The Rambam and Sefirat Ha'omer | Rabbi Yitzhak Breitowitz | April 28 2026

Today's sheer is again sponsored anonymously the illui nishmats of every nishama from Adam Harishon until today. They're very very grateful of many many people are grateful for that. Uh so we're continuing our our sheer on the Rambam. That's what we're doing. Uh but I want to digress a little bit from the letters of the Rambam to focus on an interesting sheet of the Rambam with respect to the counting of the Omer. All of us know we're in a period of time where there's a mitzvah called Sefirat HaOmer. And in point of fact that mitzvah is in the coming parsha of the week, parsha Emor. U'sfartem lachem mimacharat haShabbat uh where the Torah says you shall start counting from the literally from the day after Shabbat seven weeks. Uh and it's Yadua, the Gemara itself or the Mishna itself refers to a well-known controversy betw- between the Tzedukim, the Sadducees, and the Perushim, the Pharisees. Uh in the Christian Bible, Pharisees is a dirty term, but in fact the Pharisees are Chazal basically. Uh so according to us they are the authentic transmitters of Torah. According to the Tzedukim, and they're called Tzedukim simply because they're followers of a man whose name was Tzadok, they take the Torah very very literally. And they say mimacharat haShabbat, Shabbat is Saturday. Mimacharat Shabbat is Sunday. You start counting the Omer on the Sunday, the first Sunday after Pesach or at least after the first day of Pesach. That's a machlokes exactly what they did. Uh the Perushim go to very great lengths to demonstrate that the meaning of Shabbat in that verse is not Saturday, but the first day of Pesach, which is a Yom Tov, is called Shabbat. Mimacharat Shabbat is the day after that. You start counting the second day of Pesach. And to this very day, just a little point of information, do not confuse the Tzedukim with the Kara'im, although they are very very similar in some ways. The Tzedukim were a particular sect that lived and even flourished during the Second Temple period, the time of the Mishna before and a little bit after which. Uh and they did espouse the idea that they did not accept the authority of of Chazal. And the Tzedukim were politically very well connected. Many of them were Hellenists. Many of them were well-off. Many of them were political leaders. And there were even times where the Sanhedrin itself was under the control of the Tzedukim. But the Tzedukim as a movement, maybe there were isolated people, actually vanished around the Churban of the Second Temple and the Bar Kochba revolt uh later, uh the Tzedukim ceased to exist. So thus as a movement by the time of the Amoraim both in Eretz Yisrael and certainly in Bavel, there was no movement called Tzedukim. Now the Karaites, of which there still are Karaites, the Karaites, the Kara'im, uh originated uh many many years later in the time of Rav Saadia Gaon in the 900s, the 10th century. And we actually have a founder. We have an official founder of Karaiteism. And that is Anan ben David who of course started off life as a regular religious Jew. And he very much wanted to get the position of Reish Galuta, which was the political head of the Jews in Galus and in Babylonia in Iraq. And Anan ben David was passed over. And in his fury he simply started a new religious sect uh primarily as an attack on the Gaonim because he felt, rightly or wrongly, that he didn't get his position. Uh Yeah, he didn't get his position because of the Gaonim and as a result the Gaonim were the espousers of Torah Shebaal Peh and uh he uh rejected that. Now philosophically, there is of course a lot of similarity between the Tzedukim and the Kara'im, but they are different movements having different origins. Now the Kara'im did take over, did take over their interpretation of mimacharat Shabbat, and to this day you will see that they start counting the Omer the first Sunday after Pesach rather than the second day of Pesach. Karaites are interesting. Maybe I shouldn't encourage you to research it. You know, I remember uh in the Harvard University Library, the Widener Library, which has a huge huge huge collection. It's actually one of together with the National Library here. It is one of the two biggest collections of Sefarim uh in the world. Library of Congress, yeah, there are a few big big libraries, JTS. Uh but I noticed there was a whole section on Karaite literature. And you might wonder, why would there be Karaite literature if all they do is take the Torah very very literally? So how many books are they going to write? So it is interesting. It is interesting that the Karaites themselves developed what you might call their rabbinic tradition. Meaning, it is impossible to escape interpretation. That's all. To simply say, we don't want interpretation, we just want to go, you know, with the biblical text. You know, that may sound like a position, but in point of fact the necessity of some interpretation is inevitable. And the Karaites themselves had a history of biblical interpretation. Although again they did not focus on tradition, they focused on dikduk, grammar, and the like. And there was even a Karaite siddur. So I wonder, what's in a Karaite siddur? So as you might expect, all of the sections that are from Tanakh are in there. So P'sukei d'Zimra from Tehillim is there. And uh Kriyat Shema is there. But they don't have the Amidah or the blessings of the