ןיקרא כג:טו,טז - וספרתם לכם ממחרת השבת, מיום הביאכם את עמר התנופה, שבע שבתות תמימות תהיינה. עד ממחרת השבת השביעית תספרו חמשים יום, והקרבתם מנחה חדשה לה'.
Vayikra 23:15 records the obligation to count seven full weeks from the bringing of the omer sacrifice, sefirat ha-omer. This would seem to mean that we are to count 49 days, which is our practice today. However, the following verse, 23:16, records that we are to count fifty days. How does the fifty-day count tally with the counting of seven weeks, and why today do we not count the 50th day?
Rashi (on 23:16) suggests that 23:16 does not mean that a person is to count fifty days but a person is to count until fifty days, but not inclusive of the fiftieth day. However, Rashi notes that this understanding is insufficient to explain 23:16, and then he makes a further suggestion that one needs to re-shuffle the words in 23:16. Both suggestions are difficult.
The Torah Temimah (on 23:16) quotes the Torat Cohanim that the count of the 50th day is when we are mekadesh (separate) the fiftieth day, and celebrate the holiday of Shavuot. The idea would be that when we celebrate Shavuot, by not working and bringing the various sacrifices of Shavuot, then this is the counting of the fiftieth day. (This might also to be the view of R. Yosef Karo, see the opening line of Shulchan Arukh, Orah Chayyim 494:1, and see Henshke 1992, p. 437.)
A simpler idea is that we are supposed to count the fiftieth day. How does the count of fifty days accord with 23:15 that we are supposed to count seven weeks, which is only 49 days? As we discuss on 25:8-11, “From yovel to yovel: 49 or 50 years?” counting in the Torah includes both the first and last days. For example, by circumcision, Vayikra 12:3 records that the new male baby born is to be circumcised on the eighth day, which is the same day of the week when the baby was born, as both the day of the birth and the day of the circumcision are counted in the eight days. Similarly, the holiday of Shemini Azeret is the eighth day starting from the first day of Sukkot, and marks a complete week, see our discussion “Shemini Azeret: A separate holiday from Sukkot?”
23:15 is then to be understood that a person is to start counting the day of the bringing of the omer, and the person is to count seven full weeks. A full week is until the eighth day, just like by the circumcision. The seven full weeks are then from day 1 to day 8 (1 week), day 8 to day 15 (the 2nd week), day 15 to day 22 (the 3rd week), day 22 to day 29 (the 4th week), day 29 to day 36 (the 5th week), day 36 to day 43 (the 6th week) and day 43 to day 50 (the 7th week). Accordingly, the counting of seven full weeks is to the fiftieth day as recorded in 23:16. By the counting of the omer, the first day of the bringing of the omer is counted, and the last day, the fiftieth day from the brining of the omer, is counted, just like by the eight days of circumcision.
Note, 23:16, begins by referring to the morrow after the seventh shabbat, and here shabbat means weeks, that the count is to the morrow after seven weeks. The word shabbat also appears in 23:15, but there it is modified by the term complete, temimot, while in 23:16, the Torah just refers to shabbat without the word complete. The difference in these two verses is that the mention of seven weeks in 23:16 is to our regular weeks, while in 23:15, the reference is to a full week, which is a week which includes both the first and last days. Thus, the reference to seven weeks in 23:16 is to forty-nine days, and the morrow to the seven weeks is the day after the forty-nine days, the fiftieth day.
Why do we not count the fiftieth day? I think the answer is because of the fight with the Boethusians as to when is the day to bring the omer sacrifice, see our discussion above on 23:9-22, “On the morrow: When is the korban omer brought?” This fight caused Chazal to argue that the omer sacrifice was to be brought at night and then the counting was to begin at night, Mishnah Menachot 10:3. Both of these practices to count only forty- nine days and to count at night, do not accord with the simple reading of the Torah, as Vayikra 23:12,15 refers to the day of the bringing of the omer, and in times with no electricity, all the “actions” involving the Bet ha-Mikdash were done in the daytime. Yet, once it was decided to bring the omer sacrifice at night, the completion of the count was also at night by the forty ninth day, and then the fiftieth day was no longer counted.
