Sefirat Haomer | Rabbi Yossi Goldin

with with the source sheets for today. Um, so I decided we're going to do something a little bit a little bit different and that is I'd like to talk a little bit about Omar, but I'd like to do it focusing on the actual braha and the text that we say on Omar because this is a class. So I'd like us to use the text of Omar as a jumping point. Um, I'm just finding the text in most sidur you can find it right after Marv. Um, and many of us are familiar with the texts, but yet I think there's a couple of number of things to to to talk about. Uh, that will also just be an opportunity to talk about spiratom in general. Excuse me. Uh, let me just find the text for myself. If I can find it. Maybe this sitter doesn't even have it. It should. Uh, in most cedar, it should be right after right after Marv. Um, in this sitter, I don't know why they don't have any. Oh, here we go. It should be There it is. 242. 242 and mine is 242. Okay. And if you have these ones which is like basically a kish and then in the back is the is the is the ding. So it hasn't it after marv of mozzabis. And if you have a regular a regular weekday sitter it should be in the right after the regular weekday mar. Right after the weekday mar um you should be able to find if anyone needs if anyone need we find it. Anyone needs help finding it here. name. Yes. Here in this in this one, if you have one of the larger larger Coren Cidurium, it would probably be right after Marv, which I think is right over here. 242. Yeah, this in this one it's 283. In this this larger one, it's 283. Might as well have the large 283. Okay. Anyone else still need help finding it? You got it. Got it. You got it. Okay. Okay. So what what I what I'd like to do is again um there's a number of things to talk about and we're going to come back to some of it but one of the interesting things about about Omar um is that just to even open up with many of us are familiar only at Omar that there's some that there's an introductory paragraph that very often many shuls say called okay and not only is it something that many people say right many even sing it okay now everyone for most people and we're gonna we're gonna get to this a little bit The fact that we say this is not unique for many of us. This is very unique to Omar. All of a sudden what is anyone know what this paragraph is about? So it's actually a cabalistic it's a cabalistic paragraph that is about basically I am preparing myself to now do this mitzvah. And the truth is that in the world of of this is a paragraph that's not unique to Omar. It's actually a paragraph that said before you do almost any mitzvah, okay? Uh before you do the mitzvah of lulov, if you're a of origin and this is your min, then before you do the mitzvah of you stand on, you say and and therefore um this is not unique to Omar. However, in in in I guess more of the modern Orthodox world where we don't usually say this, for some strange reason, and I'm not really sure why, it has become standard to say it before Omar. Now, there's nothing wrong with saying this. If anything, what is it doing? It's giving us the opportunity to take 10, 15 seconds to prepare ourselves before we do the mitzvah, which is a valuable thing to prepare ourselves, make sure we have the proper kavana, make sure that we do exactly make make sure that we're have the proper mindset. But it is interesting to note and a number of postkim u note this that for some reason this has become the minhug in in in like across circles only by whereas if you say meaning if you say this paragraph you should really say this before you do many mitzvot even hagot in in many hag does before you do the mitzvah of kosot they have this paragraph uh before you do any before you do benching before you do many different mitzvah that has this paragraph most of us do not have that hug in which case there's really no specific reason to say it before spirm either either. However, it seems to be something that many shuls do. It's kind of again the sing the song that they sing as a way of of of of get of getting into the mood. So all I would just point out about this paragraph is that there's no require there's certainly no requirement to say this paragraph. That is for sure. Um if it is something that helps your kavana and it helps you prepare yourself for the mitzvah mat we always encourage things that will help you prepare for the mitzvah especially a mitzvah that is uh that is meaningful like nevertheless it's important to note that is it it isn't something that is in the standard text for some reason it's just here in in all in all the different sedurim but there's no I haven't yet found a real reason why it necessarily should be said for more than any any other mitzvah so I just wanted to to mention that because it is something that I think is it's like it's like a sociological phenomenon that for some reason this has become something that most many many say or many people say even though they don't normally do that before other mitzvot it says here correct this is deep this is not just so it is correct it is a mystical and by the way it's not just mystical it's also somewhat controversial again when I by controversial I mean it's referring to certain cababalistic ideas that we don't really fully properly understand in terms of the unity of God not that God that's not controversial let me clarify God being one is not controversial. I am I'm on I'm on camera here. I have changed that. Please don't please don't use that as my main clip. Uh that God it is not controversial to talk about the unity of God. But there are certain cabalistic ideas in the in the in this. Yes, it is deep. It is deep. And but my my only my only point here is that it is deep, but many of us don't see it before we do other mitzvah, right? Some people do. Most I don't think most people do that I'm familiar with. Again, may again again I think in the in the in the in the kidish world I think it's more it's more common even in the karedi world in the karedi world most in the more you know ashkenazi karedi world they don't say they don't they don't they don't say this there's nothing wrong with it again it's just not necessarily the minhug um and therefore there's nothing wrong with saying it but it just it's just more an understand like some people think that I think