Parashat Shelach: The Meraglim: Are the Questions Better than the Answers?

As an educator, I was always trained to encourage students to ask questions. Questions lead to better understanding and deeper knowledge. Although we seek answers, the reality is that some questions will remain better than the answer. There are many perplexities we encounter when studying the story of the Meraglim (spies) and although I would like to explore some of them here, I leave it to you to decide if the questions remain better than the answers.

וידבר ה׳ אל משה לאמר, שלך לך אנשים (יג:ב)

Hashem commands Moshe - send men (to explore the land of Israel)

The back story is that Hashem was prepared to bring the Jewish people into Israel, but there was this request to first get a taste for what was in store and so Hashem tells Moshe to send the world’s first explorers.

Let’s begin by listing our questions:

1. What is the purpose of the word לך, to you? Send to you?
2. Why did Hashem allow the spies to go? Didn’t he know the outcome would be catastrophic us to wander the desert for 40 years?
3. Even more strange is that the pasuk sounds like Hashem not only allowed the spies to go, but שלח לך, He is commanding them to go. Again, if he knew the outcome would be bad, why did He command us to go?
4. Furthermore, even if the spies sinned, did the punishment fit the crime? Wandering 40 years in the desert? It would be one thing if the spies went out on their own and made this mistake, but Hashem commanded them to go; even if they lost their way and spoke evil, should this warrant a 40 year punishment?
5. Were these spies righteous on the outset and then lose their way?
1. The pasuk says send אנשים - the medrash explains that this means the selected spies were righteous at that time. Then why did they end up sinning? Furthermore, this contradicts another passage in chazal that says based on the pasuk( וילכו ויבאו (יג:כו we see that there is a connection between when they went and when they returned; just as when they returned with bad advice, so too, when they embarked they went with evil intent. This suggests they were not righteous; so which is it?
2. Some suggest that even the name מרגלים - spies suggests they were evil at the outset. So doesn’t that contradict the other words of Chazal that suggest they began as righteous?
6. After listing all the names of the spies, the Torah repeats and says, ואלה שמות האנשים אשר שלח משה לתור את הארץ, ויקרא משה להושע בן נון יהושע

The Ohr Hachaim says that ויקרא משה להושע means that Moshe gave him the extra yud as a mechanism to fight of the evil inclination of the 10 evil spies.

Now let’s suggest some answers.

The sefer Otzrot Hatorah quotes the sefer Maor Hashemesh that when Yaakov’s 10 sons came down to Egypt (many years earlier) and Yosef who was viceroy of Egypt saw them, he called them Meraglim - מרגלים אתם. What did he mean by this? Was he a liar? They had not spied? The Ariz”l says that Yosef’s intent was a prophetic reference to the spies of our parasha who would spy and then speak incorrectly about the land of Israel. These spies were in some form a reincarnation of the sons of Yaakov.

This means that there are some very righteous individuals who have the ability to shed light on the land and to those who live in it, even if the inhabitants are very big and scary. But their evil inclination is big and they may worry that they cannot beat the giants in the land. To allow them to overcome this inclination, the souls of the righteous come down from the heavens and help them overcome their inclination. Yet the choice is still in the hands of the spies to choose good or evil.

Hashem knows everything; He knew the spies would mistakenly follow their inclinations.  That is why He commanded Moshe to give each spy the soul of the prince of each tribe to come to the aid of the spies.

When it says שלח לך אנשים - it means they were in fact righteous, that Moshe should send righteous souls along with the spies to scope out the land to prevent them from making a mistake.

The tribe of אפרים ומנשה had a righteous leader who would spy for them - יהושע. But Moshe was still worried even יהושע could go down the wrong path. And so he prayed for him to make the right choices. It was a quick act of changing the name as a tefila, but it could not fit the names of the other spies.

Now we understand there is no contradiction between הליכתם לביאתם the way they went out and the way they returned. The actual spies were evil on the way in and out, but when it says they were righteous on the way out, that refers to the brothers of Yosef who were in fact righteous and came to keep the spies from sinning.

