Weeks: Cosmic & Man-Made

You shall count from the day after the Shabbat, from the day in which you bring the “omer” offering, seven complete weeks they shall be; until the morrow of the seventh week, you shall count fifty days... And you shall proclaim that very day a holy festival...
Leviticus 23:15

The festival of Shavuot is unique in that the Torah sets its date not as a certain day of a specific month, but by instructing us to count forty nine days from Passover and designate the 50th day as Shavuot.[1] This seven week count is known as the “counting of the omer” as the Torah prescribes that it begin on the second day of Passover, the day in which an omer (approximately 43 oz.) of barley was offered at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

The daily count, conducted every evening following the maariv (evening) prayer, is our annual re-experience of a spiritual journey - the spiritual journey which marked the Jewish people’s progression from the first Passover to the first Shavuot.

Shavuot, the day on which we received the Torah at Mount Sinai, is the culmination of a 49-phase process that began with the exodus from Egypt on Passover. Upon their physical liberation from Egyptian slavery, our forefathers set about gaining their spiritual freedom - to divest themselves of the pagan culture and mind-set of Egypt. Thus the forty-nine day count: the heart of man possesses seven general traits,[2] each of which contains elements of all others, making a total of forty-nine attributes and nuances of character and personality. Each day counted represents another trait refined, another step in the development and perfection of the person’ emotive features and instincts.

The “counting of the omer” is unique in that not only the days, but also the weeks are to be counted. The Torah stipulates “You shall count... seven complete weeks they shall be... you shall count fifty days.” Thus, in our nightly count we calculate the weeks as well: for example, on the eighth day we count: “Today is eight days, which is one week and one day, of the omer.”

Indeed, the very name Shavuot is Hebrew for “weeks.” Obviously, the concept of the “week” is central to the process of self-refinement which the count represents and the spiritual peak attained with its culmination on Shavuot.

The prominence of the “week” in the count is further emphasized by the complex, rather roundabout manner in which the Torah chooses to establish when the count is to begin. Concerning the verses quoted at the start of this essay, the Talmud expounds:

“From the day after the Shabbat” - this means from the day which follows the first day of the Passover festival. Perhaps this is not so? Perhaps it means the day that follows the Shabbat of Genesis? Said Rabbi Yosi bar Yehudah: But the verse also says “you shall count fifty days,” that the count [from Passover to Shavuot] shall always be one of fifty days. Now if you interpret “from the day after the Shabbat” to mean from the day following the Shabbat of Genesis, then the count may at times be 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, or 56 days (Talmud, Menachos 65b).

The literal meaning of the Hebrew word Shabbat is “cessation” - a day is referred to as “Shabbat” because it is a day of cessation from work, a day of disinvolvement from workday pursuits. Thus, although the term “Shabbat” is usually reserved for “the Shabbat of Genesis” - the weekly seventh day of rest which marks the Almighty’s seven day cycle of creation and withdrawal - the Torah also uses it in connection with other festival days on which work is forbidden. In our case, the word “Shabbat” in the verse “You shall count from the day after the Shabbat” refers to the first day of Passover.

The Talmud relates how this was a point of contention for the Beisutim, a breakaway Jewish sect which refused to accept the “Oral Law” (the traditional interpretation of the Torah handed down through the generations from the time of Moses) and chose to interpret the Torah’s words as they saw fit. The Beisutim understood the word “Shabbat” in its more commonplace sense, and thus began the omer count only on the Sunday following the onset of Passover. Yet, as Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai pointed out in a debate with the Beisutim, their custom contradicted the verse which commands “from the day in which you bring the “omer” offering [i.e. the 2nd day of Passover]... you shall count fifty days.” Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai concludes by saying:

One verse says “you shall count fifty days” and another verse says “seven complete weeks they shall be”; how is this to be understood? This verse [i.e. “seven complete weeks”] applies [only] when the first day of Passover falls on a Shabbat; the other verse [i.e. “you shall count fifty days” regardless of the weeks] applies in the case that the first day of Passover falls during the week (ibid).

