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 sixteenth, but depending on when Shabbat were to fall, one might bring it as late as the 22nd, after the conclusion of the festival.

Evaluation of meaning of Shabbat – This 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"

• The Karaites assert that the year the Israelites entered the land, Chag HaPesach fell on a Shabbat, and the Omer offering was brought on the next day (Nissan 15) allowing the nation to eat of the new harvest. The passage in Yehoshua, thus, does not contradict, but rather supports their understanding of "מׇּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת".
• Since the Samaritans do not accept Sefer Yehoshua as part of their canon they are not bothered by any contradictions therefrom.

"תִּסְפׇּר לָךְ מֵהָחֵל חֶרְמֵשׁ בַּקָּמָה"

Significance of date? This approach must explain what is significant about a Sunday that Hashem would decide that the counting (and thus Shavuot) need fall out on that specific day of the week. in the Scholion to Megillat Taanit, a Baytusi tells R. Yochanan b. Zakkai that Hashem wanted the nation to rest for two consective days on Shavuot,w hich otherwise would be a short one day holiday.⁵

Objections

Polemical Motivations – This reading might in part

After Chag HaMatzot

Sources:Dead Sea Scrolls

Evaluation of meaning of Shabbat

Various mentions of Shabbat

Lack of date

"וַיֹּאכְלוּ מֵעֲבוּר הָאָרֶץ מִמׇּחֳרַת הַפֶּסַח"

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.]  Such flexible dating serves to sever the direct connection between Shavuot and the giving of the Torah.  As neither the Samaritans nor the  Karaites assume that the revelation at Sinai occurred on 6 Sivan, they had no incentive to set Shavuot on that date.  [The Karaite R. Aharon b. Yosef, in his comments to Shemot 18:29, asserts that the date of revelation is 3 Sivan, while the Samaritans commemorate it on the 46th day of the Omer.  However, since the Samaritans celebrate Shavuot for a full week, beginning on the Monday of the last week of the Omer, they too end up connecting revelation and the holiday.]

⁵ It is not clear if this was a serious explanation offered by the Baytusim or if this is simply the rabbinate poking fun at the position.