Shema. But they have their own compositions. So I'm not sure what they gained by all of this. Meaning to say, they wrote their own poetry, they had their own compositions. So they incorporated plenty of stuff that's not in the biblical text, but it came from them instead of the rabbis or or or whatever it is. Uh be it as it may, although Karaites today are a very very small movement, in the time of the Rishonim they were quite large. In the Rambam's time and particularly in Egypt, there were tens of thousands of Karaites and the Rambam often had to wage a very vigorous debate against the spreading of their beliefs. So Karaiteism, Kara'im were very very big. Uh but be it as it may, uh they are the spiritual descendants of the Tzedukim. So going back to the counting of the Omer, uh we accept as a matter of the Torah Shebaal Peh that the word Shabbat in that pasuk refers to the first day of Pesach. Therefore, mimacharat haShabbat is the second day of Pesach. Now note that the Torah does not give you a reason for this counting, uh but the Sefer HaChinuch makes the obvious connection that the purpose of counting of the Omer is to link the holiday of freedom, which is Pesach, with the holiday of Torah, which is Shavuot, to make it one long holiday. In fact, the Ramban even adds the language that the Omer period is Chol HaMoed. There's one holiday called Pesach-Shavuot. And the Omer is Chol HaMoed. Now don't take that too literally. Uh if you tell your boss you don't work on Chol HaMoed and you don't show up for the whole period of the Omer, uh it is not likely the job will be waiting for you uh at the end. But the Ramban says that's the idea because our point basically is that freedom without Torah is both meaningless and even destructive. And therefore the holidays are joined by the counting of the Omer. Chazal make this point in a bit of a different way. They note that the korban of the Omer is a barley offering and the grain offering of Shavuot is a wheat offering. Barley, at least before cholent was invented, was commonly animal fodder and wheat was human food. And therefore transitioning from Pesach to Shavuot is moving from animal liberation to human dignity. Right? So that's the purpose of the counting of the Omer. But note the following. Note that the starting point is given in two different variables. U'sfartem lachem mimacharat Shabbat. You shall start counting the day after Shabbat, which is the day after the first day of Pesach, meaning second day of Pesach. That is indicator number one. Indicator number two is mi yom havi'achem et Omer HaTenufah. From the day that you bring the Omer that is waved. Let me just give a few words of explanation just to be sure everyone understands this. On the second day of Pesach, when there was a Beit HaMikdash, in addition to the Musafim and the animal offerings, there was a special meal offering that was brought that is either called the korban ha omer or the minchas omer. Korban the sacrifice of the omer or the meal offering of the omer. What was this sacrifice? An omer an omer is simply a volume measurement. Like a bushel. The particular volume happens to be the volume of 43 and a fifth eggs. The volume is actually the same as the daily manna that fell every day. And it is also the volume of flour from which you have to separate challah. So this 43 and a fifth eggs which is a tenth of an eifah is a relatively important shiur in many many areas of Torah. So a volume of this barley flour and this is unique because this is the only mincha which is barley rather than wheat except for the mincha that a sotah brings. When a woman is suspected of adultery and once again it's connected to animalism. Uh in the case of Pesach freedom without Torah you're just a wild animal. In the case of a sotah she engaged in animal-like behavior so she brings an animal offering. But normally a korban mincha is not barley a korban mincha is always wheat. But this measure of barley was mixed barley flour finely ground was mixed I'm sorry not finely coarsely ground actually coarsely ground is mixed with oil. Shemen. The kohein does a kemitzah. He takes three fingers of uh the flour with oil. It's burnt on the mizbei'ach. That's the kemitzah. And the rest of the mincha is then baked and it is eaten by kohanim for a day and a night. Now that's standard mincha procedure. I mean the uniqueness of the minchas omer is that it's barley. But uh the kemitzah and the achilah and the fact that it's matzah not chametz is standard. In fact it's interesting if I were to ask somebody well why must the minchas omer be matzah? Why can't I allow it to become chametz? So the normal answer you would have to say is well it's Pesach. Well that's true but that's not the only reason. The truth of the matter is all menachot have to be matzah. So even if you bring a mincha offering in the middle of the year it has to be matzah. The only exception is the shtei halachmot shavuos and uh maybe I'll I'll get to that. So in reality the fact that the omer is matzah is not uniquely because it's Pesach. But it's because menachot have to be baked as matzah. You're not allowed to have them become chametz. If they become chametz they're invalid. Okay. Be it as it may this is called the minchas omer. And minchas omer has a very important function because the Torah says in parshas emor that you're not allowed to eat of the grain of the new year until the minchas omer is brought. Until the minchas omer