The Sfas Emes had a tremendous insight on this matter. He points out on the commentary of the Zohar, as follows:

“The Zohar states that the spies thought: ‘Here, (in the desert,) we are the leaders (of Bnei Yisrael) in the Land (of Israel) we will not merit to be the leaders.’”. According to the Zohar, they were concerned about losing their spiritual influence by entering Eretz Yisrael, and therefore decided that for the sake of the Torah, it is better to dwell in the Galut.

Another way of looking at the spies is to consider the reality they lived in. Their generation had been living a completely artificial existence in the desert. They had no bathroom needs, their clothes did not wear out, there was no cooking and no need to earn a living. They were completely protected from the elements. Theirs was a life totally dedicated to spirituality, to building up a deep trust in Hashem and to learning His Torah to perfection. This was both a marvelous and yet extremely intense existence. Any Jew of that generation woke up in the morning knowing exactly where he stood spiritually. If he had any negative thoughts or done the slightest thing wrong, he would find that his portion of the מן fell just that much further from his tent. He knew it, and the whole Jewish people knew as well. There was immediate and visible feedback for each and every act. Weaken for a moment, and you will instantly be attacked by Amalek. Put a foot wrong, and the holy Moshe was right there to rebuke. This was a pretty scary way to live.

Klal Yisrael found it hard to live this way, but they knew that this was just until they got to the land of Israel. Did not Hashem Himself want the Jews to live as an example to all nations, living on the land as all nations do? Things would be a little more normal there, or so they thought, until the spies came back with their report. The very request to send spies displayed the Jews’ desire to do things in a more ‘normal’ fashion (even though there was significant trepidation about the loss of their spiritual exaltedness as a result). It is perfectly legitimate to spy out the terrain before sending in one’s army, and even Moshe Rabbeinu saw the logic in this. But he did not recognize the hidden agenda of the Jewish people, who wanted to check whether this was a normal land that would ease their daily pressures of their current lifestyle.

Yet, even Moshe Rabbeinu should have seen that what was legitimate according to the rules of nature may not have been legitimate according to the rules of higher Hashgacha. Hence Hashem tells Moshe Rabbeinu שלח לך, “You send if you choose to operate according to the level desired by the nation, the laws of nature.”  

May we be zocheh to repair this sin, through ahavat ha'aretz, ahavat Yisrael and ahavat Hashem, and see the rebuilding of the Mikdash in our days.

Parashat Beha'alotecha: The Humblest of All Men

(והאיש משה ענו מאד מכל האדם אשר על פני האדמה (יב,ג
And Moshe was a humble man, more than any man on earth.

Moshe, the greatest prophet, the greatest Jew in history, he was also the most humble? How could that be? How could he not know how great he was?

Before we attempt to answer this question, let’s explore another question. How does the Torah’s description of Moshe being humble relate to the pesukim before it? The pesukim first describe Miriam’s sin of speaking lashon hara about Moshe for separating from his wife, and then the pasuk says Moshe was the most humble person of all. How are these two things connected? Furthermore, wouldn’t it have made more sense for the Torah to say that Moshe was the most righteous and not to be blamed for separating from his wife?

The commentators explain that ענוה, being humble does not not mean that you do not recognize your greatness. It does not mean that you think poorly of yourself or to have bad self esteem. On the contrary, someone who is humble knows his strengths; he knows how positively people feel about him. But he also knows that all of his strengths and accomplishments are gifts from Hashem. In fact, the most humble people are usually the most righteous because they do not attribute their greatness to their own actions. The Netziv adds that being humble means he conducts himself without any concern for his own honor.

The Gemorrah presents an insightful metaphor. When one shakes a tzedakah box with only a few coins, it rattles and makes a lot of noise. However, if you shake a full tzedakah box, it makes very little noise. So too it is with people. A person who is full of many good qualities and accomplishes much has no need to boast. He feels fulfilled. But a person who feels empty inside makes a lot of noise about his few accomplishments to try to fill his emptiness.

The Medrash explains that Miriam slandered Moshe in his presence. Although he was insulted, he did not react. Hashem had to intervene to defend Moshe’s honor. Thus, Moshe’s humility was very connected to this incident, since it was his modesty that enabled him to overlook Miriam’s criticism.

