Question: What if a person counted the Omer but forgot to utter the blessing beforehand? Has he fulfilled his obligation? Incidentally, why do we recite a blessing for this counting but not for the “zayin nekiyim – seven clean days”?
M. Goldman
Miami Beach, FL
Answer: A person who counted the Omer fulfills his obligation regardless of whether he said the blessing beforehand or not. The Gemara gives the same ruling in the second perek of Berachot (15a) regarding a cheresh (a person who speaks but does not hear) who is instructed not to separate terumah since he can’t hear his own blessing. The Gemara states that if the cheresh separates terumah nonetheless, what he separates is considered terumah. Why? Because saying the berachah is only a rabbinic obligation, and the Rabbis did not make the fulfillment of a mitzvah dependent on it. “Ein berachah me’akevet – A blessing does not prevent fulfillment of a mitzvah.”
The Pnei Yehoshua (ad loc.) argues that even if blessings were biblical, they still would not be absolutely essential to the fulfillment of mitzvot. Why then does the Gemara say that the obligation to recite a blessing is rabbinic if the terumah the cheresh separated would be valid even if the obligation is biblical? The Pnei Yehoshua explains that the Gemara merely wished to give an additional reason.
Regarding the mitzvah of Sefirat HaOmer, the Mechaber (Rabbi Yosef Caro, author of the Shulchan Aruch) states (Orach Chayim 489:7) that if a person forgot to count the Omer at night, he should do so the following day without a blessing. (He should do so even though there are many poskim, as the Mishnah Berurah [ad loc.] notes, who rule that the time to count the Omer is only at night.) The following night he should continue counting the Omer with a blessing.
Now, let us consider an obvious question. If the blessing is not essential, why does missing an entire night and day of counting prevent a person from counting the Omer with a blessing the following night? The answer is that this person’s counting is defective since he missed a number in the sequence of 49. For this type of counting, our sages did not sanction reciting a blessing even if, as the Gemara states, the obligation is rabbinic.
We must always remember that a berachah includes the sheim Hashem – the Holy Name. According to the Gemara (Berachot 33a), one who utters a blessing with the Holy Name when there is no clear need for it, violates one of the Ten Commandments: “Lo tisa eit Sheim Hashem Elokecha la’shov ki lo yenakeh Hashem eit asher yisa et Shemo la’shov – You shall not take the Name of Hashem, your G-d, in vain, for G-d will not absolve anyone who takes His Name in vain” (Exodus 20:7 and Deuteronomy 5:11). The Mechaber (Orach Chayim 215:4) writes that it is prohibited to respond “Amen” to such a blessing.
The Magen Avraham (ad loc. sv 6) cites Tosafot (end of Tractate Rosh Hashanah) and the Rosh (first chapter of Tractate Kidushin) who are of the opinion that the prohibition against saying an unnecessary blessing is only rabbinic. According to this opinion, the Gemara cites “You shall not take the Name of Hashem, your G-d, in vain” not because the prohibition is biblical but merely as an asmachta – for support. The Magen Avraham, though, also cites the Rambam (Hilchot Berachot 1:15), who seems to infer from the Gemara that making an unnecessary blessing is a biblical prohibition.
As for your second question, we had a similar query a number of years ago. That correspondent compared the Omer to Yovel. Because of your question’s timeliness, we will review that discussion.
The mitzvah to count the Omer is incumbent upon all men. Women are exempt since it is a mitzvat aseh she’hazeman gerama, a positive precept dependent upon time. We are commanded in Parshat Emor (Vayikra 23:15), “U’sefartem lachem mi’mochorat hashabbat miyom havi’achem et omer hatenufah, sheva shabbatot temimot tih’yenah – You shall count from the day after the Sabbath [i.e., the first day of Passover], from the day you bring the Omer of the wave offering, seven complete weeks shall there be.”
The Mechaber (Orach Chayim 489:1) states that it is incumbent upon everyone to count for himself while standing. He has to recite a blessing before counting, and he has to count the days as well as the weeks.
The Taz adds that counting the Omer is different than counting toward Yovel, which the Torah refers to in Parshat Behar (Vayikra 25:8): “Vesafarta lecha sheva shabtot shanim, sheva shanim sheva pe’amim… – You shall count [for yourself] seven cycles of sabbatical years, seven years seven times….” Counting the Omer is also different from a person who has become contaminated due to an impure discharge counting toward purification, which the Torah refers to in Parshat Metzora (ibid. 15:13): “Vechi yit’har hazav mizovo vesafar lo shiv’at yamim letohorato… – When the person…is cleansed, he shall count seven days for his purification….” In these two cases, the purpose of the counting is to mark the time until the conclusion of a finite period of time, whereas the purpose of counting the Omer is an end unto itself. The counting itself is a mitzvah and therefore requires a berachah.
The Magen Avraham notes that we derive that counting the Omer is an obligation incumbent upon each individual from the fact that the Torah states, “U’sefartem lachem,” which is similar to the language it uses when commanding us to take the Four Species on Sukkot, “U’lekachtem lachem” (Vayikra 23:40).
The Talmud (Menachot 65b) discusses the two verses in Parshat Emor that deal with counting the Omer: “You shall count from the day after the Sabbath…seven complete weeks shall there be” (Vayikra 23:15) and “Until the morrow of the seventh…shall you count 50 days…” (ibid. 23:16). The Gemara concludes that the first verse, with the phrase “seven complete weeks,” refers to years when the first day of Passover falls on Shabbat, resulting in the counting of seven full weeks, each starting on a Sunday. The second verse refers to years when the first day of Passover falls on a day other than Shabbat. No matter on which day of the week it falls, we start counting toward 50 on the following day.
The Talmud (ibid.) also cites Devarim 16:9, “Shiv’a shavuot tispor lach, me’hachel chermesh bakamah tachel lispor shiv’ah shavuot – Seven weeks shall you count; from such time that the sickle is put to the standing crop shall you begin counting seven weeks,” and states that this verse teaches us that the counting depends on the decision of beit din. Rashi explains that beit din determines when the holiday will occur (since it determines when the month begins), which in turns determines when we start counting the Omer.
How do we arrive at the different interpretations of these verses? By the words they use. Wherever we find the term “lachem,” the plural form of “you,” the implication is an obligation incumbent upon every individual (and the requirement of a berachah). Wherever we find the word “lach,” the singular form of “you,” the implication is that beit din is involved. So “lach” carries no indication that an individual should count. Thus, the Torah uses the word “lach” in reference to counting toward Yovel since it is the beit din’s function to designate the Jubilee year. But it uses the term “lachem” for counting the Omer and for taking the Four Species for Sukkot – both individual obligations.
A person who has an impure discharge (Vayikra 15:13) and must count the days to his purification obviously has an individual obligation to count (although the Torah uses the singular pronoun “lo” or “lah”). His counting is obviously not a function of beit din. Tosafot (loc. cit, s.v. U’sefartem) does point out, though, that since the entire process of counting toward purification has to begin anew whenever one sees a fresh discharge, one does not recite a berachah when counting.