is brought you can only eat the grain of last year. So how can we eat grain that today? So the gemara in rosh hashana says there are two drashos when there's a beis hamikdash you need the actual bringing of the omer. When there's not a beis hamikdash it is the day of bringing of the omer that matters to heter. So it's still true. New grain cannot be eaten until the 16th of Nissan but you don't have to worry about it because if you're buying anything under a reliable hashgacha they will not allow that to come in. Uh but today you don't need the actual omer. It is the yom the dawn of that day that matters and the gemara in rosh hashana tells us that rav yochanan ben zakai extended it by one day. You uh the heter of chadash is not the 16th of Nissan it is the 17th of Nissan. And the reason that's so is a very interesting idea. And that is meheira yibaneh hamikdash. Meaning like this. When there's a beis hamikdash you're not allowed to eat the chadash till the actual omer is brought. And people who were not in proximity of the mikdash would have to wait until noon because they could assume by chatzos they brought it. When there's no beis hamikdash you could eat the chadash with the crack of dawn. So here's rav yochanan ben zakai's problem. If we eat the chadash the morning of the 16th what happens if by next year we have a beis hamikdash and people will not be allowed to eat the chadash until the hakravas omer but they're going to remember that last year we ate it the crack of dawn of the 16th then this year they're going to eat at the crack of dawn of the 16th before the omer is brought they're going to transgress the issur deoraita of chadash so to be sure that for sure they won't he made the heter a day later. So next year when the beis hamikdash comes they'll eat it earlier when the omer is brought but they're not going to eat it uh they're not going to eat it earlier than they're allowed to eat it. Guys that's a takanah of just one day. Um as I say uh the issue of chadash still applies even today. But as I say if you buy a anything under hashgacha that's covered. And anyway uh between Pesach and around sukkos chadash is not a problem because any grain that's in the market was already there before the omer was brought. So it was covered by the omer. The chadash problems I'm I'm giving you approximate dates tend to materialize around sukkos time. Because around sukkos time grain has come to market or products have come to market where the grain may have been planted after Pesach. And then harvested in the summer and if that's the case it's chadash until next omer period. So chadash is a concern between sukkos and Pesach. It tends not to be a problem from Pesach to sukkos. Uh in eretz yisrael where the issur does apply the hashgachas take care of that to be sure that no chadash goes to market. Outside of eretz yisrael this gives a huge huge problem. The ramaz shita is that you don't have to worry about chadash in chutz la'aretz. Chadash it only applies to eretz yisrael and the mainstream hashgachas like the OU follow the ramaz psak and therefore they are not guaranteeing that something is yashan because they say we follow the ramaz who does not require it. However given the fact that many poskim and many meticulous Jews do want to keep the laws of chadash and yashan even in chutz la'aretz so they have to keep track. They either they find mehadrin hashgachas that certify yashan uh you know chadash free that it's yashan or uh they just buy a whole bunch of stuff right after Pesach. They have a whole basement full of spaghetti cookies bread etc. which they know is yashan and that will sustain them until Pesach when they when they sell their their chametz. Again and uh people who are into this people who keep yashan or chadash in chutz la'aretz become very familiar with many arcane bits of data that most of us are not familiar with such as reading barcodes. Uh if you actually can scan the barcodes on products on grain products you can see when it was harvested. All sorts of interesting information appears on barcodes that most of us would have including me would have no idea uh what it even means. But as I say uh it's important to know this because the mainstream American hashgachas do not certify for chadash or yashan based on the ramaz psak. Paradoxically in eretz yisrael where the laws of chadash are much stricter it's much less of a problem because that's going to be folded into the hashgacha itself so you're not going to have to worry about it. Okay. But the reason I'm bringing this up and this is going to why it's connected to the rambam is for the following. What is the factor that generates the chiyuv of the counting of the omer? Is it the second day of Pesach? Or is it the bringing of the korban ha omer? Because note that the pasuk itself gives two triggers. Mimochoras hashabbos and miyom havi acheim es omer hatnufah. Now when there's a beis hamikdash this is a totally theoretical question because both things happen the same day. The second day of Pesach is the day we bring the omer. So whatever the trigger is I got both triggers so I start counting the omer although I do it the night before but the triggers come in the daytime. But the nafka mina is what is the status of the mitzvah of the counting of the omer when there's no beis hamikdash? Unfortunately we are not yet zocheh to the beis hamikdash. We did not bring a korban ha omer today. So is there a mitzvah of counting