TB Menkhot 65ff The counting of the omer at our second Seder

The opening mishnayot of the sixth chapter discusses the omer minkha of barley which permits all the new grain now to be eaten. The ritual is described in great detail to publicize the correct procedure as opposed to the sect of Jews called Boethusians who didn’t accept the oral law. According to the rabbis one begins counting the omer from the second day of Passover with the 50^th day culminating as Shavuot. The Boethusians started the countdown from the first Sunday after the 15^th of Nisan, the first day of Passover.

“(Remember in the land of Israel only the first day of Passover is celebrated as a Yom Tov. The second day would already be Hol Hamoed) How would they perform the rite of the harvest of the omer? Emissaries of the court would emerge on the eve of the festival of Passover and fashion the stalks of barley into sheaves while the stalks were still attached to the ground, so that it would be convenient to reap them. The residents of all the towns adjacent to the site of the harvest would assemble there, so that it would be harvested with great fanfare.

“Once it grew dark, the court emissary says to those assembled: Did the sun set? The assembly says in response: Yes. The emissary repeats: Did the sun set? They again say: Yes. The court emissary next says to those assembled: Shall I reap the sheaves with this sickle? The assembly says in response: Yes. The emissary repeats: With this sickle? The assembly says: Yes. The court emissary then says to those assembled: Shall I place the gathered sheaves in this basket? The assembly says in response: Yes. The emissary repeats: In this basket? The assembly says: Yes. “

If the sixteenth of Nisan occurs on Shabbat, the court emissary says to the assembled: Shall I cut the sheaves on this Shabbat? The assembly says in response: Yes. The emissary repeats: On this Shabbat? The assembly says: Yes. The court emissary says to those assembled: Shall I cut the sheaves? And they say to him in response: Cut. The emissary repeats: Shall I cut the sheaves? And they say to him: Cut.

“The emissary asks three times with regard to each and every matter, and the assembly says to him: Yes, yes, yes. The mishna asks: Why do I need those involved to publicize each stage of the rite to that extent? The mishna answers: It is due to the Boethusians, as they deny the validity of the Oral Law and would say: There is no harvest of the omer at the conclusion of the first Festival day of Passover unless it occurs at the conclusion of Shabbat. The publicity was to underscore that the sixteenth of Nisan was the proper time for the omer harvest.” (Sefaria.org translation)

We who live in the Diaspora treat the first two days of Passover as Yom Tov; consequently, we have two Seders. At the conclusion of the second Seder, we count the omer with a blessing. Dr. Jon Greenberg’s Haggadah Fruits of Freedom: Ancient Seder Insights from Nature, Food, and Farming provides a very important understanding of this ritual.

“To a farmer in the land of Israel, the sefira, or counting, from Pesach to Shavuot is a time of anxiety. The weather in Israel is notoriously mercurial at this time of year, keeping farmers continually on edge about whether rain will arrive when it will benefit the growth of the crops, or when warm dry weather is needed to promote the activity of pollinating bees in the ripening of fruits and grains. The first fruits, bikkurim of the Seven Species, were brought to the Temple with great rejoicing beginning at Shavuot. These crops are quite diverse, but they share one important trait: each of them is pollinated at a different time during sefira, and is therefore vulnerable to the vagaries of weather during this unsettled period. Like the highly varied landscape of the land of Israel itself, the competing needs of the Seven Species tempt the farmer to appeal to gods of rain, sun, and other natural phenomena for favorable local conditions. Dedicating one’s bikkurim to the one supreme God is an act of complete and exclusive faith, and abstention from offerings to other gods precisely when the farmer would be most tempted to appeal to them.

“It is perhaps in this light that Midrash Rabah connects the biblical commandment to count seven shavuot temimot (or perfect) weeks, of sefira with the idea of complete faith: Just as we must count seven complete weeks, so, too, must these be weeks of complete faith, when we trust exclusively and with complete confidence in our One God despite the uncertainty of the season that may tempt us to appeal to other gods. The same midrashic passage also states that God will reward our dedication with protection for crops from harmful weather conditions during sefira.

“In Temple times, sefira was inaugurated on the second day of Pesach with an offering of the first of the new spring barley crop. The measure for this grain was known as an omer. Later, this term also came to be the alternative name for the sefira period. The end of sefira was marked by a similar offering always on Shavuot. Because of this greater gluten-forming capacity, wheat flour is preferred over barley flour for bread making. Thus wheat bread has always held a higher status than barley bread. Noting that wheat is mentioned before barley in the biblical list of the Seven Species, for example, the Talmud states that even broken pieces of wheat bread are more appropriate to the dignity of the motzi blessing that whole loaves of barley bread. Even in biblical times when food was generally much less plentiful than it is today, barley was sometimes fed to livestock. The lower prestige of barley and in particular its association with animals and animalistic behavior is also reflected in its use as the offering of the sotah, a woman who was suspected of marital infidelity in Temple times. (the omer and the Sotah minkha were the only two barley menakhot. All the rest of the menakhot offerings were wheat-gg)

“As part of the omer offering, the barley was waived up, down, and in all four compass directions to indicate its designation for the sacred purpose. The meaning of this action is suggested by several midrashim. These sources suggest that the waving in all directions is an acknowledgment that God controls all the world, including its weather conditions that determine the success of crops. One of the midrashim compares God to a cook who asks to sample the dish (the farmer’s crops) at an earlier stage (the second day of Pesach, when the omer of barley is offered), in order to adjust the seasoning (the balance of rain and sun) so as to maximize the harvest.” (Pages 130-133)

So don’t forget to count the omer on April 2^nd at the conclusion of your second Seder. Counting the omer reinforces our faith in the Holy One Blessed be He. Father John Dean taught me this about faith: “Don’t keep the faith. That’s selfish. Spread it around!”