Master educator and lecturer, Shira Smiles quotes Rabbi Feuer who explains that a six foot man will always consider himself tall/high if he compares himself to a five foot person. But if he compares his height to that of the sun, he will realize he is quite low. Moshe did not compare himself to other human beings. He compared himself to Hashem and always recognized how small he was in that comparison. Therefore, he remained the humblest of all men and appreciated how successful he was in being an eved Hashem.

Parashat Nasso - The Power of the Cohen's Blessing

In Parashat Nasso, we find ברכת כהנים, the Blessings of the Cohen. There is something here that always bothered me; why do the cohanim get to bless the Jewish people? Are they more special than me? Aren’t we all created in the image of Hashem?  And even if I get passed my selfish self, wouldn’t it make sense to have great Rabbis and Torah scholars bless the people? Afterall the pasuk says, למען תזכרו ועשיתם את כל מצותי והייתם קדושים and whenever we say any bracha we say, אשר קדשנו במצותיו. So shouldn’t someone who is more holy be better equipped to bless the people? The reality is an elderly Gadol Hador cannot perform ברכת כהנים, yet a 13 year old Cohen, who knows little about blessings is capable. How do we understand this?

Rav Aharon Volkin in his sefer מצח אהרון suggests a great approach to answer our question. The Talmud in Sotah (38b) says, “And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says: One may give a cup of blessing to recite the blessing of Grace after Meals only to someone with a good eye, i.e., a generous person, as it is stated: “One who has a good eye will be blessed [yevorakh], for he gives of his bread to the poor” (Proverbs 22:9). Do not read it: “Will be blessed.” Rather, read it: Will bless [yevarekh].” The Maharsha explains that the reason the cup of wine is only given to one with a good eye is because the impact of a bracha is determined by kavana of the one reciting the bracha. The bracha in ברכת הכהנים is לברך את עמו ישראל באהבה, with love or with a good eye.

Essentially, the key to understanding brachot is to see what the blesser has in his heart and mind. It is for this reason that Hashem chose the cohanim to be the lead blessers of our people. Not only because Aharon was known to be one who promoted love and peace, but because Hashem knew the cohanim were most well intentioned. They were not given any portion in the land of Israel; they are supported completely by the other tribes who are obligated to give the מתנות כהונה. So inevitably it is in their best intentions to wish everyone else to have success and be recipients of all the best blessings. With this in mind, they are best equipped to have the best kavana when blessing the rest of the Jewish people.

The message to all of us non-Cohanim is clear. We should emulate their innate ability to put their own needs aside and wish upon everyone else only the best blessings possible. Let us have the ability to move beyond ourselves and with everyone around us success in all of their material and spiritual endeavors.

Shavuot - The Importance of the Journey

As we approach Shabbat the Yom Tov of Shavuot, having just read Parashat Bamidbar, there are a few questions that need to be explored:

1) Why did we, the Jewish people, have to travel in the desert in tribes? Why twelve of them? Isn’t this creating unnecessary factions within the Jewish people?

2) Is there a hidden connection between Parashat Bamidbar and Shavuot? Is there some message to support our reading this Parasha the week before Shavuot?

My Rabbi, Rav Moshe Weinberger, explains that each of us is created with a unique mission that we must fulfill. Our life’s journey is to navigate challenges and celebrations to fulfill this mission.  In fact, the Medrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 16:1) says that “there is nothing as precious to Hashem as an agent who is sent to do a mitzvah and gives his soul in order to be successful in his mission.” Giving of one’s soul means that you invest all of your talents and energy into fulfilling the mission, regardless of the personal sacrifice required. In other words, to be successful, you need to be totally devoted and focused on the mission. Put another way, you need to make the most of the journey.

Just as every individual has his own unique mission, every Jewish community has its own mission as well. It is for this reason that each of the twelve tribes camped in separate groups around the Mishkan; each tribe had to express its unique inner essence. Just as when I fulfill my personal mission, it does not detract in any way from someone else’s, so too, when one community fulfills its mission, it does not detract from another community’s mission. On the contrary, it should motivate the other to be focused and succeed in its mission.