the omer? Surprisingly most rishonim including tosos in meseches menachos actually say that when there's no korban ha omer the mitzvah of counting the omer is only rabbinic and it's not min haTorah and we do it zecher la-Mikdash. Just to remember what we did when there was a Beit Hamikdash. So, according to most Rishonim, the counting of the Omer bizman hazeh, it's a chiyuv It is a chiyuv, for sure it's a chiyuv, but it is a mid'oraita chiyuv zecher la-Mikdash. >> [clears throat] >> Now, you might ask me a question, "Well, wait a second. How could it be only mid'oraita even though it's in the Torah, but the Torah's obligation is only when there's a korban, that's fine. But, I make a bracha, baruch atah Hashem Elokeinu Melech ha'olam, asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav. You commanded us v'tzivani I'm sorry, you sanctified us with your commandments. V'tzivanu and you commanded us al s'firat ha'Omer. On the counting of the Omer. How Right, how can I make that bracha? This is God didn't command me. God commanded me only when there's a korban. There's no korban. But, the answer is, well, think about this. There are numerous purely rabbinic commandments which we make the bracha asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav. Chanukah. Did God command you to light Chanukah candles? No. That came much later. Uh even Purim, even though Purim is in the Nach, but technically Purim is mid'oraita. Anything after Moshe Rabbeinu is mid'oraita. In fact, there are some d'oraitas even Moshe Rabbeinu There are certain things Moshe Rabbeinu enacted that are not Torah laws. They are d'oraitas. For example, the reading of the Torah on Shabbat is a takanah of Moshe Rabbeinu. The Torah doesn't say you have to do it. Moshe Rabbeinu, right? So, so the Rambam explains, based on the Gemara in Shabbat, that since in Parshat Shoftim in Sefer Devarim, the Torah says, "You shall not depart from what the Chachamim tell you to the right or to the left." Every d'oraita becomes a Torah requirement. So, yeah, God didn't command me to light Chanukah candles, but God commanded me to listen to the Rabbanan. So, therefore, God commanded me. God That's correct. The t'filot even though the Rambam According to many Rishonim, davening at all is only mid'oraita, and even like the Rambam that t'filah is d'oraita, the nusach is certainly mid'oraita. Okay, so the concept of a bracha asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav on a d'oraita is a very, very familiar idea. Okay. Be it as it may, according to most Rishonim, counting of the Omer is mid'oraita zecher la-Mikdash. There is one dissenting view, which is a very, very very chashuv view, and that is none other than the Rambam. The Rambam's opinion is that even bizman hazeh, when there is no korban ha'Omer, mimochorat haShabbat is mechayev the counting of the Omer. So, according to the Rambam, the counting of the Omer bizman hazeh is a chiyuv d'oraita. Now, there are practical repercussions to this. You may ask, "Well, what's the difference exactly if something is a chiyuv d'oraita or a chiyuv d'oraita?" You make the same bracha, the same bracha you're going to make for the reason that I said. And you have to listen to Rabbanan. When people have the attitude, "Oh, I don't have to listen to d'oraitas." That's not true. So, what's the nafka mina? What is the practical difference? So, there actually is a very, very practical difference, and many of you might have experienced this in the old country, in the United States, and that is the following. We have a Right, the the day, the halachic day is divided into three units. There is daylight, there is night, and then there's a period called twilight, which is called bein hashmashot. Day begins halachically at the crack of dawn, which is even before sunset. And it is definitively night when you see three stars in the sky. But, the period of time between sunset, shkiya, and tzeis hakochavim, stars, >> [snorts] >> has a very interesting characterization. It is called bein hashmashot, which is twilight. Again, I'm simplifying a little bit, but that's the basic twilight period. Now, twilight in halacha is classified as a safek yom, safek layla. We're not clear if halachically it is day because we didn't see the stars yet, or halachically it's night because of sunset. And in fact, not only that, there are three possibilities. Either bein hashmashot is totally day until the stars come out, or bein hashmashot is totally night because the sun has set, or at some indeterminate point in the middle it switches. Miktzasam min hayom, miktzasam min halayla. Now, because bein hashmashot is halachically a safek, so whenever it comes to d'oraita laws, you have to be machmir. Let's consider Shabbat for example. We know in Judaism, obviously, the new day begins at night, right? Shabbat begins Friday night. Uh motzei Shabbat ends Saturday night. Now, we know that you must stop doing melacha. I mean, I I obviously candle lighting etc. 40 minutes, 20 minutes, whatever it is, but at a bare absolute obligation, you must stop doing melacha by sunset. If you did not light your Shabbat candles by shkiya, and it's wise to have at least a 3-minute margin of error, you do not light your Shabbat candles. You must stop all melachot from shkiya, sunset. And yet, we don't end Shabbat at sunset. We have to wait until the stars come out. So, Shabbat is not 24 hours. Shabbat can be 24 and 1/2 hours or even