כי תבאו אל הארץ אשר אני נתן לכם וקצרתם את קצירה והבתם את עמר ראשית קצירכם אל הכהן: וכו' וכו' וספרתם לכם ממחרת השבת מיום הביאכם את עמר התנופה שבע שבתות תמימת תהיינה : עד ממחרת השבת השביעית תספרו חמשים יום והקרבתם מנחה חדשה לד': (“...For you will come to the land which I am giving you, and you will harvest its yield, and you will bring an ‘omer of the first of your harvest to the kohén. .... And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the shabbath, from the day you bring the ‘omer of waving [tënufa], seven complete shabbathoth shall there be. Until the day after the seventh shabbath shall you count fifty days, and bring a new minha to Ha-Shem”; XXIII, 10-16).
This describes the season in which we now find ourselves. The Talmud (מנחות ס"ה:) establishes through a gëzéra shava between vv. 15 and 16 that shabbath can refer to any day on which mëlachoth are forbidden; hence, the day on which the ‘omer is brought is the day immediately after the start of the Passover season, and we are obliged to count the days and weeks, until the fiftieth day marks the holiday of Shavu‘oth (“Weeks”). The ‘omer is a measure of volume, equivalent to ca. 3.64 liters.
The midrash tell us: לעולם אל תהי מצות העומר קלה בעיניך שע"י מצות העומר זכה אברהם לירש את ארץ כנען הה"ד "ונתתי לך ולזרעך אחריך" על מנת "ואתה את בריתי תשמור" (“The mitzva of the ‘omer must not be light in your eyes, for it is through the mitzva of the ‘omer that Avraham merited to inherit the land of Këna‘an, as it is written, ‘And I shall give to you and your descendants after you’, on condition that ‘And you shall keep My covenant’ [Genesis XVIII, 8-9]”; ויקרא רבה פכ"ח סי' ו' ).
We scour the first book of the Humash in vain for any reference to Avraham ever bringing an ‘omer réshith qëtziro (‘omer of the first of his harvest”); indeed, a little research reveals that the “covenant” referred to in v. 9 is the bërith mila, the “covenant of circumcision.” What, precisely is going on? How is mila similar to ‘omer?
B.
The Bë’ér Moshe directs our attention to the discussion of the mitzva of mila in the Séfer ha-Hinnuch, where we learn: משרשי מצוה זו לפי שרצה הקב"ה לקבוע בעם אשר הבדיל להיות נקרא על שמו אות קבוע בגופם להבדילם משאר העמים בצורת גופם כמו שהם מובדלים בצורת נפשותם וגו' (“Of the roots of this mitzva is that the Holy One, Blessed is He, wished to establish in the people whom He set aside to be called by His name a fixed sign in their body, to distinguish them from the rest of the nations in the shape of their body, just as they are set apart in the shape of their souls....”; מצוה ב').
The Rebbe זצ"ל goes on to explain that the spiritual quality which most serves to make the distinction mentioned above is humility, and more specifically ענוה הבאה כתוצאה מתוך הגדולה, “humility [‘anava] which comes as the result of greatness”, and finds support for this in the Talmud: "לא מרובכם מכל העמים חשק ד' בכם כי אתם המעט מכל העמים" – א"ל הקב"ה לישראל חושקני בכם שאפילו בשעה שאני משפיע לכם גדולה אתם ממעטין עצמכם לפני, נתתי גדולה לאברהם אמר לפני "ואנכי עפר ואפר" אבל עכו"ם אינם כן. נתתי גדולה לנמרוד אמר "הנה נבנה לנו עיר". לפרעה אמר "מי ד' אשר אשמע בקולו". לסנחריב אמר "מי בכל אלהי הארצות אשר הצילו את ארצם מידי". לנבוכדנצר אמר "אעלה על במתי עב". לחירם מלך צור אמר "אל אני מושב אלהים ישבתי" (“‘It is not because you are more numerous than all the nations that Ha-Shem desires you, for you are the least of all the nations’ [Deuteronomy VII, 7]. Said the Holy One, Blessed is He to Israel, I desire you because even at the hour that I grant you greatness you lessen yourselves before Me; I gave greatness to Avraham, he said before Me, ‘And I am dust and ashes’ [Genesis XVIII, 27]; but it is not so amongst the idolators. I gave greatness to Nimrod, he said: ‘Let us build ourselves a city....’ [ibid., XI, 4]; to Pharaoh, he said: ‘Who is Ha-Shem that I should listen to His voice?’ [Exodus V, 2]; to Sanheriv, he said; ‘Who is there amongst all the gods of the lands who has saved his land from my hand?’ [II Kings XVIII, 35]; to Nëvuchadnetzar, he said: ‘I shall ascend on the cloudy heights’ [Isaiah XIV, 14]; to Hiram, king of Tzor, he said: ‘I am a god, I sit on the seat of gods’ [Ezekiel XXVIII, 2]”; חולין פ"ט.), whence we see that humility, self-abnegation before the majesty of Ha-Shem is the decisive quality.