Today, while we no longer have camps per se, but we have different groups: Sephardim, Ashkinazim, Modern Orthodox, Chassidim,  Yeshivish, etc. Each group has no shortage of complaints about the others. They feel that the others do not value their tradition. Why is this? Why do we many begrudge others who are on a path of service to Hashem that is different that his own? Perhaps we have not truly dedicated ourselves to our own mission, or we feel insecure about ourselves and have to put down others’ paths to drown out our feelings of guilt for not being truly committed to our own.

Rabbi Weinberger suggests it is because we are “lost in the desert.”  Certainly Hashem could have flown us directly from Cairo to Tel Aviv! It must be that the journey “through the desert” is significant.

ויחן שם ישראל נגד ההר - פירוש רש׳׳י -איש אחד בלב אחד

The Torah says that when the Jews sat around Har Sinai, they were united, like one. This was not magic. It was the result of a long and hard journey of growth.The journey is crucial. We needed forty years of being encamped with our own tribe to understand that there is life outside of the camp. There is value to the traditions in the other camps. We could not magically land at Har Sinai to receive the Torah. We needed a mission and a journey to grow together as a nation.

Now it is clear how Bamidbar and Shavuot are connected. If Shavuot is the marriage between Hashem and the Jewish people, then the Shabbat before Shavuot is the Afruf. So if we want to be successful in accepting the Torah on Shavuot, we need to focus on our own mission; know who we are and what our traditions are. Then we can come to love each Jew. Not to love him in some superficial manner, rather, we need to love each Jew from the depths of our heart, without any speck of negativity or blemish.

Let us all recommit ourselves to our own Torah learning, to our own personal growth. Then let us recognize the value of every Jew and come to love him.

Now isn't that a journey worth experiencing?

A Thought on Parashat Bechukotai: What Type Of Work Ethic Do You Really Have?

There is a well know pasuk in Iyov that says אדם לעמל יולד, a person was born to toil. What kind of toiling is this referring to?

Last week we discussed the concept of seeing our growth in avodat Hashem as an עול,  a yoke. It is crucial that we work on ourselves and not just do what comes easy in our service to Hashem. Rather, we should strive to toil and improve in areas that may be more difficult for us.

This idea connects beautifully to the first pasuk and Rashi in this week’s parasha.

״אם בחקתי תלכו״

רש׳׳י - שתהיו עמלים בתורה

Loosely translated, the Torah explains, “If you walk in My ways….” And what ways are these? To toil in Torah. To toil in avodat Hashem.

The Talmud in Mesechet Megilah (6b) says:

אם יאמר לך אדם יגעתי ולא מצאתי - אל תאמין

לא יגעתי ומצאתי - אל תאמין

יגעתי ומצאתי - תאמין

“If a person tells you I have worked hard and not been successful - don’t believe him,

If he says I have not worked hard, and have been successful - don’t believe him,

But if he says I worked hard and was successful - believe him.”

The Talmud is referring to our work in our Torah learning and avodat Hashem. If a person toils to study and understand Torah, he will surely accomplish this. But even after understanding the concepts, it will feel like he found a lost object, like he found something that he is fortunate to have. He will not see it as something he had it coming to him. He won’t see it as something he accomplished himself. Certainly, he he won't maintain it without continued work. He recognizes that he has to toil to both acquire and maintain it. That's why the Talmud said, if you don't toil and say you found it anyway, that can’t be true.

The Talmud continues: הני מלילי בדברי תורה, אבל במשא ומתן סייעתא דשמיא

״This need to toil is only by Torah. But parnasa, our livelihood is all from Hashem. What does this mean?

The sefer Otzrot Hatorah explains that this means that we work hard for livelihood, not because it will produce more money. Rather, we work hard due to the curse of Adam Harishon, בזעת אפך תאכל לחם, that is just our reality. But we should not mistakenly think that if we devote 24 hours a day to work and leave our avodat Hashem aside that we will make a better or even the same livelihood. Our livelihood is set by Hashem on Rosh Hashanah as the Talmud in Beitza 16 says, מזונותיו של אדם קבוצין לו מראש השנה עד ראש השנה.

