פירוש על ויקרא 23:16

השבת השביעת — Translate this as the Targum does שבועתא שביעתא THE SEVENTH WEEK.

AND YE SHALL OFFER A NEW MEAL-OFFERING UNTO THE ETERNAL. The meaning of the expression a new meal-offering is that no meal-offering [of the new crop] is to be brought into G-d’s House until they bring this one, as our Rabbis have explained.²⁸²Menachoth 68 b: “The omer [the meal-offering of barley brought on the second day of Passover] made the new crop permissible in the country [i.e., for private consumption], and ‘the two loaves’ [which were brought on the Festival of Weeks] made it permissible for use in the Sanctuary.” It was necessary for Scripture to state, it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings²⁸³Verse 14. with reference to the prohibition of [eating of] the new crop and the command to rest [from work] on the Festival of Weeks,²⁸⁴Verse 21. because [the prohibition of eating of the new crop] depends on the waving of the sheaf,²⁸⁵When the Sanctuary stood, the offering of the omer at any time on the sixteenth day of Nisan at once rendered chadash (the new crop) permissible food. Since the destruction of the Sanctuary, the prohibition extends to the whole day of the sixteenth of Nisan (Rosh Hashanah 30 a-b; see also “The Commandments,” Vol. II, pp. 186-188). [and the Festival of Weeks is connected] with the new meal-offering [mentioned in the verse before us]. Thus this verse is intended to state that even after our exile to countries outside the Land, when the omer²⁴³Literally: “a measure.” This refers to the meal-offering of the new barley brought on the second day of Passover, which is the sixteenth day of Nisan. From that day on we count the forty-nine “days of the omer,” and on the fiftieth day is the Festival of Weeks. Thus it is clear that the time of this festival is dependent upon the omer. and the [new] meal-offering are no longer offered, He nonetheless commanded concerning the observance [of the law of the new crop and resting on the festival], for the [prohibition against eating of the] new crop applies by law of the Torah in all places. It was not necessary to mention this in connection with the Day of Remembrance [i.e., the New Year], and similarly in connection with the Festival of Tabernacles He did not mention [that it is to be observed] “in all your dwellings” [because these two festivals are clearly not dependent upon the offerings in the Sanctuary]. He did, however, mention it with reference to the Day of Atonement,²⁸⁶Verse 31. because since He had made our atonement dependent upon the offerings, as he mentioned in the section of Acharei Moth,²⁸⁷Above, Chapter 16. therefore He said here that the prohibition [of eating and working on that day] applies in all places [and at all times], as He stated it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you²⁸⁸Further, Verse 28. by fasting and resting from work, and [the absence of] the offerings does not prevent His [granting of] atonement. Similarly He did not mention here with reference to the Festival of Unleavened Bread: “it is a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations,” but in the section of This month shall be unto you the beginning of months²⁸⁹Exodus 12:2. He did mention it,²⁹⁰Ibid., Verses 14 and 17. because since He had made there the matter dependent upon the Passover-offering, as it is said, and unleavened bread with bitter herbs they shall eat it,²⁹¹Ibid., Verse 8. See in my Hebrew commentary, p. 149, Note 60. therefore He had to state that [the Festival of Unleavened Bread] is an ordinance forever,²⁹²Ibid., Verse 14. in all your habitations.²⁹³Ibid., Verse 20. He mentioned [here] with reference to the Sabbath that it is to be observed in all your dwellings,²⁹⁴Above, Verse 3. because since He had permitted work in the Sanctuary in the bringing of the Daily Whole-offering and the Additional Offerings, therefore He said that the prohibition [of work on the Sabbath] applies in all our dwelling places; for the intention of that expression is only to state: “in all your dwelling places, but not in the House of the Eternal.” And so the Rabbis have said in the Mechilta:²⁹⁵Mechilta, Vayakheil 1. “Ye shall kindle no fire in your dwelling places.²⁹⁶Exodus 35:3. In your dwelling places you may not kindle a fire, but you may kindle it in the Sanctuary.” Similarly it says with reference to the prohibition of [eating] fat or blood, It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings,²⁹⁷Above, 3:17. because it was prohibited on account of the offerings, [therefore He stated that this prohibition is nonetheless independent of the offerings, and applies always and everywhere]. And so the Rabbis have said in Tractate Kiddushin:²⁹⁸Kiddushin 37 b. “Why did the Merciful One write the expression in all your dwellings²⁹⁷Above, 3:17. in connection with [the prohibition against eating] fat or blood? It is because I might have thought that since this prohibition is written in connection with the offerings, therefore when there are offerings [i.e., when the Sanctuary is in existence] the prohibition is applicable, and when there are no offerings it is not applicable, thus the Torah wanted to teach us [that it is always applicable].” There [in Tractate Kiddushin]²⁹⁸Kiddushin 37 b. the Rabbis also said: “Why did the Merciful One write [here in this section — in Verse 3] the expression in all your dwellings with reference to the Sabbath? It is because I might have thought that since it is written in connection with the festivals, the Sabbath should require sanctification by the court just as the festivals do, therefore the Torah wanted to teach us [that the Sabbath is independent of sanctification by the court]. The principle then is that the Torah does not mention this expression [in all your dwellings] with reference to any commandment which is a personal obligation, unless there is a necessity for some reason.
Now the expression: ‘out of your dwellings’ ye shall bring two wave-loaves²⁹⁹Verse 17. [on the Festival of Weeks], is not similar to “out of all your dwellings.” Rather, its meaning is: “out of the Land of your dwellings,” excluding [the obligation to bring two loaves from the produce of] outside the Land of Israel, just as it is said, When ye come into the Land of your habitations which I give unto you.³⁰⁰Numbers, 15:2. And so the Rabbis have taught [in a Mishnah]:³⁰¹Menachoth 83 b. “All the [meal-]offerings of the public or of an individual may come from the produce of the Land or outside the Land, save only the omer²⁴³Literally: “a measure.” This refers to the meal-offering of the new barley brought on the second day of Passover, which is the sixteenth day of Nisan. From that day on we count the forty-nine “days of the omer,” and on the fiftieth day is the Festival of Weeks. Thus it is clear that the time of this festival is dependent upon the omer. and the two loaves.”²⁹⁹Verse 17. And even according to the Sage who says³⁰²Ibid., 84 a. The Sage is Rabbi Josei the son of Rabbi Yehudah. that the omer may be brought from the produce of outside the Land, he admits in the case of the two loaves [brought on the Festival of Weeks] that they may be offered only from what is grown within the Land [of Israel].

