Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Levitico 23:6

חוץ מלילי יו"ט הראשון – and we derive it (Leviticus 23:6) “on the fifteenth day” and (Leviticus 23:33) “on the fifteenth day” from the holiday of Unleavened bread. Just as eating Matzah on the first night is obligatory, but from here and onward it is optional, so [dwelling in the] Sukkah as well.

I have seen a comment by the outstanding scholar Rabbi Yehudah Rosenish, author of Mishneh Lamelech (commentary on the יד החזקה by Maimonides) on Hilchot Chametz Umatzah 6,2, where he quotes a Baraitha similar to the one we have quoted before whose text is as follows ( Torat Kohanim chapter 11 on Leviticus 23,6): the words הזה חג המצות, mean that on this day matzot are mandatory; on Sukkot, however, matzot are not mandatory. We could have learned a קל וחומר reasoning that if a festival (Passover) which does not require that we move into a Sukkah still requires us to eat matzot, then surely a festival on which we have to move into a Sukkah requires us to eat matzot. The Torah therefore wrote הזה חג המצות to make it clear that matzot are mandatory only on Passover. In chapter 14 of the same Torat Kohanim on Leviticus 23,34 on the sequence of the words הזה חג הסוכות, the following Baraitha is quoted: These words mean that only the festival of Sukkot requires us to move out into huts whereas the festival of Passover does not include such a requirement. I could have learned a קל וחומר saying that if this festival which does not require us to eat matzot nonetheless requires us to move into huts, then a festival, i.e. Passover, which does require us to eat Matzot most certainly also requires us to move into huts. The Torah therefore writes הזה to teach us that only on the festival of Sukkot are we required to move into huts. The author of Lechem Mishneh there raises the same questions we have raised in connection with the Baraitha concerning the words מן הצרעת and וטהרו in our portion. It will be worth your while to see what Rabbi Rosenish answers there although I consider his words slightly forced. There are a number of authorities who do not consider it worth their while to examine Maimonides' rulings critically when what is at issue is a lenient ruling concerning a matter whose biblical origin is doubtful at best. [This is relevant because Maimonides' ruling concerns whether it is adequate to swallow the bitter herbs without tasting them. Ed.]

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.