depending 25 hours. I'll get to the duration. And why is that so? Because bein hashmashot, you have to err on the side of stringency on both sides of the equation. I have to start Shabbat no later than sunset because maybe bein hashmashot is night, but I cannot end Shabbat till tzeis hakochavim because maybe bein hashmashot is day. So, as a result, Friday afternoon, I got to treat bein hashmashot as possibly night, and Shabbat afternoon, I got to treat bein hashmashot as possibly day. By the way, the duration of twilight, how long is the twilight period, is actually not a function of winter-summer. You know, we're used to the idea summer days are longer, winter's days are shorter. That actually does not have a major impact on the duration of twilight. The duration of twilight is not a function of season that much. It is a function of distance from the equator. Uh meaning, at the equator, there actually is no twilight. As soon as the sun sets, it is totally dark, and you see stars. The further north or south you get from the equator, the longer the twilight period is. So, it doesn't it does not depend on summer, winter. That is why twilight in Eretz Yisrael is a relatively short amount of time. It may change throughout the year, but it's relatively short. It's never longer than a half an hour. Meaning, it gets dark pretty quickly. Uh because we're closer to the equator than New York or Paris. New York, Paris, London, the twilight period is going to be much longer. And and again, that's irrespective of summer or winter. Because twilight is affected is affected, rather, by the distance from the equator. Okay. Be it as it may, this bein hashmashot has some very interesting implications regarding circumcision. Let's talk about that. Let's say a baby is born Monday afternoon after sunset before the stars came out. Now, if bein hashmashot is day, he is a Monday baby, and the bris would be Monday. If bein hashmashot is night, he's a Tuesday baby, so the bris would be Tuesday. So, do I do the bris on Monday, or do I do the bris on Tuesday? So, the halacha is very clear. I got to wait until Tuesday. And the reason is the following. If you do a bris earlier than the eighth day, it's an invalid bris. If you do a bris later than the eighth day, even though you didn't do the mitzvah totally properly, it is a kosher bris. So, if I do the bris on Monday, it might be too early because if bein hash mashos is night, then next Monday is day seven from birth. Ma she'ain kein, if I do the bris on Tuesday, it's either the eighth day if bein hash mashos is night, or if bein hash mashos is day, it's the ninth day and it's still a kosher bris. So, for sure, if you don't know whether it's a Monday baby or a Tuesday baby, you always have to go with the later day because a bris that is done too early is much more severe than a bris that is done too late. A a bris that's done too late is a kosher bris. Uh a bris that is done too early is a possul bris. By the way, how do you fix a possul bris? Uh it's again you got to do pin prick and uh you know, and get blood. That's called hatafas dam bris. Now, now let's take this situation. Yeah, that's that's the next thing. Now, we know that a bris milah is so important that a bris milah even overrides Shabbos. Right? Even though it's desecration of Shabbos, you do a bris milah on Shabbos, but only if it's an eighth day bris. If you're doing the bris not in the right time, you cannot do it on Shabbos. Only a milah bizmanah. So, now let's consider the case that happens. This This does happen. A woman gives birth Friday afternoon Friday afternoon after sunset bein hash mashos. So, it's either a Friday baby if bein hash mashos is day, or it is a Saturday baby if bein hash mashos is night. Now, if it's a Friday baby, the bris would be next Friday. If it's a Shabbos baby, the bris would be next Shabbos. But here, I can neither do the bris on Friday, nor can I do it on Shabbos. I can't do it on Friday because maybe bein hash mashos is night and it's a Shabbos baby and a Friday bris would be day seven. On the other hand, I can't do it on Shabbos because maybe bein hash mashos is day and it's a Friday baby and Shabbos is day nine and it's a milah shelo bizmanah, I can't do it on Shabbos. So, I can't do it on Friday because maybe it's too early and I can't do it on Shabbos because maybe it's the ninth day and you cannot do a ninth day bris on Shabbos. So, you got to do the bris on Sunday. Now, Sunday for sure is not the right day. Sunday is either day nine or day 10. It's the wrong day. But it's the wrong even though it's the wrong day for sure, it is the earliest possible day that you're able to do the bris. Case of a baby is born bein hash mashos on Friday going into Shabbos. Now, if the baby is born motzei Shabbos bein hash mashos, that's not a particular problem. I just do the bris on Sunday. That's not a problem and that might be the eighth day, right? It might be the eighth, it might be the ninth. But when the baby is born Friday bein hash mashos, you're doing the bris on either day nine or day 10. For sure it's the wrong day, but you simply don't have a you don't have a choice. Maybe they they they bring down from the Chasam Sofer, although for a different reason, that uh a woman should pray that she should not uh go into labor on on Shabbos. Now, his reason is because even though if a woman goes into labor, we certainly violate the Shabbos because it's pikuach