מנחה חדשה, to permit use of the new wheat harvest in the Temple, seeing this is the period when the wheat ripens.

עד ממחרת השבת השביעית תספרו, “until the day after the seventh week you shall count.” You are aware already that the count extends only for 49 days. Therefore, the tone-sign under the word תספרו does not link the word to חמישים, “fifty” which follows it, but the word חמישים belongs to the word והקרבתם, “you shall offer a sacrifice,” which follows it. Forty-nine days are spent counting whereas the fiftieth day is spent offering the gift-offering of the two loaves of the new wheat and the animal offerings accompanying them. The Torah did not mention the Shavuot festival independently as it did with all the other festivals. We could have expected the Torah to write: בחודש השלישי בששי לחודש חג השבועות, “in the third month on the sixth of the month is the Shavuot festival,” just as it did with the other festivals. Seeing that the Torah did not refer to the festival Shavuot in that manner makes it plain that it is considered as a festival which is linked to the Passover, i.e. it completes what commenced on Passover and now that we have counted forty-nine days from the second day of Passover the time has come to celebrate the Shavuot festival. Looking at it from a spiritual point of view, the days between the last day of the Passover festival and the festival of Shavuot may be considered as somewhat like חול המועד, the intermediate days of the Passover and Sukkot festivals respectively.

As its Targum: “the seventh week.” Rashi is answering the question: If it means [the passing of seven] actual Shabbosos, then the seven שבתות would be not fifty days, but only fortytwo days.