some people might mistakenly think that this is part of the text and what I'm just pointing out is there's nothing wrong with saying this but if you're not if if it isn't your min to say this before every single mitzvah that you do then it's not necessarily something that you have to say now although if it helps you in your open yes correct that's what I'm pointing out that it is a little bit unusual that even in the minaz where we don't usually say this text before we do a mitzvah nevertheless here they put they put it here and yes in Ashkanas which I think is interesting sorry was there a comment yeah suggest two reasons one more one is because we sing this it became a song yes although that's why it's become the mina correct correct but which one came first I don't know but yes it became sort of it became customary you don't usually sing before correct you say before lul you don't usually sing it correct everyone sings so correct that's the more pro the more mystical is that the omare is based on the spir based on the idea that we're approaching different levels of of correct great correct I do believe I do believe that's part of it as we're going to see as we're going to see and that's what I was going to suggest also is that when we get to the later part of the text that we say there's other cabalistic elements to Omar um that we that we mentioned and it could be that because of that that's why this has become part of it as well that there's there's cababalistic elements of spirm that we may not fully understand and that's what we're that we're tapping into. Yes, there's also I I think there's an inion of um when do we fulfill the mitzvah of spirit the Omr every day or only on the last count um you know at what point do we actually fulfill the mitzvah do we do we fulfill the mitzvah I mean this was my understanding and perhaps this is a way of saying hey you know um every count every day of this count is is meaningful yes yes toward the uh attainment attainment of of what we're looking to attain excellent Yeah, we're going to talk a little bit about that today. I think I think what you're referencing is the fact that there's a mak there's an interesting rishonim whether or not to Omar is 49 separate mitzvot or whether there's one mitzvah called Omar that is an interesting in the rishonim whether there's just one mitzvah and one of the proofs to the fact that it really is 49 mitzvah is the fact that we say a separate every single every single day. Um and it's a it's a big discussion. So I think what you're trying to suggest is that by adding on this element it kind of adds more meaning to the to to the idea that we're saying it every single day. But let's take a step back for a second before we even get to some of the other details of the text itself. Let's just talk about Omar itself. What is this mitzvah of Omar? Okay, the first thing that I think jumps out at us when we think about it is this is a mitzvah that's what what are we doing? Counting. Counting. Counting. Okay. Now, this isn't a very common concept of counting. Where else? Where else do we Does anyone know where else we have a mitzvah? There is such a thing as a mitzvah to count. Good. Okay. One is by Nido or specific by Corbanote when you're in a process with a similar idea which is from from when you're go when the when the woman is going from the process of tumatara more accurately actually and this is just we're not getting all the details but it's actually more relevant to the world of zava nowadays nida and zavar are considered we don't know the difference between nida and zava and therefore for all cases of nida we have something called and she counts seven days she has to count seven days okay where else do we have counting So the mitzah has the same idea. He doesn't necessarily have to count every single day, but there is idea. There is an idea of of a process of seven days. Where else do we have on a on a communal level saying you mean shiva shiva sitting shiva? So I don't know if there's an actual mitzvah to count every single day. There's an idea of seven days. But where else is there a mitzvah a concept of we count? I'll give you another hint to it. It's not just a mitzvah of counting. It's a mitzvah of counting where there are se it's a process of seven sevens. Shmita there is actually a mitzvah. It's a communal mitzvah. It's a national mitzvah. And there the idea is is that we are commanded to keep track of every seven years. And then at the end of seven times seven you have 49. And then you have and you have the process of ya which is very similar to to spirat to omare. Okay. So here one pattern we're seeing is that is is that everything is going in sevens. Why sevens? Simple understanding seems to be that seven represents creation. Seven represents a whole unit. Okay, seven seven days of creation uh the week the seven days of the week which are connected obviously and the idea being that seven represents a certain unit a certain unit. And now if you but if we look at the two models that we just mentioned the two other models of counting they represent very different types of counting. In the case of nido or in the case of someone who is going from tuma to tah what is the purpose of that counting what what is the person doing during that time? It is a process of anticipation. A process of trying to get from point A to move them to point B. Okay? Right? Anticipation. The woman is looking forward to the time of G is the mitsura. Anyone who is in a state of tuma is counting in order to be able to get to beyond. Okay. What about schmita? When when we count the process of seven years or the 49 years, are we doing that in anticipation? Are we looking forward to the right? Nothing wrong with the schmita year. But it's not like we're saying, "Oh, I'm only in year two right now. I can't wait till I get to year seven." We're trying to keep the What's the purpose of counting? The purpose of counting is to keep track. And even more so is to focus on where am I? It's a matter of groundedness. And f why? Because because because one second because it's a pra there's a practical element to it. Why do I need to know what year it is right now? Excellent. Will depend on what year within the within the seven-year cycle we're talking about. And therefore the counting isn't a counting of anticipation. The counting