MiMachorat HaShabbat/2

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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.
Why connect it to Chag HaMatzot? This position assumes that there is overlap in time between the unit of verses speaking of Chag HaMatzot and those speaking of the Omer offering2  and the latter's dating is informed by the former.
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 5:12-15.3
Various mentions of Shabbat – Alkumsi and Solomon b. Yerucham4 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 for Shavuot – The Karaites5 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.6
"וַיֹּאכְלוּ מֵעֲבוּר הָאָרֶץ מִמׇּחֳרַת הַפֶּסַח"
  • The Karaites7 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 ‎‏(‎"‏‎‏מִמׇּחֳרַת הַפֶּסַח‎"),8‎‏ Nissan 15. allowing the nation to eat of the new harvest on that very day. The passage in Yehoshua, thus, could support 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.
  • Two days of rest – In the Scholion to Megillat Taanit, a Baytusi tells R. Yochanan b. Zakkai that Hashem wanted the nation to rest for two consecutive days on Shavuot, which otherwise would be a short one day holiday.
  • Prevent Sabbath desecration – Solomon b. Yerucham suggests instead that Shavuot was set on Sunday to ensure that the holiday never fell on Shabbat which would be problematic for bringing a Shelamim offering.
Objections
Polemical Motivations – This reading might in part be motivated by a desire to prevent the possibility of the day of the Omer sacrifice falling on a Shabbat, necessitating reaping on Shabbat.9  By setting a fixed day of the week, they eliminated the need to ever have to transgress the regular laws of Shabbat.10

After Chag HaMatzot

Sources:Dead Sea Scrolls
Meaning and mentions of Shabbat – As above, the understanding that Shabbat refers to the seventh day of the week is supported by many verses throughout Tanakh.  This interpretation also allows one to explain all  three appearances of the word in the same manner.
Why connected to the Shabbat after Chag HaMatazot? According to this approach, the verses which speak of the Omer offering follow chronologically from those that precede them. As such, it is natural to assume that the Shabbat referred to is the one that falls after Chag HaMatzot and not within it.
Dating of "מִמׇּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת" – Unlike the above approach, due to the unique calendar of the Dead Sea sect11 whose year is divisible by seven, the Omer offering was always brought not only on a set day of the week but also on a set date of the month, the 26th of Nissan.12 As such, according to their calendar,13 Shavuot always falls on the 15th of Sivan.14 
Lack of date for Shavuot – Since the Qumran sect does assert that the holiday of Shavuot has a set date15 it is surprising that the Torah never mentions one.  They might reply that it was simply unnecessary since the law requires one to count from the Omer offering until the holiday.16
"וַיֹּאכְלוּ מֵעֲבוּר הָאָרֶץ מִמׇּחֳרַת הַפֶּסַח" – This verse in Yehoshua is difficult for this approach as it implies that the Israelites ate from the new wheat on the 15th of Nissan, while, according to Qumran, this should have been prohibited until the 26th of Nissan when the Omer was brought.  They might reply that the verse is not speaking of eating iof the new produce but rather the old.

After the First Harvest

Yom Shabbaton (Yom Tov)

A Day of Ceasement

Week