. Only if you're obligated you say a bracha because what do we say in the Nusach HaBracha? Asher Kid'shanu B'Mitzvotav. You sanctified us with your commandments. So if you're not commanded with tzivanu or us. If you're not commanded how can you say you were commanded? So, that's why >> So, many things that were supposedly not commanded, but we taken upon ourselves to do like Correct. So, Ashkenazi women it's correct. So, Ashkenazi women have the custom they do say a bracha on a minhag, things they're not obligated to do. That's practice of Ashkenazi. They don't say a bracha on the menorah either? Sephardi women do not, but Ashkenazi women do. Tikkun Chatzot? Well, there you have the chazzan says the bracha anyways. So, only one person says the bracha regardless. Same reason for menorah on Chanukah because Sephardi women will go over it and So, that's for a technical reason, but actually a Sephardi woman could say and would say and should say a bracha if she's lighting the Chanukiah because there the women are equally obligated as the men when it comes to menorah Chanukah. Just that for a technical reason they light one per household. So, if the woman I'll tell you my brother-in-law he's Sephardi in his household what they do when it comes to lighting the Chanukah candles, so usually he's not home yet. He's still in the kollel learning. So, he has his he has his wife please light for the family. She lights, he's not even home. She says the bracha. And she's Sephardi. But that's what they do. Yeah. Um uh I'm wondering what I do is I put a note. It's right by my bed. So, right here that you know, like I I know that every time I go to bed I can't go to bed Good. Right, we should make add additional reminders for ourselves. It's always good to make sure we won't miss the mitzvah. Very good. Yeah. If I know that that's what I do then I don't have to do it right away, right? Because I know I have a So, you're going to forget that I have a something that So, better is to count early in the evening, but I think it's good to have a backup. So, you have a backup so this way you'll know before you go to sleep, but the best is to count the first opportunity. If you look here I want to talk about last two issues very quickly. The position that we're supposed to do when we count the Omer we mentioned it standing. So, the Beit Yosef quotes the reason why we're supposed to stand when we count the Omer. Why is that? So, the Torah says "D'khteiv bakumatecha sport." The Torah says about the standing grain that they would cut for the carbon omer, the standing grain. And that's right next to the mitzvah of counting. So, this is "B'kuma" really should be done standing. But "B'dieved" "Yuma nam yushav yatsa." But, if you counted it sitting, you still fulfilled the mitzvah. This is according to the Rambam. And what's the reason? It's based on the Gemara in Zevachim. The Gemara in Zevachim I'll tell you outside to save time. The Gemara in Zevachim concludes, it says that everything done in the Beit Hamikdash, every service done in the Beit Hamikdash had to be done standing. If it was done sitting, actually, did you even fulfill the mitzvah? No, it's possul. You actually did not even fulfill the mitzvah in the Beit Hamikdash. So, we're not quite at that strict when it comes to counting omer. We hold if you counted sitting, you still did fulfill the mitzvah. But again, we're trying to remind ourselves what it was like in the in the Beit Hamikdash. My rebbe, Rabbi Mordechai Reuven Schachter, he used to always he would tell us that one of the reasons we wear a kippah on our heads for men there's many reasons given, but one of the reasons why is because in the Beit Hamikdash, the Kohanim were doing the avodah had to wear a head covering. They had to wear a correct? And therefore, when they had each one of the Kohanim Gadol had a hat as in the Kohanim, the regular Kohanim had hats. And therefore, when we wear a kippah, we're reminding ourselves that we're always on duty. We're always on duty. We're always serving Hashem. Wherever we go, whatever we do, we have the imaginary zipper in the Beit Hamikdash serving Hashem. So, I think this is a very good kavana as we're counting the omer and we're standing, we should think to ourselves, it's as if I'm serving Hashem in the Beit Hamikdash. It's a beautiful kavana to have as we're counting. I want to conclude one last thing here, which is what should be be recited. So, we know we mentioned that there's different opinions regarding is the count of the omer biblical or rabbinic today? So, the Eliyahu Rabbah says very interestingly, he quotes here an opinion, he asks an important question, which is why don't we say two brachot when we count the omer? After all, you should count it we count the days and we count the weeks. Two separate mitzvot, no? So, just as we have for Ashkenazim, we have two brachot when we put on the tzitzit, we have "Al mitzvat tzitzit" and we have "Al mitzvat tzitzit" we put on the tzitzit, two two mitzvot. Why don't we have a one bracha for counting the days, and one bracha for counting the weeks? So he says, very interesting, he says it's one mitzvah. Okay, I'm going to summarize for you. He says it's one mitzvah, but when it comes to the counting of the Omer, he believes that the counting of the days is biblical even today, and the counting of the weeks is only rabbinic. So now we've seen three different opinions about the nature of the count today. Again, most assume the count today that we do days are rabbinic, like Tosafot and the Sefer Hinnuch we saw. We saw the opinion of the Kaf HaHaim that's considered biblical in nature even today. And now we've seen a third opinion in the Eliyahu Rabbah, the counting the weeks is derabanan, the counting the days is actually biblical, deraita. It's interesting. But he says it's one mitzvah, that's why we go ahead and we say one bracha. And I think just to conclude, I think it's very important that we should think about it. There's a lot of things to think about as we're counting the Omer. But I think to appreciate the dual nature of this time period, to appreciate that on the one hand, we're in a state of Chol HaMoed, the time of celebration, a time where we're coming close to Hashem, we're building towards Shavuot, but at the same time, we should recognize it's a time of mourning, we don't have a Beit HaMikdash, the time where Rabbi Akiva's students passed away. And I think as much as possible as Jews, this is what we do all the time. We have to be able to balance the different emotions. It's an It's an avodah. It's really an avodah. And hopefully as we stand as we count the Omer, we'll think about how we're continuing to serve Hashem through everything that we do.