is more a sense of grounding yourself in where am I right now? What year am I at? What applies to me right now? What am I? What where am I? I'm obviously I'm thinking about the future, but the focus isn't on the future. And so we have two different models of counting. One model of counting is a counting of anticipation is a counting of moving towards something. Usually when you count something, you're counting, right? Think about it. Now we're we're now we're now in the in the time of year where my kids start talking about not spiratom, but if you had any kids in what is it called? They call it, you ready for this? Spirat Gomer. What's the end of school? Spiratomer means how many more days do I have left until the end of school? That is the spiratag. That's that is that's Israeli humor. Correct. Correct. We're going to get to that as well. Correct. We get to that as well. So there's there's there's firm and spirat. Okay. So you have you have days of anticipation. You have days where you're looking towards something. Okay. And then you have this model of not looking towards but focusing on now. And my question is going to be what about Omar? Is Omar accounting of anticipation? Is Omar accounting where we're looking to move towards something or is spirm where we're trying to stay grounded and understand where we are in order to keep track? I think it's excellent. Agreed. We're all in agreement. The answer is Omar, if we think about it, is both because Omar is and and if and we're going to see this. We're going to bring this out hopefully in other ideas as well. When we think about it, on the one hand, and we're going to see this very clearly, is certainly a time of anticipation. It is certainly a time where we're moving towards something where we're commemorating Am Israel's journey from Egypt to Hari where we're talking about this process of purification of AmIrael moving in a certain direction looking towards anticipating the time when they will be able to receive the Torah when they will end well when they will leave according to Khazal the 49 levels of Tuma and be able to become a nation and be able to become and to be able to be chosen by God at the same time. It is not just that. It's also a time where we're meant to focus on every single day. And by the way, these two are connected because it's very hard if you if you focus simply on your goal and you don't focus on the process, then you lose something, right? So therefore, the idea that we're meant to use in both different on both ways is certainly something that is that is uh that that is very clear and I think it we see it by looking at those two other models of counting. But it's also very interesting to think about what we do when we count because when we count what are we counting in Omar days and weeks days and weeks okay and this is based on the Torah and this is based on the puk says and in another place it says that you're supposed to count 49 days why are we counting both days and weeks now is there well let's start with this there's actually a fascinating rishonim also another makus reonim whether or not the mitzvah of counting days and weeks is one mitzvah together. Or are they two separate mitzvah? It's one mitzvah to count days and one mitzvah to count weeks. Most reonim most reon are of the opinion that we're talking about one mitzvah. The mitzvah is to count days and weeks. But there is a famous opinion of yurim who is was one of the rishonim. And he says no, it's actually two different mitzvah. There's the mitzvah to count days and there's mitzvah to count weeks. And takes it so far as to say that were we to now be in the times of the beta mikdash and we would count we'd actually be saying two one brahan counting the weeks and one brahan counting days. Now we don't do that obviously we only make one braha and he suggests why he'll get to why we'll get to his opinion why he actually says that because nowadays it's not mid ora to count weeks. We'll get to exactly but it's it's an interesting opinion but we have whether we're supposed to count both whether sorry whether whether it's two minutes or one minute but everyone agrees that we count days and we don't and we and we count weeks what's the value let's symbolically what's the value of counting days and counting weeks think what we've been talking about until now what's the difference between counting days and counting weeks every day counts and that's good enough I right as the line says you should count your days and make every day count right that's like the classic she title for Okay, count every day and make every day count. But that's days, why do I need to count weeks? What's the value in counting weeks as well? If every day, if I'm meant to focus every day on what I'm supposed to accomplish every day and move up one rung in the ladder, progress. What do you mean? Progress. That that every day is like a step in the ladder and then you're at some sort of conclusion and then you get on it. Excellent. Excellent. And I heard you shout anticipation. So, I think it's both. I think it's both. I think number one, it highlights what we were talking about before, the difference between focusing on one day versus the versus anticipation. When you count weeks, you're counting a large a large a a larger amount of time and it's reminding you of where of where you're going to. But I think you could even say counting days and counting weeks gives you the perspective to to look at things in different at at different levels. When we're thinking about our goals for spirat owner, we should have daily goals and we should also have weekly goals, right? We should have the smaller goals, the small goals which make up our life and what we're trying to accomplish every single day. But we should also have our weekly goals. We should also be taking a bigger picture in terms of our lives and what we want want to accomplish. And so counting days and counting weeks perhaps symbolically reminds us that we're not simply supposed to be counting just every single day. What do I want to accomplish today? Which means I'm focusing specifically on the trees. Maybe it's also reminding me that I should also be focusing a little bit on on the forest uh and on on the larger type of goals that are weekly goals and not just the simple the simple small goals. Now very very interesting