Вайикра 23:11 Комментарий: Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Ramban & Rashbam

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).

the day after the day of rest [literally: the day after the Sabbath] Our Sages, of blessed memory, have said [Menaḥot 65b] that this denotes the second day of the festival; the Dissenters maintain that the verse should be taken literally. The faithful bring examples from the Sabbatical Year [25:2], the Jubilee, Yom Kippur [:32], and the New Year [:24], all of which are called “sabbath”. The first and the eighth days of Sukkot are called “sabbath” [:39], too [see also comment on Exodus 31:13]. Moreover, a “sabbath” also means a “week”, as in “seven sabbaths” [:15] as well as “those who came in on the Sabbath, along with those who had finished for the week” [II Kings 11:9] (where one verse uses two different meanings of the same word ). In addition to these definitive arguments, Meshullam ben Qalonymus of Rome attempted to bring a proof from “…on the day after the Passover, maṣṣot and toasted grain” [Joshua 5:11] without realizing that he thereby weakened his own argument. The Passover sacrifice occurs on the fourteenth of the month; the day after the Passover sacrifice is the first day of the festival, as it is written: “They marched from Rameses, in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month, the day after the Passover” [Numbers 33:3]. However, the eating of parched grain is forbidden until after the ‘Omer-offering has been waved! To resolve this, Sa‘adya Gaon proposed 1) that there are two Passovers: the first is Israel’s Passover, while the second is God’s Passover, and is observed on the evening of the fifteenth. Thus, the reference to “the day after Passover” in Joshua is a reference to the sixteenth of the month, but the reference to “the day after Passover” in the Torah denotes the day after the Passover sacrifice . This explanation is unsatisfactory, because the Passover festival owes its name to God’s passing over our houses. “The day after” that event denotes the following morning — which is still the fifteenth (compare, “…the entire day, the entire night, and the entire day after” [Numbers 11:32]). 2) Sa‘adya Gaon also suggested that the “maṣṣot and toast” were from the previous year’s crop, which makes sense. Scripture says that the waving of the ‘Omer offering takes place “from the time when you begin to reap the grain” [Deuteronomy 16:9]. If the waving of the ‘Omer that year occurred on the fifteenth, when did they have time to harvest the grain and prepare maṣṣot? Even if they had had the time, the only harvest so far that year was the beginning of the barley crop. The choice of words is also suggestive: Scripture says, “from the land through which they had passed [Hebrew: ‘avur]” [Joshua 5:11]; the word may have been used because it describes the produce from the year that had just passed [Hebrew: ‘avra] (“the land through which they had passed” literally means the land of Siḥon and ‘Og). This is borne out by the contrasting phrase, “…from the fresh produce of the land of Canaan” [Joshua 5:12]. Besides, “toast” [Hebrew: qaluy] is not the same thing as “parched grain” [Hebrew: qalee]. Scripture states only that “You will eat neither bread, nor parched grain [Hebrew: qalee], nor kernels” [:14]. The verse “ripe ears toasted [Hebrew: qaluy] in fire” [2:14] does not contradict anything we have said, because there the word qaluy is used as an adjective. Anything which is “toasted” in fire can be called “toast”. We may press the question still further: What grounds have we to assume that the kohen waved the ‘Omer offering as soon as they crossed the Jordan? In fact, the verse distinctly says “the land which I give you” [:10] and the land as yet had not been given to them. The entire point of the verse in question is that the manna stopped; Scripture mentions the maṣṣot and the toast only in the context of the stopping of the manna. Sa‘adya Gaon also pointed out, that if we are to take the word “Sabbath” literally, from which Sabbath are we to begin the count? Rabbi Abu al-Faraj Furqan ibn Asad replied that there are eighteen days called “set times”, besides the Sabbath, when an additional sacrifice is offered [Numbers, Chapters 28 and 29]. Since we know that an additional sacrifice is offered on the day the ‘Omer is waved [:12], we can deduce that the day of the ‘Omer waving must be included in the days of the Spring festival. He seems to have forgot, however, that the New Month sacrifices are also not mentioned in the list! Moreover, Scripture says, “These shall be offered each day for seven days” [Numbers 28:24]. According to him, it should say, “…except for the day on which the ‘Omerwaving falls” (the absence of such a phrase poses no problem for us , though, because we derive the Commandments from the oral tradition). The parasha of Pinḥas also does not discuss the lambs of the peace-offering [cf . :19] when it comes to the festival of Shavu‘ot, nor does it say anything about the “one young ox, and two rams” mentioned in the previous verse [:18] — instead, it talks about “two … bullocks, and one ram” [Numbers 28:27]. The believer can also argue that Moshe knew prophetically that the first day of the month would be a Sabbath, and consequently he would know on what day of the week the ‘Omer waving would fall (just as he would know that the first arrangement of the showbread would occur on a Sabbath [24:8] [comment on Exodus 40:2]). Scripture mentions the days on which events fell during the first year; but subsequent years use the terms “your Festival of Weeks” [Numbers 28:26] and “seven weeks” [Deuteronomy 16:9] rather than speaking in terms of “Sabbaths” [:15]. Similarly, in the first year they offered the sacrifices mentioned here; but in subsequent years they offered the sacrifices in the parasha of Pinḥas . It is useless to say that a “week” perforce begins on Sunday. The phrase “she will be ritually impure for two weeks” [12:5] clearly invalidates such an argument. Most people do not realize that the reason why Scripture does not mention the day on which Shavu‘ot falls — alone among all the festivals — is that we are commanded to count to the day of the festival. Our Sages, of blessed memory, said [Shabbat 86b] that the day on which Shavu‘ot falls is the anniversary of the giving of the Torah, and that the statement “we have a festival of God” [Exodus 10:9] is a reference to Shavu‘ot.

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.

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