Sefiras HaOmer

The Avuduraham (Tefillos HaPesach, end ch.21) explains that the warm climate plants into people a desire for worldly pleasures. This is the reason we have Sefiras HaOmer at this time of year, to purify us from our taavos and tumos. This is also why we learn Pirkei Avos this time of year: to teach us the correct path to go on. cautious with his avodas Hashem, Torah and mitzvos, because these are days of judgment. When we left Mitzrayim, we purified ourselves on these days to receive the Torah. Just as in those days, when Yisrael was aroused to purify themselves, they received help and protection from Heaven, the same will happen now. If a person awakens himself to improve his ways, he will receive help from Above because הבא אותו מסיעין לטהר, when a person desires to be pure, he is helped from Heaven. Especially since these days are mesugal for this, for it is the time that our forefathers purified themselves. This will occur when we go in their ways, and we are cautious with all aspects of taharah, and in particular, to be cautious from vain hatred because we know Reb Akiva's students were niftar between Pesach and Shavuos.

Seβiras HaOmer

The korban Omer brought in the Beis HaMikdash is called הַת ְּנוּפָה עֹמֶר, the Omer of waving, as it states (Vayikra 23:15) לָכֶם וּסְפ ַרְת ֶּם שַׁבָּתוֹת שֶׁבַע הַת ְּנוּפָה עֹמֶר אֶת הֲבִיאֲכֶם מ ִיּוֹם ּׁ ַבָּתהַש מִמָּחֳרַת תִּה ְיֶינָה תְּמ ִימֹת, "You shall count for yourselves – from the morrow of the rest day, from the day when you bring the Omer of waving – seven weeks." An עֹמֶר is a measurement (43 and 1/3rd eggs/ beitzah). The korban was made from an omer measurement of finely sifted barley flour mixed with oil, and it was waved, as implied by its name הַת ְּנוּפָה עֹמֶר. The Rambam (Hilchos Temidim u'Musafim 7:12) writes, "On the sixteenth of Nisan, an omer ... of barley flour was taken and it is mixed with a lug of oil... and it was waved back and forth and up and down in the eastern side of the Beis HaMikdash..."

The ת ְּנוּפָה, waving, was part of this sacrifice, yet we wonder why this korban is called הַת ְּנוּפָה עֹמֶר? Why is it named specifically for the waving? Furthermore, Bikurim and a korban Shlamim also have ת ְּנוּפָה but we don't find that these mitzvos are named התנופה בכורים or התנופה שלמים. What is significant about the korban Omer that it is called הַת ְּנוּפָה עֹמֶר?

The Nesivos Shalom zt'l answers that the korban Omer is followed with the counting of Sefiras HaOmer. The days of Sefiras Ha'Omer are days when we purify ourselves, as we say in the tefillah following Sefiras Ha'Omer, ופגם סיג מכל ורוחותינו נפשותינו את לתקן סלה אמן העליונה בקדשתך ולקדשינו ולטהרינו, "to rectify our neshamos from all blemishes; to purify and to sanctify us..."

The הַת ְּנוּפָה עֹמֶר, the waving of the Omer, up and down, right and left, tells every person to take hold of himself and 'shake himself up' and begin to change his ways. This is an appropriate preparation for the days of Sefiras Ha'Omer.

Reb Aharon HaGadol of Karlin zt'l once met with someone who was a great baal aveirah, r'l. Reb Aharon Karliner understood that mere words of rebuke or hischazkus wouldn't help him anymore. So, he grabbed him by his jacket, pulled him forcefully and shouted, "How long will you be going about the world in this manner?" This aroused him, and he did teshuvah. Similarly, the Omer is a הַת ְּנוּפָה עֹמֶר, the waving of the Omer, up and down, right and left, telling the person that it is time to grab onto yourself and change your ways.

In Sefiras HaOmer, we count forty-nine days. There is also a mitzvah for beis din to count forty-nine years, the years that lead up to Yovel. As it states (Vayikra 25:8) ָלְך ָּוְסָפ ַרְת שֶׁבַע יְמֵי ָלְך וְה ָיוּ פְּעָמ ִים שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים שׁ ַבְּתֹת שֶׁבַע שׁ ָנָה וְא ַרְבָּע ִים ַׁעת ֵּש הַש ָּׁנִים שׁ ַבְּתֹת, "You shall count for yourself seven cycles of sabbatical years, seven years seven times; the years of the seven cycles of sabbatical years shall be for you forty-nine years."

The Chasam Sofer (Drashos p.280a) says that the Torah tells us that there is a mitzvah to count days (of Sefiras HaOmer) and the Torah tells us that there is a mitzvah to count years (to Yovel). This hints to us that each day of Sefiras HaOmer is a very special day that can be viewed as an entire year. The Chasam Sofer says, "This means we should sanctify these days, and we should count them... that these days should shine, until each day will be considered like it was a year, ּׁ ָנָהלַש יוֹם ּׁ ָנָהלַש יוֹם, 'a day for a year, a day for a year" (Bamidbar 14:34).

Based on the Chasam Sofer's lesson, we understand that each year, during Sefiras HaOmer, we have fifty years. The fifty days are equivalent to fifty years.

It is more than that. The Gemara (Bechoros 5a) states, היה כפול קדוש של מנה, the measurements of the Beis HaMikdash were double. This means that when we are measuring matters of kedushah, the measurements double. So, if there are fifty days of Sefiras HaOmer, and each day is like a year, we can now double that (because kedushah is measured in double) and the days of Sefiras HaOmer are like one hundred days, or like one hundred years!

The Chasam Sofer takes this a step further. A person's standard lifespan is seventy years, as it states (Tehillim 90:10) בָהֶם ש ְׁנוֹת ֵינוּ יְמֵי שׁ ָנָה שִׁבְע ִים, "The days of our years among them are seventy years." A person goes through approximately seventy Sefiras HaOmers in his lifetime. We explained that each one is like a hundred years. So, its 70 x 100 = 7,000. This represents the seven thousand years of the world's existence. Because the Gemara (Rosh Hashana 31a) tells us, חרוב וחד עלמא הוה שני אלפי שיתא, "The world is for six thousand years, and another thousand years when the world is destroyed." The sefarim explain that just as a week has six days and then comes Shabbos, so too, the world has six thousand years, and then comes a seventh thousand years, a year of Shabbos. About this year, it states (Yeshayah 2:17) הַהוּא בַּיּוֹם לְב ַדּוֹ 'ה וְנִשׂ ְגַּב, "Hashem alone will be exalted on that day."

Within the days of sefiras haomer are hinted a far greater perspective of time and existence.