Roselves has an idea where he points out that Omar there's another there's another word we could have used to that translates in English as count. There's lispor excellent there's another word called limnote. What's the difference between a limnote and lpore? So, Salivetic um suggests that limnote, when you think about limnote, limnote is something where you're counting, but all you care about is the endgame. All you care about is the result. When we're talking about, for example, getting a a minion, talk about getting a minion, all that's important is at the end of the day, do I have 10 men or do I not have 10 men? How I get there, what happens during that process is less important. Lispore when a person counts with using the the verb of lispor lispor means I'm focusing on every single part of what I'm counting it's like counting it's like counting uh gems that every single one that you count is valuable every single one is meaningful and therefore when we're doing when we're going through this process that we call spirata omare the purpose is to not just count and try to get to the endgame that's also important we don't want to forget that but we also need to make sure that every single day is take is is is is is is taken the value of every single day what we try to accomplish with every single day is something that is that is very important I saw a question yes or a comment lecture on the yes you say you don't usually say hagus it's not just the telling it implies passion idea of a is telling a story it it involves much more much more than just talking y and in fact I saw I saw somewhere else that when we in the Torah When the Torah describes the process of these weeks, it calls it Cheva Shabatim. Timote. What's another word that we could have used if we wanted it to be complete? Shalain. What's the difference between I have to stay over here. What's the difference between uh Timote andote? So I don't remember where I saw this so forgive me for not quoting the person but I remember the idea was suggested was that has a has more of an of of a concept of there's a certain sense of not just completing it but making but it's about how you do it. It's about the process of what you do during these weeks. That these weeks are meant to be weeks of significance. And therefore, to meote that language is meant is meant to is meant to evoke certain imagery within us that we're meant to use these weeks in a way where we're accomplishing and we're moving and not just going through the weeks. Yes. Isn't the surah also connected to the Yes. Correct. We're going to each day. Correct. Correct. We're going to get to that as well. We're going to get to that as well. going to get to that as well. I mean, when we talk about it, well, what are winning? Till now, we've just been talking about we're counting, but what are we counting and why are we counting and what are what are we trying to accomplish is a very very good point. Yes. And that seems to me to to be signify every single day we have to count like we have to see the day. I agree with you. I agree. I think the puzz is an interesting puzzle's idea, but I think limnote in this in that specific case. Yes, you're right. I think you're right. I think the message we need to be getting from all of this is always to be taking that into account. But I think the message here of lispor uh is meant to highlight it highlighted here. Now, there's there's a fascinating other before we get to kind of like you know more understanding what we're counting and why we're counting and what this what this time period is meant to be. We've just been talking in theory about counting and goals and what are those goals? There's a fascinating mak as well regarding nowadays. Isa nowadays actually a mitzvah ora or is it only well why would there what what's the maklo based on well if you look at the when we talk about it we say what is connected to the omer now nowadays we bring the carbon unfortunately we don't bring the corban so the question becomes how connected is to om the pik tells us when you bring the omr you should count does that mean the counting is only connected to spirat to Omar or does that mean there's two separate mitzvotes and they're and they're and they're usually tied but if you don't have one you can still do the other so this is all because also big makonim okay the Rambam appears to say and he see the simple understanding of the Rambam is that he believes that even counting today is the ora we count today we're counting ora even though there is no corban nevertheless there still is a mitzvah account other rashi toos seem to indicate and this is also based on a certain reading within the gumar that actually nowadays everything we're doing is just we call the mikdash it's only a mitzvah that really the only time that you count is when there is a corban without the corban there's no there is no mitzvah what we're doing is we're counting now in order to remember what what was done and hopefully again to remember how to do it when mikdash comes back the third opinion which is a fascinating opinion is the opinion of rabuham actually says it depends. We mentioned before that there were two countings and we noted that according to he considers them to be two mitzvot says counting weeks nowadays is only counting days is the so there's it's in between he says when we count weeks that's only that's connected to the omare counting days that's not connected to the omare and that we need to do even today mida a number of point out something very very fascinating There are different minimazic person. If you look at the sitter, how do I count? I say the and then I say let's say let's take an example where we're talking about days and weeks. Okay, so let's say today was day eight. I'll say we'll get to that also soon. Hopefully soon. Okay. Okay. Count differently. How does spartim count? Insert the word or in the middle. They say or say some of the where does that min come from? Maybe the min of this is they're following because says nowadays only counting days is a mitzvah ora counting weeks is the raban and therefore what do they say they say what's the main counting today the counting of the days so when should I insert the word to show that this is the main mitzvah in the middle and then I'll add But that part is secondary because that part is really only