The time we are in between Pesach and Shavous is known as Sefiras Haomer, The Counting of the Omer. There is a special mitzvah to count the fifty days between these two holidays starting from the second day of Pesach, the day the Korban Omer (brought from barley by the way) was brought in the Beis Hamikdash, which allowed us to start eating from the grain harvested in the past year. Why we count, what’s the significance of the omer, and what is the whole deal with the “new” and “old” grain, is not what I want to discuss here. Instead I would like to focus on another part of the mitzvah.
The mitzvah to count is brought down in this week’s parshah, Parshas Emor. “וּסְפַרְתֶּם לָכֶם מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת מִיּוֹם הֲבִיאֲכֶם אֶת עֹמֶר הַתְּנוּפָה שֶׁבַע שַׁבָּתוֹת תְּמִימֹת תִּהְיֶינָה. עַד מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת הַשְּׁבִיעִת תִּסְפְּרוּ חֲמִשִּׁים יוֹם וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם מִנְחָה חֲדָשָׁה לַי־הֹוָ־ה” “You shall count for yourselves from the day after the holiday, from the day when you bring the omer of the waving-- seven weeks, they shall be complete. Until the morrow of the seventh week you shall count, fifty days; and you shall offer a new meal-offering to Hashem.”(Vayikra 23:15-16) As it says in the pasuk, after the fifty days are up, meaning on Shavous itself, there is a mitzvah to bring a מִנְחָה חֲדָשָׁה, a new meal-offering. This korban acts as a bookend for the korban omer which was brought on Pesach when we started counting. The “new” part of the meal-offering refers to the fact that this is the first meal-offering brought from the new flour. What is the significance of the fact that the korban must be from the “new” flour? The Kli Yakar brings a Chazal that the Torah must be approached every day with the same excitement as if it is your first day learning it. When you first start something new and exciting, you are filled with such an enthusiasm for it and it is very easy to get into. Over time however, it gets less and less exciting until it becomes more like a chore then an exciting activity. Torah must never be treated like this; rather, you must come every day to learn Torah with the same excitement as if that day is the day that we got the Torah from Har Sinai with all the amazing miracles. To symbolize this, when you bring the korban on Shavous, the anniversary of our receiving the Torah, we bring it from new flour.
The Kli Yakar continues this idea with the following question. Parshas Emor lists every holiday that we have which is an obligation from the Torah (FYI: this excludes Chanukah, Purim, and all fast days besides Yom Kippur). The pasukim go through the laws of each holiday and also state the dates that each holiday starts. All that is, but two: Rosh Hashanah and Shavous. This is extremely puzzling. Shavous, as the anniversary for the giving of the Torah is an extremely important day in Jewish history and Rosh Hashanah is the day when we are judged for all our deeds! Why would Hashem not want us to know those two dates?
The answer is that we have an obligation that every day we should see the Torah in a new light. Someone who is completely devoted to a certain subject and really delves into it will find something new in it every day! It doesn’t matter what field it is. Similarly, someone who really connects himself to Torah (the same way a scientist or businessman would commit himself to whatever field he is involved in) finds something new in the Torah every day. Because of this, Hashem did not ascribe one specific day (at least in the Torah) to the holiday of Shavous, rather he made it possible that any and every day of the year could be called the day the Torah was given, thus fulfilling our obligation to appreciate the Torah.
Rosh Hashanah is the same thing, Hashem wants us to be “on our toes” and constantly think about doing teshuvah, not just wait till Rosh Hashanah comes around each year to be forgiven. Also, the gemarah in Maseches Rosh Hashanah (16a) says that there is a judgment done every day to a certain degree. By not giving a date, a person can more easily get into that frame of mind.
As a last piece to the Shavous puzzle, the Kli Yakar focuses on the end of pasuk 17, which goes into more detail of the Shavous offering. The pasuk says that the bread brought with the korban should be, “חָמֵץ תֵּאָפֶינָה” “they shall be baked as chametz (leaven)”. Chazal in Maseches Brachos (17a) say that the chametz is a parable for the Yetzer Hara (Evil Inclination). They explain that wherever there is Torah, the Yetzer Hara has no effect. This is based on another Chazal, this time in Maseches Kiddushin (30b), that Hashem says, “בראתי יצר הרע בראתי לו תורה תבלין” “I created the Yetzer Hara and I created the Torah as spices for it”. Just as spices bring out the true flavor of the food and make it taste good, so too the Torah acts as a spice for the Yetzer Hara and brings out its true flavor. On the holiday when we celebrate the giving of the Torah, we bring a chametz korban to represent the Yetzer Hara, symbolizing that together with Torah, it can be defeated.
May we use this time of Sefira to prepare ourselves for the giving of the Torah. And when we count each night, think about these two things which are being represented here. The first thing is that the day we are counting towards is not the only day that we received the Torah, we receive the Torah each and every day and must act as such and learn and preform its laws with the proper enthusiasm. And secondly, that with the proper preparation, we will soon have all the tools we need to defeat the Yetzer Hara once and for all!
Shabbat Shalom!
AIMeM
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