The message of this week’s parasha is that we must not misplace our priorities. Some people reverse things and  they toil only in parnasa but when it comes to Torah they say "Hashem will help.” The reality is just the opposite. It is our spirituality that needs constant toiling.

There is a story with the great Rabbi Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik (grandfather of the The Rav) who once asked a student, “how are you doing?” and the student proceeded to tell him all the details of his professional successes and how he was seeing blessing from his toil. Rabbi Soloveitchik again asked, “how are you doing?” The student thought the Rabbi didn’t hear him the first time and repeated his answer about his financial successes. The Rabbi responded, I did not ask you how Hashem is doing, I asked how you are doing!”

The lessons seem obvious. We can all devote ourselves to learning more Torah, more often. There are so many shiurim in the community or online that we should take advantage of these opportunities to continue our learning. We are able to maximize the “downtime” we have, the in between moments when we can add a few drops of extra Torah into our lives.

A Thought on Parashat Behar - The Power of Earning Interest

A few years ago I had the pleasure of sharing the following thoughts while delivering the drasha in shul for my son Kovi’s bar mitzvah.

(אל תיקח מאתו נשך ותרבות.... אני ה׳ אלקיכם אשר הוצאתי אתכם מארץ מצרים (כה:לו-לח

The Torah warns us that when loaning money to a fellow Jew, we may not charge interest (known as Ribis). Regardless of the percentage, you cannot charge a penny more than the amount lent. 

Chazal, in numerous places, discuss the severity of one who violates this prohibition. Listed below are the exact quotes - essentially the violator is compared to one who denies the existence of G-d (quote #1), as if he committed the most horrible of sins (quote #3), as one who will not receive his share in Olam Haba (quote #4), as one who has given up the yoke of heaven (quote #5) and as one who denies the reality of yetziat Mitzrayim (quote #6).

דברי חז׳׳ל על איסור ריבית

1. (כל המלוה בריבית כופר בעיקר (ירושלמי בבא מציאה ה:ח

2. (המלוה בריבית אין הקב׳׳ה נושא ונותן בדינו, אלא פוסק את דינו מיד (תנחומא משפטים טו

3. (מי שנוטל ריבית מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו עשה את כל הרעות והעבירות שבעולם (שמות רבה לא:יג

4. (וחי לא יחיה – אמר הקב׳׳ה מי שחי בריבית בעולם הזה לא יחיה לעולם הבא (שמות רבה לא:ו

5. אני ה׳ – מכאן אמרו כל המקבל עליו עול ריבית מקבל עול שמים, וכל הפורק ממנו עול ריבית פורק ממנו עול שמים (תו׳׳כ כה

6. אני ה׳ אלוקיכם אשר הוצאתי אתכם מארץ מצרים – על תנאי הוצאתי אתכם מארץ מצרים, על תנאי שתקבלו את מצות ריבית, שכל המודה במצות ריבית מודה ביציאת מצרים, וכל הכופר במצות ריבית כאילו כפר ביציאת מצרים (תו׳׳כ בהר

Q: The obvious question: what makes the prohibition of Ribis so crucial? Why is the punishment so harsh? It is as if I deny G-d? As if I did all of the worst sins? As if I deny the exodus from Mitzrayim? How are we to understand this?

The Malbim explains: We find in this mitzvah the reality of Hashem, His presence and interaction in this world, and how He took us out of Mitzrayim; who denies the mitzvah of Ribis, denies all of this, for this mitzvah teaches us how to believe and have trust in Hashem. For one who lends his money for free, shows his trust that Hashem has given him enough money so he can afford to lend to others.

The Kli Yakar adds the reason for the prohibition of Ribis is it removes our trust in Hashem. One who does business with the recognition that it is the hand of Hashem driving his success, and that he looks to Him, is increasing his level of trust in Hashem. Equally, one who lends with Ribis has a fixed profit and is not depending on Hashem to make his money. It is for this reason the mitzvah of Ribis is put alongside the mitzvah of Shemita; another sign of our trust in Hashem.

Trust in Hashem is not some lofty ideal for only pious people of the generation. Rather, it is an obligation of every Jew; it is sacred in the eyes of Hashem. That is why Chazal provide harsh descriptions for one who lends with Ribis, and doesn’t trust in G-d.