duraban and that's why they do it that way. Whereas the Ashkanaz is to just put the word at the very very end. Maybe we're following one of the other opin maybe we're following the Rambam. So again, if you didn't catch that, it's a little bit a little bit nuanced, but it's a very interesting explanation for the different minhagim that we have of how to count that perhaps theim who are counting are counting based on that only counting days nowadays is mida. But counting weeks is duraban whereas those of us who are counting in the Ashkas maybe we're following the idea that days and weeks are equal. Either they're both duraban or they're both dissa and that's why we put the word at the at the end. Yes. Are women are women in Omar? It's an excellent excellent question. Um we generally assume that I think again it's a whole it's actually big whether or not you consider to be a mitzvah. It's a big big conversation. I think we generally assume that women should try to do it and that's why it's become something that uh um it's become more that they that that they should try to do the mitzvah. I don't remember if we say that they're absolutely obligated or if it's more something that um because it's a caseim they should they should they should endeavor to do. Israel well with a braha with a braha. Well, certainly if you're meaning even if you held that women were pure, even if you held the women were pure, our men certainly am ashkenazim is that even if women women are pure, they make a braha anyway. So certainly you should make a braha and I believe we encourage women to try to to to do it. It's a little bit more challenging because it's why is it easier for men because you don't mar with a minion. The best way to make sure that you're going to that you're going to get do well at home is ding mar with a minion. Except that doesn't work if you make early shabas. That's where it becomes the biggest challenge because if you make early shabas you can't can and you have to remember it. Okay. But but uh is the shorter according to the other understanding why would he say yummy it he I I didn't look at it inside. I believe it has to do with how he looks how he understands the pukim and the way the pukim I think he says I want to make sure that I have I have it correctly that if you that if you look at the at at the pukim the pukim specifically link up the weeks in the puk to the omare that if you look at the pukim that talk about counting right because the psukim talk about both counting weeks and counting days. And if you look at the pukim the the the part that's usually more linked in the puk to the omare is the counting of the weeks and therefore he suggests that only counting weeks is going to be linked to the omar and therefore it'll be dabbana nowadays because there is no omare whereas days is again that only fits with's overall approach that these are two separate mitzvot right because he views them as two if you view them as one mitzvah then there's not much to talk about here and then either you say it's all rice or it's or it's aleran okay now one other fascinating thing to think about ladies and gentlemen is when we talk about the actual language we How does the Torah describe it as there's another place where it says why sometimes does it use the language of plural and sometimes it uses the language of individual. Any suggestions? Maybe the optimal is a group of people. So maybe it's again either the optimal is a group or the point is the balance. Perhaps the suggestion is that this is meant to be a communal mitzvah or it's meant to be both a at times it's meant to be a communal mitzvah. It's something where we're counting as a nation where again when I say communal mitzvah I don't mean that it's not upon everybody. It's a mitzvah that's upon every individual and yet at the same time it's a mitzvah that we do as a nation. Correct. Meaning when we as we talk about remembering that the purpose of what we're going to be we're going to be talking about it soon is that the anticipation is a national communal anticipation. Although that doesn't mean that that that that that anticipation doesn't have an individualistic aspect to it. And therefore perhaps what the Torah is highlighting is this is a communal counting meaning we're doing it as a nation and as a community. We're commemorating accounting that was done as a community and as a nation. And yet at the same time within that community every sing every single individual needs to antic go through that anticipation in a personal way and in his own unique way. Right? Remember that when when am received the Torah this something I remember hearing my father talk about many times. Amish received the Torah as a nation but they also received the Torah as individuals. And how each person experienced matan Torah is not just about how they experienced it as a nation, but it's also about how every single individual anticipated and dealt with and and and and and receive the Torah in their own way. And therefore, while we're doing this as a nation, we're counting up as a nation. Every single one of us may be focusing on different things. Every single one of us may be highlighting different aspects of that of that anticipation. And therefore the Torah specifically mentions both and in order to highlight both aspects. Yes. But it's not consistent. Sorry. Sorry. I I got you right after that. Yes. What I was going to say is in the prayers or most of our prayers we we say it as a nation. Absolutely correct. We've discussed that. We've discussed that before. The the most of the prayers that we have our text is generally is generally done as a community. We've talked about Philip and Seabboard meaning we don't just dive in as a community. Davin for the community but nevertheless that that that file always in always enables the opportunity for individuals to to pray to to include their own personal and so you have that balance inherently in all fil that we have we're always thinking about the tur and our focus should always be on the TBR but yet there's always the opportunity as we talked about in Eloh or in each individual braha to add in your own personal tilo because because we recognize the need for both sorry yes that's not consistent with other mitzvot have the singular and the plural for example. Yes, correct. What you're saying? You're saying