Comentário sobre Levítico 23:11

והניף AND HE SHALL WAVE [THE OMER] — Every form of the root נוף used in connection with sacrifices signifies that one moves the latter about both horizontally (מוליך ומביא) and upwards and downwards (מעלה ומוריד); he moves it about horizontally to prevent (i. e. the act was symbolical of preventing) destructive winds, he moves it about upwards and downwards to keep away injurious dews (cf. Rashi on Exodus 29:24) (Menachot 62a).

ON THE MORROW AFTER ‘HA’SHABBATH’ THE PRIEST SHALL WAVE IT. “That is, the morrow after the first day of the Festival of Passover. For if you are to say it means [on the morrow of] the Sabbath of Creation [i.e., the weekly Sabbath], you have no indication which Sabbath is meant.” This is Rashi’s language. And indeed, this is the greatest of the proofs mentioned in the Gemara²⁴⁵Menachoth 66 a. [to show that ha’shabbath here is not to be interpreted literally as meaning the weekly Sabbath, but refers to the first day of Passover]; for what sense is there for Scripture to state that “when ye are to come into the Land … and shall reap the harvest thereof ye shall bring the sheaf on the morrow of the weekly Sabbath,” which would mean that at any time of the year when we come into the Land and reap its harvest, the priest shall wave the sheaf on the morrow of the first Sabbath after we have come into the Land! In that case the Festival of Weeks would have no [definite] starting point from which we are to count [the forty-nine days, so that on the fiftieth day we should celebrate that festival]! Moreover, according to this way we would not know even in the years following [our entrance into the Land] when we are to begin counting [the forty-nine days], but only from the day that we first put the sickle to the standing grain at our will. But these are meaningless words! If, however, the expression on the morrow after ‘ha’shabbath’ means “on the morrow after [the first day of] the festival,” in accordance with the tradition of our Rabbis, then the matter appears correctly. For at first Scripture commanded that we should observe in the first month the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days,²⁴⁶Verse 6. and that on the first day there should be a solemn rest and on the seventh day a solemn rest,²⁴⁷Ramban’s language here follows that of Verse 39 with reference to the eight days of Tabernacles. and we are not to do thereon any manner of servile work. Afterwards He stated that when we come into the Land we are to bring on the morrow of this rest-day [previously] mentioned, the sheaf of the waving,²⁴⁸Verse 15. this being the first rest-day here mentioned. And He also taught that the [bringing of the] sheaf was not obligatory in the desert, nor outside the Land [since the section begins, When ye are come into the Land …]. However, the expressions, even unto the morrow after ‘ha’shabbath’ the seventh²⁴⁹Verse 16. and seven ‘shabbathoth’²⁴⁸Verse 15. cannot possibly be interpreted as referring to a festival [as does the expression on the morrow after ‘ha’shabbath’ here in Verse 11 and also further in Verse 15.] Onkelos, however, rendered them as meaning “week”, but if so, there are two different usages of the same word in one verse!²⁵⁰Verse 15 reads: And ye shall count unto you from the morrow of ‘ha’shabbath’ … seven ‘shabbathoth’ shall there be complete. According to Onkelos the first ha’shabbath means “the festival,” while the second shabbathoth means “weeks.” And the commentators²⁵¹So interpreted by Ibn Ezra. have written that this is a literary expression [Scripture using one term in the same instance with two different meanings], such as: they rode on thirty ‘a’yarim’ (ass colts) and they had thirty ‘a’yarim’ (cities).²⁵²Judges 10:4. Also quoted by Ramban in Exodus 3:2. And in another place Scripture clearly states, Seven weeks shalt thou number.