Еврейская мысль к Вайикра 15:28

The second phase that winds us up towards proper appreciation of matan Torah, is the ceremony of the seven weeks of counting. When one desires something inordinately, one counts the days towards realisation of one's dreams. The closer that day approaches, the more intensely aware does one become of its impending realisation. Similarly, such count reflects the pain and anguish all the time the desired state has not yet been achieved. In the case of a woman suffering from flux, (Leviticus 15,28) even after the medical symptoms have disappeared, seven days must elapse before readmission to society from the state of isolation she has been in. If a seven day count is mandatory in order to enable her to rejoin ordinary society, the preparation for the revelation of G'd at Mount Sinai would obviously take longer, especially since the disease from which the Jewish nation recovered at the time of the Exodus, had left far deeper scars on the national body than the brief (sometimes lasting only three days) illness of the woman with the flux. The fact that this spiritual preparation could have been achieved in the brief space of seven weeks, is evidence of the help the Jewish people received from G'd. "I carried you on the wings of eagles." (Exodus 19,4.) G'd Himself speeded up the process and telescoped the time normally required into a minute fraction thereof. Since the feeling of not yet being worthy of the revelation is one of pain, we do not recite the benediction she-hecheyanu, "who has let us live to this day to fulfil etc." when performing the mitzvah of counting the Omer. A bride awaiting her wedding will hardly recite she-hecheyanu when informed that she is not yet spiritually pure enough to stand under the wedding canopy.

There are commandments that are clearly explained in the Torah, and there are commandments whose true interpretation we only know from the mouths of the holy scribes who received them from their fathers and learned teachers. Without the tradition, one would be able to interpret them differently. And there are commandments that we have received from them, yet they are not explicitly mentioned in the Torah. As a general rule, if not for the members of the Great Assembly, the Men of the Mishnah and the Talmud, the Torah of our God would have been forgotten and its memory lost, God forbid. It is they who established everything on its proper basis and clarified for us the commandments with great precision and all the laws as they received them. Some commandments have clear evidence from the Torah, while others require interpretation, and some rely on logical inference. Those who have understanding can discern when to apply interpretation and when to apply a literal understanding, for all their words are not in one mode. And the One who has granted them wisdom will grant them their deserved reward. In the book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 17:22), it is written, "Do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day." This is not explicitly mentioned in the Torah. There are many commandments that were received by the fathers and have a mention in the Torah, and there are others that do not have a mention. And I will mention some of these, such as the daily blessings, prayers, grace after meals, and Hallel. Rav says in his life that "He is your praise, and He is your God" (Deuteronomy 10:21). There's the recitation of the Shema, eruv, Kiddush, Havdalah, three meals, and some say the Shabbat candle. Similarly, the blowing of the Shofar on the Day of Remembrance, if not for the tradition, it would seem that it is on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, for it is the main day before the period of truth enters, and therefore it is said to be the Day of Judgment. And similarly, the Lulav, for it is not explicitly mentioned in the Torah, only "And you shall take for yourselves" (Leviticus 23:40), and if not for the tradition, it would have a different interpretation. And similarly, the counting of the Omer, for they distinguished between "And you shall count for yourselves" (Leviticus 23) and "And you shall count for her" (Leviticus 15). And similarly, the prohibition of eating a treifah, which has a respected reason from the wisdom of the heavens' generations. And similarly, the seven days of marriage celebration, mourning, visiting the sick, burying the dead, the Hanukkah candle, reading the Megillah, the four cups [of wine], and I have already explained that "And he shall possess her" (Numbers 27:11) is a general source for all these matters.