The bërith mila is a physical manifestation of this self-diminishment, in that a part of the body is removed, and Scripture relates it directly to the quality of humility, as we read in e.g. או אז יכנע לבבם הערל (“Or then will their uncircumcised heart be subjugated”; Leviticus XXVI, 41).
With this in mind, let us go on to consider the ‘omer.
C.
Under the calendrical dispensation which obtains when the mamlecheth kohanim vë-goy qadosh (“kingdom of kohanim and holy nation”; Exodus XIX, 6) are resident in Eretz ha-Qodesh, round about the béyth ha-Miqdash with its Qodesh ha-Qodashim, Nisan, the month in which Passover occurs, is the first month of the year (cf. Exodus XII, 2). It therefore follows that the ‘omer is the very first agricultural sacrifice to be made, each year (עיי' רמב"ם הל' איסורי מקדש פ"ה ה"ט והל' תמידין ומוספין פ"ז הי"ז), such that the ‘omer precedes and sets the stage for every other sacred agricultural event, to include even the separation of tërumoth u-ma‘sëroth, since that does not occur until the harvest is complete, whereas the ‘omer is taken from the barley which sprouts in the early spring.
Therefore, the Rebbe concludes, נמצא שהבאת העומר הוא ענין של התמעטות בשעת גדולה, כי דייקא באותה שעה שהתבואה צומחת ועולה ויש לכאורה להתפאר בכך, הרי האדם מישראל מגלה דעתו ומוכיח במעשיו כי רק השי"ת הוא הנותן לו כח לעשות חיל (“it is found that bringing the ‘omer is a matter of self-abnegation at a time of greatness, for at precisely that moment that the crop is sprouting and rising, in which one might well take pride, the person from Israel reveals his intent and proves through his actions that it is only Ha-Shem Who gives him strength to do great things”).
At precisely the moment when the Jewish farmer might be tempted to take pride in his work, that he had obviously planted and irrigated and fertilised properly, he directs his heart and intentions toward Ha-Shem, Who has given him the strength to accomplish, and, as it were, “circumcises” the fields, by cutting the ‘omer and bringing it to the kohén at the very beginning, before the crop has matured into anything edible, as a mark of his submission and self-abnegation to Ha-Shem, much as the circumcision of a little boy is preparatory for all the events in his life to come.
As was noted above, Avraham was exemplary in his humility in the face of his own greatness; in the merit of that quality, he took possession of the Holy Land, which, before Avraham’s heirs, the goy qadosh, took possession of it, was known by a name redolent of that essential quality: Këna‘an built on the root kaf-nun-‘ayin, signifying “submission, subjection.”
D.
The Maharal mi-Prag notes that we begin counting the ‘omer on the day after yom tov, rather than on yom tov itself, to point up שנברא האדם לעמל, “that the human being was created for labor.” It is to emphasize this point that the yom tov of Passover is called shabbath, to differentiate it from the following day, on which one does not rest. That the ‘omer itself is the product of agricultural labor serves to make the same point.
The fact that the ‘omer consists of barley, which is typically animal fodder, and is brought at the very beginning of the countdown to Ma‘amad Har Sinai and Mattan Torah (which began on Shavu‘oth) serves to indicate that human beings were created for the purposes of Torah כי מצד שהנשמה בגוף האדם שהוא כמו בהמה היא חסירה ונחשב האדם כמו הבהמה וזהו בעצמו ההכנה לאדם לקבל התורה כו' כי היא צריכה אליו מצד החסרון להשלים בו חסרונו על ידה ולכך מסוגל ומוכן לקנין התורה העליונה וגו' (“for since the nëshama is [resident] in the human body, which is like a beast in that it lacks [perfection], such that a human being is considered as a beast, this in itself is a preparation for a human being to receive the Torah... since it is necessary to him because of his lack, to perfect in him his lack through it, and for this reason he is fit and ready for acquisition of the supernal Torah....”; דרשות מהר"ל, דרוש על התורה).
Greatness is thrust upon a human being by virtue of the presence of the Divine nëshama in the animal body; the human ego derives from its presence. If he can overcome that ego and achieve ענוה הבאה כתוצאה מתוך הגדולה, the humility which comes as a result of that greatness, and recognize where he is lacking and what needs work, he can fulfill his purpose on Earth, to acquire Torah, and adapt the world to it.
To aid in that recognition, the adam mi-Yisra’él is circumcised at the beginning of his life; to dedicate the land of Israel and proceed to adapt it Torah, he “circumcises” it at the beginning of the year, and thus begins the countdown to the acquisition of Torah.
No comments:
Post a Comment