Parsha Emor
3 Iyar /May
3
By: Michal
Kohane
If perchance you scratch your head because you forgot one of the Torah
holidays, fear not! There is one chapter where you can find them all: Leviticus
23, in the heart of the Torah portion of Emor. As we read the list, we notice
that the Biblical holidays started with Pesach and ended with Shmini
Atzeret – spanning the six months from spring and summer to fall. No winter
holidays. All together – seven (7) holidays, including Shabbat, Pesach,
Shavuot, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot & Shmini Atzeret.
And in between them, we find the following commandment:
"וספרתם לכם ממחרת השבת, מיום
הביאכם את עומר התנופה, שבע שבתות תמימות תהיינה, עד ממחרת השבת השביעית, תספרו
חמישים יום"...
“And you shall count unto you from the morrow after the day of rest,
from the day that you brought the sheaf of the waving; seven weeks shall there
be complete; even unto the morrow after the seventh week shall you number fifty
days”… (23:15-16).
This, of course, is the counting of the Omer where we are now: seven weeks
of seven days from Pesach and Shavuot. Time has seen us add numerous
explanations and customs, and even holidays to the sfira, the count. All the
“Israel days” are concentrated here; as kids, growing up in Israel, we were
particularly religious about Lag Ba’omer, celebrating it with grand bonfires
for which wood (very precious in Israel!) was collected (not to mention
sometimes stolen) weeks in advance. This was in honor of Bar Kochva (the hero),
Rabbi Akiva and the great revolt following the Temple’s destruction (we were
not told of the disastrous results of this revolt…). Special minhagim
were kept during the sfira: no shaving, no weddings (except on Lag
Ba’omer).
And somehow, between it all, the original injunction of the sfira, was a
little (to say the least) lost.
As I understand it, the sfira, first of all, is supposed to help us
connect between Pesach and Shavuot; between the exodus and the time of giving
of the Torah; between the wow of liberation and the reason of that liberation,
or else we’d still be running “free” in the desert. The sfira is a
countdown (count-up?) to a special event, like waiting for a birthday, a big
trip, a gift; something we expect excitedly; something without which we would
be going nowhere with no purpose at all.
And, the sfira also reminds us that things don’t happen all at once,
that things take time, and a process, sort of like creation. After all, G-d can
do anything, so why take six days to create the world? Can’t he just say “poof”
and ‘let there be world’?? Why break it down to light and dirt and plants and
various animals? Maybe to teach us that good things take time; that in order to
build something real and beautiful, there is a course to go through, like a
spiritual pregnancy. We can’t plant a seed and expect a blooming flower and
fruit ripening on the tree the next day. The seed has to rot in the ground,
going through a process that many of us would consider disgusting, until a
beautiful flower comes out. We can’t be born and immediately start hiking; we
can’t be slaves, and get the Torah immediately.
Sometimes we forget, especially nowadays, when we’re bombarded with slogans
for immediate gratification, everything from “peace now” to fast food, we want
whatever it is, yesterday. We want others to guess our needs and give it to us
sooner rather than later, before we have even figured it out ourselves.
But the Torah says – the journey itself takes precedence to reaching the
destination: “im bechukotai telchu”– if you (just) walk in
accordance to my law”… (26:3). each step
along the way is a goal in itself, which we can’t do without. Like children, we
count: One. Two…. Twelve… Twenty one... Thirty Three... We need each piece to
complete the puzzle, even if we don’t always see the whole picture right away.
We learn patience and structure and putting things together.
In Genesis, we hear about Abraham who was “ba bayamim” (Genesis
24:1). “Ba bayamim” is a figure of speech which means advanced in years,
but it literally means ‘comes in the days,’ or better ‘comes with one’s
days.’ That means, said the sages, that when he was coming and going, he still
had all his days; he still knew exactly what he did yesterday, and the day
before, and a year ago, And since he managed to make each day meaningful, he
came with all of them.
And so it is with us. We’re still taught to count. We need to count every
day because every day counts.
Shabbat Shalom.
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