MiMachorat HaShabbat/2

MiMachorat HaShabbat

Exegetical Approaches

Shabbat Bereshit

Within Chag HaMatzot

Sources:Baytusim, Samaritans, Karaites - Daniel Alkumsi the Karaite, Solomon b. Yerucham the KaraiteSolomon b. Yerucham the Karaite, Milchamot Hashem Shaar 10, Yefet (commentary), Levi b,. Yefet, R. Aharon b. Yosef (Hamuvchar) Keter Torah, opponents in R. Saadia GaonSefer HaHavchanahAbout R. Saadia Gaon, Karaites in Kuzari3:41About R. Yehuda HaLevi

What must be within Chag MaMatzot?

• ממחרת השבת – According to the Karaites, the "day following the Shabbat" (rather than Shabbat itself) must fall within the week of Chag Hamatzot.  Thus, one could conceivably bring the Omer offering and start counting as early as the 15th of Nissan.¹
• השבת – The Samaritans, in contrast, maintain that the Shabbat itself (not the "day following the Shabbat") must fall within the holiday.  As such, one would never bring the Omer offering before the fifteenth, but depending on when Shabbat were to fal, one might bring it as late as the 22nd, after the conclusion of teh festival.

Shabbat – The understanding of Shabbat as the seventh day of the week would seem to be the simple meaning of the word as supported by multiple verses in Torah.  See, for example, Shemot 20:7,10, Shemot 31:14-15 and Devarim 5:12-15.²

Various mentions of Shabbat – Alkumsi and Solomon b. Yerucham³ point out that one of the advantages of this approach is that it is consistent in understanding the word "Shabbat" in all three of its occurrences in Vayikra 23:15-16  as referring to the seventh day of the week.

Lack of date – The Karaites point to another advantage of this approach; it easily explains why Shavuot, unlike other holidays, is not dated in the Torah. According to them, Shavuot actually has no fixed date, only a set day of the week and in any given year it might fall out anywhere between 5-11 Sivan.⁴

"וַיֹּאכְלוּ מֵעֲבוּר הָאָרֶץ מִמׇּחֳרַת הַפֶּסַח"

After Chag HaMatzot

After the First Harvest

Yom Shabbaton (Yom Tov)

A Day of Ceasement

Week

¹ This would happen any year in which the fourteenth of Nissan coincided with Shabbat.

² It should be noted, though, that in many of its appearances in Torah the word "Shabbat" might not connote a proper noun, the name of a day of the week, but might more generally be pointing to a day in which something ceased.  See, for example, its usage in Shemot 15:25-25 or Vayikra 23:3, and the opinion below which takes this understanding in Vayikra 23:15 as well.  See, though, Solomon b. Yerucham who argues that the definitive "ה"  in the beginning of the word "הַשַּׁבָּת" suggests that it is a defined day, known from beforehand as the special day of the week, Shabbat.

³ See also the position that R. Saadia Gaon is responding to in his ספר הבחנה.  One of the main arguments of the Karaites against the Rabbinate approach was the latter's inconsistency in understanding the word Shabbat in each of its appearances in the unit.

⁴ According to the Samaritans the date is also variable but ranges between 6-12 Sivan instead.  [See above that the Karaites and Samaritans disagreed about whether one began counting on the first Sunday of Chag HaMatzot if that fell out on the 15th of Nissan.]