²⁴⁴Deuteronomy 16:9. Similarly, those that were to come in on ‘ha’shabbath,’ with those that were to go out on ‘ha’shabbath,’²⁵³II Kings 11:9. [where both ha’shabbath mean] “week.” Likewise, Saying: ‘When will the New Moon be gone, that we may sell grain, ‘v’ha’shabbath,’ that we may set forth corn?’²⁵⁴Amos 8:5. [also means “and the week”], for since every seven days contain one Sabbath, and the enumeration of the days is with reference to it [the Sabbath],²⁵⁵For thus we say: “This is the first day in the Sabbath, etc.” See Ramban to Exodus 12:2, and 20:8 (Vol. II, pp. 116-7, 313). therefore one week is called “one shabbath”, this usage being well-known and common in the words of our Rabbis, such as: “for twice b’shabbath (in the week) the court sits in towns [on Mondays and on Thursdays].”²⁵⁶Kethuboth 2 a.
It is possible that every shabbath mentioned [here] in the section means “week.” And the meaning of the expression on the morrow after ‘ha’shabbath’ is that on the day of the waving of the sheaf they should begin counting the week, and if so, that day will be “on the morrow after the week” which has passed, it being as if He had said: “The day of the waving of the sheaf shall be on the morrow after the week with relation to the days that have passed by, and the first with reference to the weeks which he is to count until he finishes seven weeks.” And since He mentioned the expression, and on the fifteenth day,²⁵⁷Verse 6. He thus states that [the priest] should wave the sheaf on the morrow after the week mentioned, and count therefrom seven weeks. One cannot mistake the expression [ha’shabbath] as referring to the fourteenth day [of Nisan, thus making the offering of the omer, brought on the morrow, to be on the fifteenth day of Nisan, the first day of Passover], for of that fourteenth day He has said that only at dusk [is the Eternal’s Passover].²⁵⁸Verse 5. — Thus it is clear that the Festival of Passover begins on the fourteenth of Nisan at dusk, and the first day of the festival is the next day, i.e., the fifteenth. Hence on the morrow after ‘ha’shabbath’ must refer to the expression and on the fifteenth day etc. (in Verse 6), thus establishing that it is on the sixteenth day of Nisan that we are to begin a new week — the first of the seven complete weeks. And the meaning of they shall be complete²⁴⁸Verse 15. is that a Sabbath together with its six days is called “a whole” Sabbath. And the meaning of the expression mimachorath ha’shabbath [literally: “from the morrow of the shabbath”] is like b’machorath ha’shabbath (“on the morrow of the shabbath”). Similarly, Even unto ‘mimachorath ha’shabbath’ the seventh, shall ye number [fifty days]²⁵⁹Literally: “Even unto from the morrow after the seventh week …” This cannot be understood literally, for it would mean that the festival day of Shevuoth is to be observed on the day “from the morrow after the seventh week, i.e., on the following day after the morrow of the seven weeks.” Instead, it must mean: “Even unto on the morrow …” [is like b’machorath ha’shabbath (“on the morrow of the shabbath”)] So also: It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it u’mimachorath²⁶⁰Above, 19:6. See in my Hebrew commentary p. 148 Note 36. [literally: “and from the morrow,” means u’b'machorath — “and on the morrow]. Scholars²⁶¹I have not identified these scholars. have said that the letter beth cannot occur as a prefix in the word machar (tomorrow) or machorath (the morrow). [Therefore it states], And it came to pass ‘mimachorath’ [literally: “from the morrow”] that Moses sat to judge the people²⁶²Exodus 18:13. [which means “on the morrow”]. And the Eternal did that thing ‘mimachorath’²⁶³Ibid., 9:6. [literally: “from the morrow,” which means “on the morrow”], and similarly all such expressions.