Let’s explore the last question: If a person has issues with money and he can’t forgo on charging his fellow Jew interest, does that mean that he denies the historical fact of יציאת מצרים?

The Sefer Sifsei Chaim quotes the Maharal who explains Ribis is an עול, a yoke on a person because it is against his nature, and is more of a yoke than any other mitzvah. Why? Because it is beneficial for both parties to charge interest; the lender obviously has to gain and the borrower would rather pay interest so he can receive the money now. Therefore, it is a challenging mitzvah, because it is so beneficial to everyone involved. Therefore, when you lend money without charging interest, you are going against your nature and that is why it is compared to מקבל עולו של הקב''ה, accepting the yolk of heaven, and it is like you are fulfilling the entire Torah. The opposite is also true. If you reject Ribis it is as if you reject עול מלכות שמים וכופר בכל התורה כולה. This is because the entire Torah is an 'עול של ה' and when you charge interest you reject the yoke of Hashem, and with that you are considered rejecting the yoke of mitzvot because all mitzvot together = עולו של הקב''ה, the yoke of heaven.

So rejecting Ribis does not mean you reject the historical facts of יציאת מצרים, but that is a rejection of the essence of יציאת מצרים. Because had you felt what יציאת מצרים represents, then you would be prepared to accept the עול מצות in their completion, even mitzvot that you do not understand, and that are against your nature.

These are the lessons we should all glean from this mitzvah:

1) Rav Yisrael Salanter explains our purpose in the world is to toil in fulfilling mitzvot and learning Torah. It is a lifelong battle always trying to do what is expected of us. If you are rich, are you using your money the way you should? If you are poor, how are you responding? And so on… Our responsibility is to toil - the outcome is not always what is important, rather it is our effort that matters most.

2) But this toil is not just in the areas of Mitzvot that are easy for us. We also have to toil in the areas that are harder for us and not in our nature to perform as well. G-d doesn’t want our natures to be serving Him, he wants US to serve Him. R’ Yisrael explains that is the problem with many people; they do what is easy for them or they do what they seem to understand, but if it is against their nature or they do not understand, they don’t do it,  rationalizing that they don’t have to be concerned by it. The lesson here is we that is like serving our Master half way. We can all do more; let's aspire to reach beyond our nature and become great!

A Thought on Parashat Emor: Sefirat Haomer - Maintaining the Continuity

With Pesach in our rearview mirror we begin the race to Shavuot. We may not be sure if it is savta's cheesecake or our internal desire for matan Torah; nevertheless, we eagerly count down the days to Shavuot. It is this countdown, or the mitzvah of Sefirat Haomer that occupies our thoughts as Shavuot approaches.

As we all know, there is a mitzvah to count the omer every night. However, on occasion it is possible that someone might forget to count one night and is then left with the dilemma of what to do from that night onward. Tosfot in Mesechet Menachot (66a) quotes the opinion of the Ba’al Halachot Gedolot who says that if you miss an entire days count (both that night and the entire next day) you can no longer continue to count. He reasons that the Torah describes these seven weeks of Sefirah to be Temimot, or complete. Thus requiring you to have a complete count, so missing even one day will prevent you from fulfilling the mitzvah. Tosfot, however, disagrees and allow you to continue counting future days (even with a brocha) despite missing an entire day.

The classical approach to understanding this machloket is whether to look at the seven week period of the omer as one big seven week mitzvah with forty-nine little parts, or to view it as forty-nine separate and independent mitzvot. Apparently, the Ba’al Halachot Gedolot sees it as one big mitzvah, and therefore, once you miss one day you have lost out on the mitzvah entirely (even counting without a brocho would be meaningless according to this position). The Pri Migadim adds that according the Bahag, all the brochot from the days you counted before the missed day retroactively become brochot l’vatalot. Tosfot, on the other hand looks at Sefirah as forty-nine separate mitzvot and therefore, just because you missed out on one day, does not affect you on the next day. Therefore, one should continue to count with a brocha.

