Question: Is there a requirement to recite “Hineni muchan u’mezuman” before Sefirat HaOmer, also if one arrives late for Maariv does one count sefirah first with the minyan or proceed immediately to Maariv?
Moshe Jakobowitz
Brooklyn, NY
Answer: First let us view the source of the mitzvah of Sefirat Ha’omer. The Torah states in Parashat Emor (Leviticus 23:15), “You shall count from the morrow after the Sabbath [lit. the `day of rest,’ i.e., from the morrow after the first day of Passover – see Rashi and Targum Onkelos], from the day when you bring the omer [a measure equal to a tenth of an eipha – see verse 11 supra] of the wave offering, seven complete weeks shall there be.”
We derive several facts from this verse. One is that we count from the second day of Passover, as Rashi noted. The other is that we count from the evening, so that there shall be seven full weeks (temimot). If we were to start the count in the morning, the count of fifty days indicated by the next verse, “[T]isperu chamishim yom,” would not be complete, as we would be missing a period of some 10 to 13 hours [depending upon when one rises in the morning] at the beginning of the Sefirah period. The commandment is to count from the 16th of Nissan until seven entire weeks are completed, at which time we celebrate the festival of Shavuot.
We did note in our previous piece that these complete weeks in many years may not fall out in accord with sheshet ye’mei be’reishit – the six days of creation [from Sunday to Saturday – the Sabbath]. Nevertheless, each complete period of seven contiguous days is considered a complete week to satisfy the Torah’s requirement of counting in this regard to reach the full seven weeks of the mitzvah.
The Rambam (Hilchot Temidin U’Musafin 7:5) rules that the Omer is to be brought only from the produce of Eretz Yisrael, as stated in the first Mishna of Chapter 8 in Menachot (83b): “All the offerings of the congregation (Rashi: this applies to all the menachot, i.e., the meal-offerings) may be offered from [produce grown in] the land [of Israel] or outside the land … except the Omer-offering and the Two Loaves, which must be offered only from the new produce, and from [produce grown in] the land.” Thus, it precludes the view of R. Yosi b. R. Yehuda (cited in 84a) that the Omer can be brought even from produce grown outside the Land of Israel. Rambam rules in accordance with the Mishna. He rules further (infra 7:6), “Its mitzvah requires that it be cut on the night of the sixteenth [of Nissan] whether it be weekday or the Sabbath [it overrides the Sabbath].
Incidentally, the waving procedure of the offering decreed by the Torah (ibid. 23:11) is performed as follows, according to Tractate Menachot (61a, 62a): The offering is waved forward and backward (Rashi: in all four directions – north, south, east and west) as well as upward and downward. It is waved in all four directions in order to restrain ill winds emanating from the four corners of the earth. It is waved upward and downward to ward off harmful dew.
We might now ask: What is the essence of the mitzvah of counting the Omer, if we posit that the Omer-offering is operational in Eretz Yisrael only [and when the Beit HaMikdash was standing]?
Rambam (op.cit. 7:22) refers to the counting itself as a mitzvat aseh, a positive biblical precept that we are commanded to fulfill: “It is a positive precept to count seven complete weeks from the day that one is to bring the Omer-offering as the verse (Leviticus 23:15) states, “U’sefartem lachem mi’mochorat haShabbat… sheva Shabbatot temimot – You shall count from the morrow after the Sabbath…seven complete weeks shall there be,” and it is a mitzvah to count the days and also the weeks, since the verse (infra 23:16) states “[T]isperu chamishim yom – You shall count fifty days…,” and we count from the start of the day [Israel’s day commences from the night]; therefore we count from the night of the sixteenth of Nissan. Rambam (infra 7:23) further explains: If one forgot to count at night he counts during the day and one is to count standing; however, if he counted while seated, he [nevertheless] discharges his obligation.
The Kesef Mishneh, ad loc., quotes Tractate Menachot (66a): “Amemar [unlike Abbaye] used to count the days but not the weeks, saying it [the counting] is only in commemoration of Temple times.” Rashi explains that although there is no Omer-offering today and the counting is only a remembrance of the Temple, we still have to count the days as well as the weeks [as the Rambam then rules].
Rambam further solidifies his ruling that counting the Omer is a mitzvat aseh, a positive biblical precept, obviously independent of the actual cutting and bringing forth of the Omer, as he states (infra 7:24) “This mitzvah [to count] is incumbent on all Jewish males in all places [even outside the land] and for all times [even now that we are bereft of our Holy Temple]. And women and slaves [who are subject to only those mitzvot that are incumbent upon women] are exempt from [its performance].
Rambam (infra. 7:25) cites the text of the blessing to be said prior to the counting of the Omer. However, he notes; “He counted the Omer without a blessing, he has nevertheless fulfilled the requirement and need not repeat the counting [in order to recite the blessing].
To be continued…