In other words, the Talmud understands the phrase “seven complete weeks” to mean complete in their “original” Sunday-to-Shabbat format. Thus, were we to insist on seven such complete weeks in all cases, including those years in which the first day of Passover does not coincide with the day of Shabbat, we would have a count which includes more than fifty days. We therefore conclude that although the omer count always consists of seven weeks, these can only be deemed “complete” in the case that Passover does indeed fall on a Shabbat and the count commences on the “day after the Shabbat” in the commonplace sense, as well.

But why is a week “complete” only if it begins on a Sunday and ends with Shabbat? And why, indeed, does the Torah chose to convey the information in such a complex manner, going out of its way to emphasize that in certain years the weeks are “complete” while in others they are not?

There are two elements in a person’s life: that which he receives and that which he creates. Our initial existence, and the talents and resources with which we start of, are, of course, granted us by the Creator. And every day of our lives we are further sustained and nourished by His kindness.

In addition, G-d has also imbued us with the ability to create. To build upon what He has given us, to further develop our own selves and the world about us.

Each of these two areas has an advantage over the other: Obviously, any human product is finite and imperfect, subject to human limitations and deficiencies. Only those aspects of our existence which are granted from Above possess the purity and perfection of the Divine.

On the other hand, however, there is a unique quality to the personal attainments of man. G-d desired that man elevate his world beyond its original condition, making of it something more than its created state. In fact, human nature is such that, as the Talmud points out, “A person would rather have a kav of his own [grain] than nine kavim of his fellow’s.”[3] True satisfaction comes only from that which we ourselves create; what we receive without effort has no value for us. The reason why G-d created us this way is that He desired that we be more than passive recipients in His world. He wanted us to be His “partners in creation”[4] - creators who emulate and extend His own act of creation through our individual achievements.

The week is a wholly Divine institution. Our cycle of six workdays followed by a day of Shabbat is the perpetual re-enactment of G-d’s creation of the universe. There is no human input in the structuring of the week. In the words of the Talmud, “the Shabbat is sanctified in advance” by the Almighty from the six days of creation.[5]

Thus, the “week” represents the world as G-d created it, and those aspects of our experience in which we are beneficiaries of his benevolence. On the other hand, the “man-made” weeks between Passover and Shavuot represent the personal initiative of man. The counting process of the omer chronicles his struggles and triumphs in his quest to improve his own nature and that of the world about him.

But every few years, the seven weeks of our omer count coincide with the Creator’s weeks, offering us the unique opportunity to integrate our receptive and creative powers. This then is the significance of the “complete weeks” achieved on such a year: a spiritual journey from Exodus to Sinai which combines the infinite nature of G-d’s bestowal with the specialty of human creation.

[1] Today we follow a fixed calendar in which the month of Nissan always has 30 days and the month of Iyar, 29 days. Thus, the 50th day of the count, which begins of the second night of Passover (Nissan 16th) always coincides with the 6th of Sivan. However, this is only because today we do not have a functioning sanhedrin (supreme court of Torah law). In essence, the Jewish calendar is fixed by eyewitness sightings of the new moon, based on which the sanhedrin would proclaim the new month. By this process, which will recommence with the coming of Moshiach and the re-establishment of the sanhedrin, any month may consist of either 29 or 30 days. So Shavuot has no intrinsic calendar date, other than the 50th day from the 2nd of Passover.

(For this reason, there exists a halachic dilemma in the case of a traveler who crosses the international dateline in the period between Passover and Shavuot, thereby “gaining” or “losing” a day in his count. Regarding all other festivals, whose dates are determined by the calendar, an individual’s loss or gain of a day is obviously irrelevant. But since Shavuot is defined solely as the 50th day from the morrow of Passover, the question arises: is this traveler to observe Shavuot on his 50th day, or is he to defer to the 50th day as counted by the community?)

[2] These are: chessed (love or bestowal), gevurah (fear and severity), tiferes (harmony), netzach (triumph), hod (splendor), yesod (foundation) and malchus (sovereignty and leadership). These seven basic element of the human character reflect the seven attributes of G-d's involvement in creation (sefiros).

[3] Talmud, Bava Metzia 38a. This fact of human nature also has legal implications. The Talmud cites the following case: A leaves town and entrusts his grain to B's care. The grain begins to diminish, due to spoilage. Should B sell the grain in order to save A from financial loss? The law is no, unless the loss is greater than the normal diminishment. Because a person would rather have the grain that he himself has toiled over and grown.