why does it say as opposed to it's getting the plural? Yes. Correct. It's a very very good question. I don't know why in every mitzvah they don't they don't meaning where where the Torah says. Listen could also just mean you as a community or it could mean all of you as individuals. Itself can have a different type of meaning. For example, when we say I say you should all take this mitzvah. Am I saying you should do it as a community or am I saying each of you should take it? I'm just talking to a lot of people at once. So even the word can have different meanings. Okay. So what I'm trying to point out here is by highlighting and it seems like what the Torah is doing is saying the I'm referring to is more of of more of a group and the is highlighting the individual. Although you are correct that when the Torah tells me when the Torah says by by let's say by it is talking to every individual um because the word can be understood in different ways. Yes. It's like the shama. What do you mean? Well, you first start as an individual and then you repeat as a in plural, right? Which which part of the sha you mean? You mean the shimanas? No. Oh. Oh, that sometimes sometimes it's mentioned. Oh, you're right. Okay. I didn't understand what you meant. Yes. Yes. True. Correct. I think again we never really again that the pukim are why certain sukim are mentioned in the plural and other sukim are mentioned in the singular is is a fascinating question and and I don't and I don't think it's 100% clear and I again this is just one suggestion as to why the Torah does mention mention both yes ah thank you doesn't it depend as you pointed out that when the Torah was given and later in dash it was tied to the seor tied to the owner it was tied to the It would have to be written in because it was completely tied to something other than agreed. Yes. Correct. Say the same thing about Sukkot for example. Sukkot when you when you're taking the Lulov it's tied to the idea of aliel. It's tied to the idea that you have to do something but seabore. You can't there is an individual mitzvah you right. But it's tied to something greater. While there are things like fillain for example where you you take it for yourself. It's correct. Correct. I think I think I think what she's what she's highlighting. You're 100% correct by the way. I think that you're right that is a reference to number one theor but it's also reference as we're going to talk about soon. What was the counting? What were they doing? They were counting as a nation towards towards something specific. So then why add the safar perhaps it's just to add and to recognize and to reference the fact that there is still an individual process going on here. um with regard with regard with with regard to lulro the mitzvah of lulrogue is not ne well I mean it's a whole debate but it's not necessarily related just to aliel it was a mitzvah that you did independent of aliel so I think there the is meant to be talking to a a community of individuals as opposed to as a nation you can't take it on a nonukot correct that's true it's connected to sukot it's connected to suk code yes one more and then we'll then we'll move on yes please if I miscounting a complete day um I cannot count anymore more um it's not that I can uh sort of piggyback on other people on the other it's an excellent point the answer is yes and no so the reason why nowadays and this is more of a technical point the reason why nowadays we say that you first of all you can count okay don't forget meaning when we say you you can count you just can't count with a braha okay and it's important to know that that's that's a technical point the reason why if you miss a full day you can't count with a braha is simply because we mentioned earlier that there's a mahlo whether is all one big mitzvah or it's 49 mitzvah and if it's one big mitzvah then if you miss one day then you can't necessarily now so because of the rule of suff whenever we're not sure whether to make a we don't want to invoke God's name unnecessarily and therefore we always go on we we generally air on the side of caution if it's a suffic whether to make a brah or not we don't make the braha so you still should count it's important I think some people have the misnomer that once you don't make the braha like what's the point I lost no the mitzvah of no no no it's okay no no you I'm sure you understood it I just want to make sure that it's clear if you miss it you definitely should still be counting because that is still that meaning according to definitely according to uh you know one of the rishim you're still getting a mitzvah every single time and therefore you definitely should be counting we just don't make the braha out of out of respect for the fact that we don't want to say God's name in vain but I would also add that there is a way that you can actually count which is you can listen to your friend make the braha say amen and then you continue to count so there is this still this communal this communal aspect this communal aspect to it now let's just before we before we talk a little bit more about about the about the the text the text itself. What I wanted to to to also discuss was again we talked about counting, why we're counting, how we count, days, weeks, but what we haven't really discussed is what what does the Torah want from this time? Meaning if you look in the actual text, the Torah says count. Doesn't tell me why to count. What does it tell me? The Torah says after this time, you should count from when until when. Okay. Right. Until shave. It doesn't say shout. Doesn't necessarily say when shau is. It says you should count 49 days. You should count seven. What? Right. That's a whole question because itself is day 50, but you're only counting 49. Does the Torah ever explain why I'm counting? No, it does. It says what it says. So, it's connecting the counting to the Does it say that's why I'm counting? Torah never says, "What am I doing? Why? Why am I counting?" The Torah says you should count you're supposed to count from day this to day that and it does mention that there is a corban omer that begins the counting and there is a special called the is that is represented by the end of the counting but it doesn't tell me why so theim try to understand ah okay one second so but the Torah doesn't say that the Torah