nefesh, but it would be a spiritual zechus not to cause any chillul Shabbos. But maybe I would augment the Chasam Sofer that a woman should pray that she should not give birth bein hash mashos on Friday afternoon because that would make it impossible to fulfill the mitzvah of a bris milah on the eighth day. Maybe she makes a deal with God. God, if I will give birth bein hash mashos, let it be a girl. Okay. Yeah. So, uh the story about the Chasam Sofer is that he himself was born Friday Oh, he was born wow. I'm right. Yeah. No, no, but the the about shilo or the rov of shilo where his father was governing delayed the for the rov now until he was born. Oh, so as he so he was he was born he was born before tzeis hakochavim. Yeah. So, he he knows he would Yeah, so so I'm saying that wouldn't have helped if it was after night. I mean yeah, okay. Interesting. Okay. That's interesting. Okay. Yeah. Um Friday Well, was it bein hash mashos? And sunset and night It was night. I was looking I'm with that thing. Night today and morning Shabbos. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, well, again, the truth of the matter is I I I am oversimplifying because what when bein hash mashos starts is in itself a huge controversy. Meaning, I'm giving you the simplest shita of bein hash mashos, which is the shita of the Gaonim, that bein hash mashos starts with the setting of the sun. Uh even that is a problem when you have mountains. >> [laughter] >> How do you calculate the shkiah because when you're surrounded by mountains, the visible sunset is earlier than the actual sunset at sea level. Again, every single thing is has huge controversies. There have been many many many many seforim written about this. Uh I'm just trying to keep it just relatively simple for illustrative purposes. Now, the reason I'm bringing this up is this is going to be very relevant for counting of the omer. You know, in the United States in particular and even amongst Sefardim here in Eretz Yisrael, uh they often daven arvit. They daven maariv before tzeis hakochavim, but after sunset. In other words, they'll daven mincha hopefully before shkiah and they will daven arvit right after shkiah even before tzeis hakochavim. In the States, that's almost always the case. Here, many Sefardim do it. Many Sefardic minyanim do daven arvit before tzeis hakochavim. So, here's the question. Am I allowed to count with a bracha sefirat haomer in the period of bein hash mashos, or must I wait until tzeis hakochavim? So, in reality, this may well depend on the machlokes between Tosfos and the Rambam in the following way. We have a general rule that when it comes to Torah commandments, safek deoraisa lechumra. All Torah laws, you must err on the side of stringency. When it comes to rabbinic laws, we have a rule that says safek derabbanan lekula. Let me give you an example. If I don't remember if I davened mincha, I just don't remember. Or for that matter, I don't remember if I davened shacharis. Mi safek, I am not obligated to daven a shemoneh esrei, right? Because since [clears throat] the obligation of an amidah is rabbinic, we say safek derabbanan, safek derabbanan. I'm maker. On the other hand, I do have to say shema in doubt because since shema is a Torah commandment, if I'm in doubt if I fulfilled the Torah commandment, I got to be machmir. Same thing with with benching. If I don't remember if I recited birkat hamazon, I actually bench again because reciting birkat hamazon on bread Well, it's a little complicated because technically, you're only chayev birkat hamazon on a Torah level if you're totally full. So, if you had like one sandwich and you're still hungry, your obligation of birkat hamazon is derabbanan and mi safek you wouldn't repeat benching. But let's assume that you're totally satiated. How can a person not remember? That's a good question, but again, this is what the This is what the Chassidim used to say. You know, in the old in the original uh wars, so so to speak, between Chassidim and Misnagdim, so Misnagdim used to like to have these public debates where they would show that the Chassidim were ignorant of the Torah. So, they would raise all sorts of questions. What if you forget? What if you skip? What if you don't do this? What if you don't do that? What if you don't remember? And Chassidim didn't always know the answers. But they said, "We don't know the laws of what if you skip, what if you forget, because we don't forget. We don't skip. So, we don't have to know these laws. If you have yiras shamayim, right? I mean, how much of how much is halacha based on people making mistakes that ideally we shouldn't be making? Right? Uh You mix up your milk and I don't know what happens when you mix up milk and fleishig. Because my uh my house, we don't mix up milk and fleishig. You know what I'm saying? So, in a perfect world, like half of the Shulchan Aruch would simply not even be relevant because it's all about mistakes and omissions and in Choshen Mishpat about lies, people lying, you know, etc. A world of truth. Well, how do you adjudicate? Okay. Uh but but but be as it may, if I don't remember if I bentshed and and I I am full from my eating, safek d'oraita l'chumra. On the other hand, if I don't remember if I said al hamichya, [clears throat] that's a d'rabbanan, safek d'rabbanan l'kula. So, now, here is the point. Bein hashmashot, going back to shul, bein hashmashot is a safek yom, safek layla. Am I allowed