Rashi (on 23:16) suggests that 23:16 does not mean that a person is to count fifty days but a person is to count until fifty days, but not inclusive of the fiftieth day. However, Rashi notes that this understanding is insufficient to explain 23:16, and then he makes a further suggestion that one needs to re-shuffle the words in 23:16. Both suggestions are difficult.
The Torah Temimah (on 23:16) quotes the Torat Cohanim that the count of the 50th day is when we are mekadesh (separate) the fiftieth day, and celebrate the holiday of Shavuot. The idea would be that when we celebrate Shavuot, by not working and bringing the various sacrifices of Shavuot, then this is the counting of the fiftieth day. (This might also to be the view of R. Yosef Karo, see the opening line of Shulchan Arukh, Orah Chayyim 494:1, and see Henshke 1992, p. 437.)
A simpler idea is that we are supposed to count the fiftieth day. How does the count of fifty days accord with 23:15 that we are supposed to count seven weeks, which is only 49 days? As we discuss on 25:8-11, “From yovel to yovel: 49 or 50 years?” counting in the Torah includes both the first and last days. For example, by circumcision, Vayikra 12:3 records that the new male baby born is to be circumcised on the eighth day, which is the same day of the week when the baby was born, as both the day of the birth and the day of the circumcision are counted in the eight days. Similarly, the holiday of Shemini Azeret is the eighth day starting from the first day of Sukkot, and marks a complete week, see our discussion “Shemini Azeret: A separate holiday from Sukkot?”
23:15 is then to be understood that a person is to start counting the day of the bringing of the omer, and the person is to count seven full weeks. A full week is until the eighth day, just like by the circumcision. The seven full weeks are then from day 1 to day 8 (1 week), day 8 to day 15 (the 2nd week), day 15 to day 22 (the 3rd week), day 22 to day 29 (the 4th week), day 29 to day 36 (the 5th week), day 36 to day 43 (the 6th week) and day 43 to day 50 (the 7th week). Accordingly, the counting of seven full weeks is to the fiftieth day as recorded in 23:16. By the counting of the omer, the first day of the bringing of the omer is counted, and the last day, the fiftieth day from the brining of the omer, is counted, just like by the eight days of circumcision.
Note, 23:16, begins by referring to the morrow after the seventh shabbat, and here shabbat means weeks, that the count is to the morrow after seven weeks. The word shabbat also appears in 23:15, but there it is modified by the term complete, temimot, while in 23:16, the Torah just refers to shabbat without the word complete. The difference in these two verses is that the mention of seven weeks in 23:16 is to our regular weeks, while in 23:15, the reference is to a full week, which is a week which includes both the first and last days. Thus, the reference to seven weeks in 23:16 is to forty-nine days, and the morrow to the seven weeks is the day after the forty-nine days, the fiftieth day.
Why do we not count the fiftieth day? I think the answer is because of the fight with the Boethusians as to when is the day to bring the omer sacrifice, see our discussion above on 23:9-22, “On the morrow: When is the korban omer brought?” This fight caused Chazal to argue that the omer sacrifice was to be brought at night and then the counting was to begin at night, Mishnah Menachot 10:3. Both of these practices to count only forty- nine days and to count at night, do not accord with the simple reading of the Torah, as Vayikra 23:12,15 refers to the day of the bringing of the omer, and in times with no electricity, all the “actions” involving the Bet ha-Mikdash were done in the daytime. Yet, once it was decided to bring the omer sacrifice at night, the completion of the count was also at night by the forty ninth day, and then the fiftieth day was no longer counted.
Bibliography:
Henshke, David, 1992, The history of the counting of the omer, in Rabbi Mordechai Breuer Festchrift, edited by Moshe Bar-Asher, Jerusalem: Academon Press, pp. 417-448.