doesn't say you should connect the Torah says you should count so the question is All right. What does the Torah want us to do? Excellent. Excellent. So, I think there's there's a number of different explanations here for why we're counting. Okay. If you look at some of the more classic So, they highlight more the Corban piece. They say, why am I counting? It's not necessarily about the pes and the which we're going to get to soon but rather what it's about is you're connecting the corban om and the theorb or more specifically and this is said by the by by by by the by the rashbam by the raan and by sworno it is what is the what does the orban represent the harvesting of the barley what does the represent the harvesting of the grain wheat exactly so you're now during these what are these 50 days. They're connecting the two biggest harvests. Why are these days important? Because these are the days when based on how your the success of your financial future is going to depend on how this harvest goes. Why am I counting? According to some of the mafarim, this is what the sworno says. I'm counting because I'm really nervous right now. These 50 days, the barley harvest and the grain harvest are key to our if we're an agricultural society. The key to our success is going to be these 50 days. So why am I counting? It's both a thanks to Hashem for the barley harvest and a to Hashem for the the the grain harvest, the wheat harvest. So and and and Avad takes it even farther. He says, "You know what this is about? The farmer is going to be so busy harvesting right now. What are we afraid? He's going to forget about his spiritual sense of self. Shivuis Shio is coming up. He's going to need Ol. We're afraid he might forget because he's going to be so busy dealing with the harvest. So what do we do? We say count every single day. Make sure you keep track of where you are so that when you get to shàuote, you know what you need to do. And so the the message here is a message of not getting caught up in our physical needs, our financial needs, but making sure that we focus on our spiritual needs. That's one interesting idea. Yes. But also barley is the animal food. True. We let him. Good. Good. Good. Correct. Correct. Some so some point that out as well, which is the next thing we're going to send. The other explanation, the simplest explanation, which some of you are saying, why did I even ask the question? It's so obvious, which is what is Omar about? Omar is meant to connect Pes to shave. Now, why are we connecting Pes to shave? By the way, the Ramban has a fascinating comment. The Ramban compares to Pes and what does that mean? He basically says the following. He says if you look at he says what's what's the what's another name for there's another what's the other we have in the Jewish calendar. So sukis and so if you look at sukus sukus has on the beginningoid and then it has a nuter says the raan pes also has a ner pes starts on pes what we call is just the beginning then all of iso and what's the end of pesot shuot is really just the end and so comes to tell us that we we shouldn't look at pes by itself or shauva by itself. They're really two sides of one long process. Now, what is this process? So, we we all know this is what you're mentioning before. According to Khaz, the simple understanding is historically what process were am going through from Pesak to shave during those 49 days. The medish tells us that when Amish had taken out of Egypt, they were on the 49th level of Tuma, not the 50th. If they had gone to the 50th according to that medish, then maybe God wouldn't have taken them out. And so these 49 days represent a purification process. Remember we talked about purification, anticipation. This fits in with the idea that Omar is an anticipation. Am Israel were removing themselves from the tuma of Mitim moving towards the holiness of Torah. So what are these 49 days according to this understanding? Every just like am Israel every single day according to that medish what we're we're moving on a higher level. every day they they they they continue to proceed to a higher level towards matan torah. So too that is the process that we are going through and that fits in what you with with what you were suggesting which is you mentioned that the the barley the carbon was brought from barley which is animal food. Some people point this out and the bunch which is brought from wheat is human food and perhaps that represents that when Amish were first taken out of Egypt they were spiritually on the level of animals and that they weren't worthy they hadn't realized their potential as human beings and that by the time they got to shuote the which is human food shows that they had proceeded from a level of similar to animals because they hadn't realized their potential to now realizing their potential as human beings. If that's the case, what are we going through on Shàuot? What are we meant to learn? What are we meant to What What are we meant to be doing on during Shàuot? During Omar, excuse me. We also are meant to be recreating that process. We're meant to be going through a personal process of purification. We're meant to remember that as we move from Pes to Shàuot, we need to be working every single day on purifying ourselves on spiritually bringing ourselves to the moment that when we receive when we get to shàuote, it should be once again, if we do it right, a process of a personal reacceptance of the Torah. And by the way, this now connects, some of you have pointed this out that when we talked about how many of you pointed out that that the seven the 49 days also correspond to certain cababalistic ideas of the seven spherote. Now I can't say I know much about the seven spirrote. I'm going to I'm going to admit I don't know much about I I can't say much intelligent uh anything. I can't say that much intellig intelligent things about uh the seven spherote. But we do know that there is a process of 7* 7 which represents the seven sphot and that each day of sphir represents a different mida or a different combination of midot. Now those of you who are able to understand these things then great. If you don't fully understand them and you're like me what I take out of it is nevertheless the idea is that every single day we're meant to continue to grow. If you're able to tap into this