Ethical Teachings of the Torah

FROM A MEASURE OF BARLEY TO 2 LOAVES OF WHEAT [3] by Dr. Meir Tamari

“The mitzva is to count 49 days from Korban HaOmer until the 50th day which is Shavuot, the day of Matan Torah. With this counting we show our great yearning for that distinguished day. Counting shows how much a person yearns for his deliverance and that all his desire is to reach that time, just as a servant eagerly awaits his freedom and counts the time till it comes. That is why we count, ‘so many days have passed out of the total’ and not, ‘so many days remain till that time’” (Sefer Hachinuch, mitzva 306). An expression of the cleansing brought by this yearning is the “Ribono Shel Olam” that the Kabbalists later added to the HaRachaman for restoring the Temple service, after counting S’fira: “So that the souls of Israel may be purified; through the merit of my counting may there flow through all the worlds to rectify our lives, spirits and souls.” “It was necessary to give Torah to the world of mankind so that they would have a tavlin for the yeitzer hara involved in the fulfilling of their needs. Since this yetzer renews itself every day, it was not appropriate to write in the Torah a specific date for Matan Torah, rather each day we have to receive it anew” (Kli Yakar).
“This counting that comes to purify and transform our animal needs and desires symbolized by the barley of the Omer, should have come after sanctification, as in all other purifying rituals. How- ever, the human desires for physical and material satisfaction are so strong and pervasive that we would be unable to begin unless first given the ability to connect ourselves through korban of barley to the Divine Source of our money” (Shem MiShmuel, Haggada).
Matan Torah was not the product of the religious genius of the Jews nor was it testimony to the spiritual greatness of Moses; rather it was pure Divine Wisdom that was revealed to Israel. This wisdom is partially evidenced by the fact that actually there were revealed both a Written Torah and also an Oral Torah that details the way the written word is to be implemented. It is logical and creditable that Pesach, S’firat HaOmer and Shavuot should therefore have been so involved with Oral Torah controversy.
“And you shall count from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the Omer” (Vayikra 23:15). For us it is clear that the seven weeks that are to be counted starts on the day after Pesach, the first day of Chol HaMoed. However, the Sadducees at the time of Bayit Sheini, who did not believe in a Torah Sheb’al Peh, taught that the verse referred to a Shabbat Bereishit (i.e. Saturday) so the Omer should be brought the first Sunday after Pesach. This would mean that the Omer would never be brought on Shabbat and that the day of Matan Torah varied from year to year, depending on which weekday was Pesach. Torah Sheb’al Peh ruled that chagim were included in the term ‘sabbath’ so Matan Torah would always be on 6th Sivan as we observe. Furthermore, the Omer itself was brought with great publicity on the first day of Chol HaMoed, irrespective of what day of the week it was, even on Shabbat (Menachot 63b-71a). “So that all should give great attention and thought to the words of the Eternal Lord” (Sefer HaChinuch).
Like its beginning so the ending of S’firah relates to the authority of the Oral Law. This affected not merely a matter of ritual or religion but matters of personal relations and even of Jewish kingship. “‘Neither a Moabite nor an Ammonite shall enter the congregation of Israel’ (Devarim 23:4-5); they were unfit to join Israel because in their ingratitude for Avraham’s chesed to their ancestor Lot, they would not extend assistance to his descendants when they were tired, thirsty and hungry” (Ramban). Oral law ruled that the ban existed only on the males; Ruth of Moav meriting being the Mother of the Davidic dynasty. David, legitimized by the Torah Sheb’al Peh, was born and died on Shavuot when we read Megillat Rut, the sefer yuchusin of King David, which is the majestic twin story of her acceptance of Israel and its God and of her chesed to the living and to the dead. Her Zman Matan Torah, a Torah of Chesed and Emet.

• Other Ethical Teachings of the Torah
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• Funding Social Costs - Taxation [2]
• THE CHALLENGE OF MONEY - Funding Social Costs - Taxation [1]