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Re: Shavuot
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Gershom Bar Razah
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Sun, 17-Jun-12 16:24:55
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Just a question, why is the understanding of counting the Omer from the first Day after the Shabbat of that were wrong? I was talking to a Karaite about it and he said that:
The word "shabbath" is a specific word in the Torah which always refers to precisely one of three things: The Shabbath (the seventh day of the week), Yom HaKippurim, and the Seventh Agricultural Year (known in modern Hebrew as the "Shmita" year). Therefore, it is not plausible that the word "shabbath" could refer to the first day of Hag HaMazoth, as the Rabbis claim it does in verses 11 and 15 (first occurrence).
Explanation
The Rabbanites claim that the word "shabbath" in Leviticus 23:11 and 23:15 (first occurrence) refers to the first day of Hag HaMazoth, because the similar word "shabbathon" refers to a number of the Torah's holidays, as can be seen in the following verses:
Yom HaTeruah [Leviticus 23:24]: "[24] Speak to the children of Israel, saying, In the Seventh Month, on the 1st day of the month, shall be a ceasing from work (shabbathon) for you, a remembrance achieved through shouting, a holy convocation."
Hag HaSukkoth and "Shmini Azereth" [Leviticus 23:39]: "[39] Also, on the 15th day of the Seventh Month, when you gather the produce of the land, you shall celebrate a festival to Yehowah for seven days. On the first day shall be a ceasing from work (shabbathon) and on the eighth day shall be a ceasing from work (shabbathon).
Since the above two holidays can be referred to as a "shabbathon", claim the Rabbis, it is reasonable to assume that the first day of Hag HaMazoth can also be referred to as a "shabbathon" and, taking this one step further, that it can be referred to as a "shabbath", even though neither of these two words is ever used explicitly in the Torah to describe the first day of Hag HaMazoth.
A linguistic and contextual analysis of the words "shabbathon" and "shabbath" in the Tanach bear out that while the first part of the above claim may be true, the second part is clearly not. The word "shabbathon" is, indeed, a general term meaning "a ceasing from work", and therefore appropriately describes many of the Torah's holidays, including the first day of Hag HaMazoth.
However, the word "shabbath" -- although related in linguistic root -- is an all-together different concept. The word "shabbath" is a proper noun, the name of precisely three events in the Torah: the Shabbath (seventh day of the week), Yom HaKippurim and the Seventh Agricultural ("Shmita") Year:[8]
Shabbath [Exodus 20:8-10]: "[8] Remember the Shabbath day to keep it holy. [9] Six days you shall work, and do all your necessary tasks, [10] but the seventh day is the Shabbath to Yehowah your Elohim. You shall not do any work, not you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your domesticated animals, nor your sojourner that is within your gates."
Yom HaKippurim [Leviticus 16:29-31]: "[29] It shall be an eternal statute for you, in the Seventh Month on the 10th of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and you shall not do any work, neither the native born nor the sojourner who lives among you. [30] For on this day, you shall atone for yourselves, to purify yourselves from all your sins before Yehowah, so that you may be pure. [31] It is a Shabbath, a ceasing from work ('shabbathon') for you, and you shall afflict yourselves. This is an eternal statute."
The "Shmita" Year [Leviticus 25:1-5]: "And Yehowah spoke to Moshe on Mount Sinai saying, [2] Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land which I have given you, the land shall rest a Shabbath to Yehowah. [3] Six years shall you plant your fields, and six years shall you prune your vineyards, and gather in [the land's] produce. [4] But the seventh year there shall be a Shabbath, a period of rest ('shabbathon') for the land, a Shabbath to Yehowah. You shall not plant your fields, and you shall not prune your vineyards. [5] That which grows by itself of your harvest you shall not reap, and the grapes of your abandoned vines you shall not gather. It shall be a year of rest ('shabbathon') for the land."
So why are Yom HaKippurim and the Seventh Agricultural Year each referred to as a "Shabbath"? The answer is that, in reality, the "true" Shabbath is the Seventh Day of the Week, while Yom HaKippurim and the Seventh Agricultural Year are "Shabbaths" by extension, because they share certain important properties with the "true" Shabbath. In the case of Yom HaKippurim, it is the complete cessation from melakha (work) which is shared; in the case of the "Shmita" year, it is the fact that it occurs every seven years (analogous to the Day of Rest occurring every seven days), and that a complete cessation from all planting is called for.
Aside from these three distinct events, nothing else in the entire Tanach is ever called a "Shabbath". However, each of these three "Shabbaths" is also referred to as a "shabbathon" -- in Exodus 31:15, Leviticus 23:32, and Leviticus 25:4, respectively.[9] Thus, all "Shabbaths" are "shabbathons", but the converse is not true: not all "shabbathons" are "Shabbaths".
Therefore, when analyzing to which of the above two groups the first day of Hag HaMazoth most naturally belongs, we can conclude that it is the second ("Shabbathon only") group, and not the first ("Shabbath and Shabbathon") group, since it is never mentioned explicitly as a "Shabbath", and since its level of cessation from melakha most resembles that of the second group.
The first point is explicit in the text of the Torah, while the second point is clear from an examination of Leviticus chapter 23, the list of the Torah's mo'adim (holidays). While, on both the Shabbath and Yom HaKippurim, the Torah prohibits the Children of Israel from doing "melakha" (Leviticus 23:3,28), on the holidays mentioned in the second ("Shabbathon only") group, the Torah prohibits them from doing "malekheth avoda". In the case of the first day of Hag HaMazoth, it is "malekheth avoda" that is prohibited (Leviticus 23:7), and not "melakha". The word "melakha", reserved in Leviticus 23 for the most solemn holidays, implies a stricter level of refraining from work, as evidenced by the explicit commandment not to light a fire on the Shabbath (Exodus 35:3), while the phrase "malekhet avoda" is reserved for the remaining holidays and implies a level of greater leniency, including the explicit allowance to prepare food on the first day of Hag HaMazoth (Exodus 12:16).[10]
Conclusion
From an examination of the word "shabbath" in the Torah, it is highly unlikely that the first day of Hag HaMazoth could ever be referred to as a "shabbath", as the Rabbis claim it is in Leviticus 23:11 and 23:15 (first occurrence). Since the word "shabbath" only refers to one of three events in the Torah -- the Shabbath, Yom HaKippurim and the Seventh Agricultural Year -- this strongly supports the Karaite view that the shabbath mentioned in these verses is an actual Shabbath, i.e. the seventh day of the week, and not the first day of Hag HaMazoth.
Any help about this claim?
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