to give myself the benefit of the doubt and treat it like the next day for a new omer count? Meaning, let's say the day was the 26th of the omer, tonight is the 27th of the omer. I can say that cuz it's not this man yet. Uh so, can I count day 27 bein hashmashos? Now, if bein hashmashos is the day, I could not. If bein hashmashos is the night, I could. So, what am I allowed to assume? Answer, like Tosfos that counting of the omer is rabbinic, I can give myself the benefit of the doubt and I can count the new day of 27 bein hashmashos. But like the Rambam, that [clears throat] it's a safek of Torah law, I cannot give myself the benefit of the doubt and treat it like the next day. I have to wait until tzeis hakochavim. Now, the Shulchan Aruch and the Rama, they both pasken like Tosfos that it's d'rabbanan and you are allowed to count the omer bein hashmashos. You are allowed to and that's why shuls will say a bracha uh bein hashmashos. But many yirei shamayim want to be strict like the Rambam and either they will not count with a bracha, they won't will not count at all till later. Or even if they do count, they will be meticulous to at least say it without a bracha again tzeis hakochavim and that is the proper minhag to do to at least count it again uh without without a bracha. But but this is a nafka mina, this is a practical difference between the shita of the Rambam and the shita of Tosfos whether you can count uh the omer bein hashmashot. Okay? Uh if it's d'oraita, safek d'oraita l'chumra, if it's a d'rabbanan, safek d'rabbanan l'kula. By the way, the same issue could be could be viewed in the from the other perspective. And that is, can I count the old day bein hashmashos? Meaning, let's say day 26 and now I forgot to count. Now, for tzeisach, I cannot make a bra- Well, okay, let me go let me go over the basic halacha here. The basic halacha of forgetting, although nobody should forget, but the basic halacha of forgetting is is the following. If I didn't count with a bracha at night and I remember during the day, I count the correct day without a bracha. And if I counted the correct day without a bracha, I can resume my count with a bracha during the night, the following night. If on the other hand, I skipped an entire day, I neither counted at night or the day, so then I'm in trouble, I've lost the ability to make a bracha from now on. Uh I still count without a bracha and I can listen to the chazzan or listen to somebody who will make a bracha to be motzi me. So, the bein hashmashos quandary can come up this way. Let's say I forgot to count at night and I even forgot to count during the day, but I remembered bein hashmashos. And I count I counted the old day, I counted the old day. Now, for tzeisach, I don't make a bracha because if I didn't count the night before, I don't make a bracha. But the question is, have I have I preserved my right to make a bracha for the future days? Can I give myself the benefit of the doubt that bein hashmashos is still day? Now, here I would actually say I would actually suggest yes because here, since the whole issue is making the bracha, making the bracha is mid'rabbanan. Birkas hamitzvos is mid'rabbanan. So, on a d'rabbanan, I could give myself the benefit of the doubt that bein hashmashos is um is still daytime. Right? So, there's an interesting asymmetry maybe between using bein hashmashos for the old day versus using using for for the new day. Okay. So, this is a machlokes Tosfos and the Rambam uh that I wanted to share with you. But now I want to bring a very interesting and a little strange third opinion. And this is a third opinion of a Rishon, Rabeinu Yerucham. Now, Rabeinu Yerucham may not be that well known to people even in the yeshiva world because he his his writings are typically not studied as Talmudic commentaries. But in the history of halacha, Rabeinu Yerucham is enormously important. Uh the Tur and the Beit Yosef and the Shulchan Aruch and the Rama, if you just look at their sources, are bringing Rabeinu Yerucham over and over and over and over again. Uh he was a talmid of the Rosh, uh lived in in Germany and France. Uh there's an interesting little bit of a bizarre story about Rabeinu Yerucham. Although his sefarim are enormously important in the history of halacha, it is said that there's a curse on anybody that reprints the sefarim that they're going to die or their kids are going to die and you know, don't touch these sefarim, don't print them. And it's not clear where that came from. Uh presumably, the explanation that's given is that his sefarim in manuscript were copied and recopied so many times that in the course of time, there were tremendous amount of mistakes and inaccuracies that were introduced. Uh kedai kach, that there were gedolim who said, "Let's not even reprint these manuscripts anymore because they are totally corrupted." I read this because somebody recently put out a beautiful new edition of Rabeinu Yerucham's sefarim and he felt the need in the hakdama to kind of justify how is he doing this if you're not supposed to reprint the sefarim. And he explained that the problem was the inaccuracies and he went back to the original manuscripts and as a result, he was metaken. Be it as it may, Rabeinu Yerucham is enormously important. And this is what he says. We know that in counting of the omer, we count the omer in two units. We count days and we count weeks. So, for example, on day 21, we say uh