ממחרת השבת, on the day following the first day of the Passover festival.

ממחרת השבת, “on the day following the rest-day.” The meaning of this expression is: “on the day following the first day of Passover.” The word שבת here does not mean: “a week,” as it does in verse 15 in שבע שבתות “seven weeks.” The reason the Torah refers to a week by the name of שבת is that each unit of seven successive days includes a “Sabbath,” and seeing that that is the central day of the week as far as Jews are concerned, it is not surprising to hear a “week” also referred to as a “Shabbat.” In any reference to the Jewish calendar, each day of the week is identified by its relation to the Sabbath, i.e. “the first day of the Sabbath”, “the second day of the Sabbath,” etc. Nachmanides writes that there is no problem even if we were to call the expression ממחרת השבת as “the day following the week,” as the day on which the omer is waved for the first time is the 16th day of Nissan, the day on which the counting of the seven new weeks begins. It follows that that day is the day following the completion of the previous week. Seeing that the first day of Passover is on the fifteenth of Nissan, the Torah quite correctly describes the sixteenth as the day following the week that had just expired.

ממחרת השבת יניפנו הכהן, “from the day following the rest day the Priest shall wave it.” The word שבת In this verse does not refer to the שבת בראשית, the fixed Sabbath, the one which recurs every week, but to the first day of the Passover festival on which the performance of work is prohibited. This is also the way Onkelos understands the word when he writes: מבתר יומא טובא, “the day after the festival,” i.e. the day following the 15th of Nissan. The Torah prohibited eating from the new barley harvest until the 16th day of Nissan. This is the meaning of the line: “you shall not eat bread or roasted kernels or plump kernels until this very day, an eternal statute applicable to all your dwellings” (verse 14). This means that the prohibition to eat from the new barley harvest applies as a Biblical prohibition even outside the boundaries of the land of Israel throughout the ages (Compare Kidushin 37). Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish states that there are three commandments which though primarily linked with our living in the Holy Land, also apply in the Diaspora. They are חדש-כלאים- ערלה, the prohibition listed here, the prohibition of cross breeding, and the prohibition of eating of the fruit of a tree during the first three years of its existence. The prohibition listed here is Biblical, whereas ערלה is known as decreed by Moses at Sinai, i.e. not derived through exegesis but through tradition, a decree of the sages effective since the time the Torah was given. The prohibition of cross breeding in its application outside the boundaries of the land of Israel is of later origin, a Rabbinical decree. (Compare Sifra Emor 10,11).

Horizontally away from him and toward him. You might ask: How does Rashi know that תנופה includes “vertically upwards and downwards” as well? The answer is: This is derived from a gezeroh shovoh of “waved,” “waved.” It says in parshas Tetzaveh (Shemos 29:27), “Which were [the] waved (הונף) and uplifted (הורם).,” and over tThere [the verse refers to]he movinges [it] horizontally away from him and toward him, and vertically upwards and downwards. Because The word הונף means to move something away from him and toward himforwards and backwards, similar to the expression “waving (הנפה) with cloths,” when people chase away flies by moving a cloth to and from themselves. And הורם means to move something vertically upwards and downwards, because הורם is an expression of הרמה (lifting), and if one you lifts something one you haves to lower it. Here too it is the same.

ממחרת השבת, “on the day following the first day of Passover.” We have one verse in which we are commanded to eat unleavened bread for seven days (here), and another in which we are commanded to eat leavened bread during six days. (Deuteronomy 16,8) How do we reconcile these two verses? During periods when you are unable to eat from last year’s harvest (because there is none left after the sh’mittah year, you are allowed to eat from the new harvest during 6 days of this festival. How do we fulfill the commandment of “on the day following the Sabbath?” We understand the word Sabbath here as the first day of the festival. (If we were to wait until after the whole of the festival has elapsed, we would have ignored the commandment contained in that verse. Annotation by Rabbi Chavell)

לרצנכם TO BE ACCEPTED FOR YOU — If you offer it according to this precept it shall effect favourable acceptance for you.

To prevent harmful dews. I.e., so that the dew should serve as a blessing and not as a curse.

ממחרת השבת ON THE MORROW AFTER THE DAY OF REST [THE PRIEST SHALL WAVE IT] — This must mean on the morrow of the first day of the Passover festival (on the 16th of Nisan); for if you say that it means on the morrow of the weekly Sabbath (i. e. on a Sunday) you do not know which particular Sabbath Scripture is referring to (Menachot 66a).

The Shabbos of Creation. Every Shabbos is called the Shabbos of Creation because that is when the Holy One “rested” at from the work of Creation.

You [cannot] know which [Shabbos] is meant. Even though this proof is disproved and they cite other proofs there, nonetheless, Rashi cites this proof as it is a response to the words of the Tzedukim and Baitusim, [see explanation of Re’m]. Therefore For this [reason] he cites it.