But Who’s Counting?

By Rabbi Moshe Zywica

Every year we count the days from Pesach to Shavuot. This mitzvah is known as Sefirat HaOmer, the counting of the Omer. What is the Omer? In the time of the Beit HaMikdash there was a mitzvah to harvest a measure of barley (three sa’ah) on the second night of Pesach. On the following day, there was an additional mitzvah to bring a portion of this measure, an Omer, to the Beit HaMikdash. The Torah commands us (Vayikra 23:15) to count 49 days and simultaneously to count the number of weeks from the bringing of the Omer, which culminates with the Yom Tov of Shavuot.

Today, the Beit HaMikdash is no longer standing, and the Omer is not harvested and offered. How then do we count 49 days from the bringing of the Omer? There are two responses. Some say that the mitzvah today is a rabbinic obligation that was instituted to recall the mitzvah that was performed during the time of the Beit HaMikdash. When we count the days of the Omer, it is as if we are saying, “In the time of the Beit HaMikdash,