Halacha L’maaseh, the majority of the Rishonim rule like Tosfot that one should continue to count the remaining days of the omer. However, the Shulchan Aruch (489/7) rules that although we should continue to count, in deference to Bahag, we should not make a brocha. This is the accepted custom.

There is however, a difficulty that this classical interpretation encounters. Are we to believe that the Bahag really believes that if you miss one full day you have missed your chance? Have you really lost the entire mitzvah of Sefirat Haomer? And are we to believe that if one misses day 49 that he now has rendered the first 48 brochot in vain?

Although I never had the great zechut of hearing the shiurim of Harav Yosef Dov Halevi Sloveitchik, I have had the opportunity to hear a number of my Rebbeim recount The Rav’s novel approach to understanding the opinion of the Ba’al Halachot Gedolot. The Rav maintained that even the Bahag agrees that each of the forty-nine days is a separate mitzvah, the best proof that everyone must agree to this is that Chazal declared that a brocha should be recited on each of the forty-nine nights. If the classical interpretation was correct, the Bahag should have held that only one brocha be recited for all forty-nine days. If this is true, then why does the Bahag not allow you to continue counting if you missed a complete day? The Rav explained that the Bahag was of the opinion that despite the fact that each day is a separate mitzvah, the counting must be sequential. If one were to count day 1,2,3,4,6, the sequence is impaired so by missing day 5 one can no longer continue to count in the future. However, that which you counted correctly maintains intact, those days (in our example days 1-4) were done in perfect sequence, the Bahag was only concerned about the future counting.

The Rav brings a proof to his explanation by looking at another comment of the Bahag. The Bahag rules that if one forgot to count at night, but realizes it the next day, he may count, but without a brocha. One should ask, what halachic opinion would say that you can fulfill the mitzvah during the day, just don’t make a brocha? The Rav explained that this makes perfect sense with what we said before. You count during the day merely to maintain the continuity, the sequence, but you are not fulfilling that days mitzvah. So although we missed out on that days mitzvah by not counting at night, we at least maintain the sequence that allows us to continue counting in the future.

This novel explanation has a number of practical ramifications. There is a well known halacha that an Onen (a person who has lost a close relative who is lying in the period between the death and the burial) is not permitted to do mitzvot. The Nodah B’yehuda (siman 27) therefore asks, what is an Onen to do during sefirah? Many poskim maintain that if one becomes an Onen during sefirah he is not permitted to count the omer because doing so is a mitzvah. Moreover, if someone is in the unfortunate position lo aleinu, with a close relative on their death bed just before Pesach, perhaps the relative should not even begin to count Sefira from the first night? This is because according to the Pri Migadim cited above if on day ten this person becomes an Onen and may not have the ability to count, this would make the first ten brochot l’vatala. Similarly, if someone is scheduled for surgery during the Omer and due to the time of the procedure and the recovery period, it may be possible that he may miss an entire days counting, once again, perhaps he should not even begin counting on day one? In fact, most Poskim would rule like the Pri Migadim.

However, if we understand the Bahag like Rav Soloveitchik did, then our conclusion would be completely different. First of all, an Onen does not have to ever miss out on counting Sefira. Tell him not to count at night since doing so would be performing a mitzvah which he is not allowed to do, rather let him count during the daytime without a brocha. In this way he can maintain his sequence which will allow him to continue counting normally when his Onen period ends. And furthermore, with a relative on their deathbed or with one scheduled to have surgery there is no reason not to count from the beginning. Even if they do miss a complete day, according to The Rav’s explanation of the Bahag what was counted originally is still intact contrary to the ruling of the Pri Migadim.

It goes without saying that in the above cases, one should consult with his local orthodox Rabbi to determine the correct path of action. Some may rule like Rav Soloveitchik, but I suppose many would be hesitant to dismiss the words of the great Pri Migadim. There is however, one practical point that I believe we can all glean from the explanation of Rav Soloveitchik. That is that even the Bahag agrees that it is a mitzvah each and every day to count the omer. And even if we miss a complete days counting, we must not give up and assume that we have lost our chance. We must strengthen ourselves and begin the count again showing that we can not wait to receive the Shechinah of Hashem on Shavuot.