and understand it on a develop meaning there's tremendous value in viewing this in that way. There are books that go I'm sure there are no no I don't I don't mean to minimize it. I'm sure there there's when I say that I don't understand it I don't mean to say that I think it's not true or that it's not meaningful. I've just I it's not a problem at all. No it is because it's talking with this seed door here. It's not it tells you everything about I agree. No, no, no. I'm not all I all I'm all I'm saying and I and I don't mean I apologize if it sounds like I'm I'm minimizing it or disgra all I mean I don't really understand what I mean when I say that this is shippetifer I'm not saying that I fully understand what the concept of yod is from a cabalistic idea I agree very practical wonderful so my point is my point is simply that I I don't have much to add to that to that conversation but I encourage you all but I encourage you all to tap into these ideas in any way that you can because the more that you can use this time to be a time of growth whether it's by gaining a better understanding of these cabalistic ideas or not that still is a beautiful and important idea that this is a time a time of growth just because of I'm sorry just I'm they they've been you know on us to make sure that we that that we end we end on time to give you guys a break. So I'm not going to take questions for now because I want to just finish a couple of points. I apologize but I'm happy to take individual I'm happy to take individual questions. I'm sorry that's also something I do uh if I'm talking too fast apologies. I do that when I get excited. Um but I wanted to just add I wanted to just add uh a couple of more points that I think that I think are important. If we connect Pesak to shaveote it's not simply about this process of purification. What this also reminds us is that what we celebrate on Pes and we celebrate on shàuote are not able to be separated. Okay. And very often sometimes on pes we focus specifically on our physical survival on our physical redemption and kazal are teaching us that you can't have your physical redemption without moving directly and connecting to your spiritual redemption just like said to mob at the burning bush when I take you outdo the reason I'm taking you out is so that you will then come to serve me right we didn't just go from being slaves to being free we went from being aim to being a hashem and so that and And so the purpose of is to remind us of that process is for us to not think that we left Egypt just to be free but to remind us that we left Egypt in order to in order to serve and you cannot separate leaving Egypt what we celebrate on Pes from what we celebrate on on Shàu but it also teaches us something else it also teaches us forgive me I just want to make sure that I ah so this is just something interesting um you know we'll leave that for we'll leave that for now but it also teaches us. It als it also teaches us the following idea. As much as pes must be followed by shàuote, it also teaches us that you can't have a shauvu oat without first having a pes. You can't have a receiving of the Torah without first going through the process that we ran through in Egypt. without going through the process of growth of what occurred when we became a nation the leaving of that we can't a person can't serve spir spiritually unless physically he feels that he is in a place where he can do so and so has so many really beautiful messages that that that that that come from it in terms of the concept of counting the concept of counting weeks and counting days the concept of counting towards as a form of anticipation versus counting as a form of focusing on the day on on every single counting days and counting weeks. Is there mitzvah to count? Are they two separate mitzvah counting weeks or counting days or they one mitzvah? There's a lot that we that that we that that we that we talked about today. um the difference between lispor and limnote the connection between pes and shauvot whether it's between the corban pes the corban that we bring on pes or the corban the corban omr or the corb that we bring on shauvote whether it's about reminding ourselves during a very a very materialistic time that we have to focus on our spiritual pursuits as well or whether it's about remembering that we can't have a pes without a shot and we can't have a shaw without pes these are all important themes that really just stem from this small mitzvah it's a small mitzvah it's a short mitzvah that we do uh not small I don't mean small in terms of significance but it's a short mitzvah that we do um and the the one other point that I wanted to just add it's very very interesting that right after we count Omar what do we say why now we want we would like this to be all gone because we've just talked about how so much how so much of has shifted because of the lack of a beta mikdash and therefore every single evening we remind ourselves I'm not doing this mitzvah fully And because I'm not doing this mitzvah fully, we dive into we able to do this mitzvah fully. And then by the way, right after that, there's a there's a min some people, not everyone says this. There's a paraglim. The paracim is all about that the whole world that he should bring the world to a state where everyone will recognize greatness and everyone will recognize that he is the king. Again, it's part of that of please bring us the mikdash and bring us to a state where everybody will recognize. And then the final two paragraphs that we say really more tap into the cabalistic idea. And again I want to just stress I was not minimizing the cabalistic idea. Uh it it is more the more that these if if these are what help you tap into this time period and make it more meaningful for us to focus because in the end of the day the point of this counting is to remind us every single day we are every single day is important and we're moving towards something great and that's something that we have to remember within our lives always but certainly during this period we're counting every single day. we're building every single day, but we're also moving towards something great. Both the immediate future of Shauvo and of course um what we hope as a nation moving towards something even greater. Wishing everybody a wonderful, wonderful week.