Shabbat Table Topics – Parashat Emor/0/en
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Shabbat Table Topics – Parashat Emor
How do you Sanctify Hashem's Name?
Sectarian Debates
The date of the Omer offering has been a source of fiery debate between different sects of Judaism and assorted commentators from time immemorial. The Torah gives no calendrical date, instead declaring that it should be brought "מִמׇּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת". While the Samaritan, Karaite and Qumran sects all understand "הַשַּׁבָּת" to refer to the seventh day of the week (setting the offering on a Sunday), Rabbinic Judaism maintains that it refers to the first day of Chag HaMatzot (setting the Omer on the 16th of Nisan). See MiMachorat HaShabbat.
- What is motivating the Rabbinic position to read the word "Shabbat" in this manner? Is this a valid understanding of the word? What other textual or theological issues might lead them to disagree with the Sectarian readings?
- According to the Sectarians, the Torah uniquely dates the Omer to a day of the week, leaving the day of the month flexible.1 What, though, is so significant about a Sunday that Hashem would decide that the Omer Offering (and thus Shavuot) need to fall out on that day of the week? In addition, the flexible dating serves to sever any connection between Shavuot and commemoration of any historical event. What does that do to "חג מתן תורתנו" ?
- I. Kislev somewhat uniquely understands the phrase "מִמׇּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת" to mean "the morrow of the cessation" and suggests that the Omer was originally brought on the day after the cessation of the Manna. In fact, the whole offering was meant to commemorate the miracle and the subsequent transition from supernatural providence to natural living. Why might it be important to remember the miracle of the manna specifically during harvest season?