Then you shall bring an offering of new grain to the Lord: It is a sign for the day of the giving of the Torah, since the Torah must be new to a person on every day, as if he received it on Mount Sinai [that day]. And that which it is not mentioned explicitly in the Torah that this day is [the day of] the giving of the Torah, and so [too] it is not mentioned explicitly in the Torah that Rosh Hashanah is the day of judgement, the reason for both of them is [the same], as I have written in my essay, Ollalot Ephraim: That about the giving of the Torah, God did not want to limit [it] to one specific day, since it must be similar to a person as if each and every day of the year, he received it on that day from Mount Sinai. As in truth our rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Eruvin 54b) that the Torah is compared to a breast: that all the time that the infant presses on it, it brings out a new flavor; so [too] the Torah - any one who ponders it brings out a new explanation every day. Therefore it is correct that it be similar to him as if he received it today at Mount Sinai. And, if so, every day is the [day] of the giving of the Torah for those that ponder it. Therefore, it is not fitting to limit its giving to one specific day. And therefore, our rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Sifrei, Veetchanan 6:6) that words of Torah should be new to you, and not like an old thing that the heart of a person is sick of. And, in truth, you find a novelty in it on each and every day. And therefore the day of its giving is [nowhere] elucidated in the Torah more than that which is hinted in the bringing of the new offering - to teach that the Torah is a new offering on each and every day.

תספרו חמשים יום, “you shall count fifty days.” We need to recite a blessing when we count, as opposed to when a woman after her period counts seven days of her purification days. Her count is not necessarily consecutive, as if she sees a drop of blood that emanated from her vagina, this invalidates the count. She has no control over this, whereas we, who are counting consecutive days, know beforehand that the sun rises every day consecutively. (Compare commentary of our author on Leviticus 15,28)

עד ממחרת השבת השביעת תספרו EVEN UNTIL THE MORROW AFTER THE SEVENTH WEEK SHALL YE NUMBER — until, but not including the day until which you count: thus there are 49 days (the seven complete weeks spoken of in the preceding verse).

On the fiftieth day. I.e., since we only count forty-nine days, how can the verse write fifty days? He answers that fifty does not refer to “you shall count,” but to the offering, that on the fiftieth day you shall bring it, and the word (יום) is missing a בי"ת. It is as if it said, “On the fiftieth day you shall bring it [the sacrifice].”

'חמשים יום והקרבתם מנחה חדשה לה‎… FIFTY DAYS — AND YE SHALL OFFER A NEW OBLATION UNTO THE LORD — i. e. on the fiftieth day ye shall offer it. This, I say, is a Midrashic explanation, but the literal sense is: “Even unto the morrow of the seventh week which is the fiftieth day shall ye number”: the text has its phrases inverted.

Barley. I.e., that [offering] is the first of the barley, and the omer is the first of the wheat.

This is the reason why the Day of Judgment is not mentioned as well, so a person will not go in the stubbornness of his heart and acquire sins all year round, thinking that he will correct his deeds close to the day when Hashem sits on the Throne of Judgment. Rather, he should envision that each and every day Hashem sits on His Throne of Justice and examines His ledger. In this way all his days will be in repentance …

מנחה חדשה A NEW MEAL OFFERING — It was the first meal-offering that was offered from the new crop. And if you ask, “But surely the meal-offering of the Omer has already been offered on the 16th of Nisan”?! Then I reply: It (the Omer) was not like all the other meal-offerings — which, with one exception (cf. Numbers 5:15), were all brought of wheat — since it was brought of barley and therefore it is not taken into account (cf. Menachot 84b).

That is that He commanded us to bring two breads of chametz to the Temple with the sacrifices that come with the bread on Shavuot - which is fixed for the bringing of the sacrifice, as it appears in Leviticus - and that the priests eat the two breads, after their waving, with the lambs of the peace offering. And that is His, may He be exalted and may His name be blessed, saying, "You shall bring from your settlements bread as a wave offering" (Leviticus 23:17). And it has already been explained in Menachot (Menachot 45b) that this sacrifice that comes because of the bread is separate from the additional sacrifice of the day, and that this one is different than that one. And we ourselves have already explained this with sufficient elucidation in the commentary on Tractate Menachot (Commentary on the Mishnah). And the regulations of this commandment have already all been explained in Tractate Menachot, Chapters 4, 8 and 11. (See Parashat Emor; Mishneh Torah, Daily and Additional Offerings 8.)