this is the 21st day which is three weeks in the omer. So, Rabeinu Yerucham says the following and this needs a lot of explanation. The mitzvah of counting days applies min haTorah even when even bizman hazeh when there's no Beit Hamikdash. But the mitzvah to add the weeks only applies when there's a Beit Hamikdash and when there's no Beit Hamikdash, it is d'rabbanan zecher l'Mikdash. Now, this is a very bizarre shita because I can understand the argument that Sefiras Omer depends on the korban, so when there's no korban, then everything is d'rabbanan. Or I can understand the argument of the Rambam that everything is d'oraita from the second day of Pesach. But meheicha teisi, what would be any possible conceptual basis to say that the weeks depend on the Beit Hamikdash but the days do not depend on the Beit Hamikdash? I will say, however, that l'aniyas daati, Rabeinu Yerucham's shita might be the source of an interesting nusach that many Sefardim have. Let's take day 21 for example. So, Ashkenazim say hayom echad v'esrim yom, today is the 21st day, sheheim shlosha shavuos ba'omer or la'omer, that's a separate issue. In other words, we put the ba'omer or la'omer at the end. And many Sefardim have this nusach. Hayom echad v'esrim yom ba'omer or la'omer, again, that's a separate issue, sheheim shlosha shavuos. See the difference? They put the word ba'omer or la'omer after the days and then they say the weeks as opposed to putting the ba'omer at the end. L'aniyas daati, I did not see any source. Perhaps the origination of this minhag might be Rabeinu Yerucham because since according to him, the days are a Torah commandment even today. And the weeks are only Rabbeinu. I didn't explain why yet, but that's what he says. So, we want to put the word ba'omer. We want to have a smichut of the word ba'omer on the part of the mitzvah that is a Torah command. So, perhaps perhaps this is a bit of a remez in the nusach to Rabbeinu Yerucham's opinion. Uh but be it as it may, we need to explain Rabbeinu Yerucham's opinion. Why is there a difference in weeks and days? Now, in this connection I'm going to hold this over for next week, but I just want to share with you a very interesting maiseh of the Beis Halevi. The Beis Halevi, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, was the first of the Soloveitchiks, of the three generations of the Soloveitchiks, that's where the rabbonim of Brisk. It was Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, known as the Beis Halevi. His son was the famous famous Rav Chaim Soloveitchik. And Rav Chaim's son uh was the last Rav of Brisk before the Holocaust. And he was zocheh we were zocheh to have him come to Eretz Yisrael. And he's he's he's often called the Brisker Rav, although his father was also Brisker Rav, but he was the last Rav of Brisk. That is Rav Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik, known as Rav Velvel Soloveitchik, who died here. So, the Beis Halevi, when the Beis Halevi became Rav of Brisk, this was in the 1880s or so, might maybe yeah, 1880s. So, Brisk was a very progressive town. And not everybody in Brisk was super frum. I mean, there were communists, there were secular Zionists, there were socialists, there were many maskilim. And they didn't like the fact that the Beis Halevi seemed to be uh too chareidi, although chareidi was not the word used in those days. It's uh but you know, too frum, too extreme. So, they wanted a meeting with him. And they had a meeting. And they said, "Listen, we are a progressive town. We're uh you know, we're at the tail end of the 19th century, a time of progressivism. We want a rabbi who is flexible in matters of halacha and understands that times change." So, the Beis Halevi said, "Oh, yes, yes, yes, I am a very progressive halachic posek. I have all sorts of leniencies that you would be very surprised to learn about." So, they got a little excited. They were very pleasantly surprised. Wow, maybe he's one of us. He says, "Yeah, here's my thing. Everyone knows the halacha that as I said it a few moments ago, if you skip a whole day of the omer, you can no longer make a bracha. But here's my chiddush. My chiddush is that the mitzvah of And And the reason is because the Torah says temimos. It has to be a complete count. You miss a day, it's not complete. So, here's my chiddush, says the Beis Halevi. Since the Torah gives you two mitzvos, a mitzvah to count the days and a mitzvah to count the weeks. And by the way, the mitzvah to count the weeks actually just means day seven, you say one week, day 14, day 21. The intermediate mention of weeks is actually not required, although we do it. So, here's the Beis Halevi's chiddush. Let's say I missed day six. I cannot count days with a bracha because it's not temimos. But I didn't miss a weekday. So, I could still count with a bracha day seven, day 14, day 21, day 28, day 35, day 42, day 49. So, every seven days you can still make a bracha. Shver hear such a leniency. So, suffice it to say this was not quite uh what they were looking for. Uh but it is a very very interesting chiddush the Beis Halevi is mechadesh, that you can be complete in your weeks count even if you're not complete in your days count. And therefore, upon the completion of every week, you can make a bracha. Do we pasken that way? Seemingly not. But nevertheless, this is the Beis Halevi's chiddush. But next week, God willing, I'll try to give you uh some explanations.