Parshas Emor
1. It has already been explained many times1 that Sefiras HaOmer is a preparation for Matan Torah. That is why, as soon as the forty-nine days of Sefiras HaOmer are completed, the festival of Shavuos arrives — Matan Torah.
The connection between Sefirah and Matan Torah is also expressed in the fact that both of them, Sefirah and Matan Torah, are bound up with every Jew as an individual. Concerning Sefiras HaOmer the Gemara says2 "שתהא ספירה לכל אחד ואחד" ("that the counting must be for each and every one") — that every Jew must count Sefirah individually. In this respect Sefiras HaOmer differs from the counting of the Shemitah and Yovel years: the counting of Shemitah and Yovel is done specifically by the Beis Din — it is one count for all Jews; but Sefiras HaOmer is counted by each Jew individually, for himself3. And so too Matan Torah is not only for the community of Israel as a whole; rather, G‑d says to each Jew individually4 "אנכי ה' אלקיך" ("I am the L‑rd your G‑d") — in the singular. G‑d gives the Torah to each Jew individually; He tells each one individually that he is to study and fulfill all 613 mitzvos4, and He gives him specifically the power ("your G‑d")5 to do so.
2. With this the Alter Rebbe explains in Likkutei Torah6 the wording of the verse "תספרו חמשים יום" ("You shall count fifty days"), even though in fact we count only forty-nine days. It is because through counting the forty-nine days — through which one draws down the forty-nine Gates of Understanding (Binah) — the fiftieth gate is drawn down on the fiftieth day; this is the matter of Matan Torah7.
The forty-nine Gates of Understanding are drawn down through the service of Sefiras HaOmer — with each counting another gate is drawn down. (That is why the wording of Sefiras HaOmer is "one day," "two days," "three days," and so on — a number that includes within it the preceding days as well — and not an ordinal number for each new day separately: "the second day," "the third day," and so on. For each day, with each counting of Sefirah, the drawing down of another gate is added: on the first day one draws down one gate; on the second day one has two gates; on the third day — three, and so on.) The fiftieth gate (Shaar HaNun), however, cannot be drawn down through one's service, for it is a level that the service of created beings does not reach. Nevertheless, after one has drawn down the forty-nine gates by counting forty-nine days, through this the fiftieth gate is given from Above on the fiftieth day, by way of an arousal from Above (isarusa d'le'eila). And this is the meaning of "You shall count fifty days" — this includes the fiftieth gate too, for it is indeed given, but only after the counting of the "שבע שבתות תמימות" ("seven complete weeks")8.
3. Although the fiftieth gate, which is drawn down on the fiftieth day of the Omer, is connected with Matan Torah, the Alter Rebbe nevertheless rules in his Shulchan Aruch9 as halachah that the reason we say on Shavuos "זמן מתן תורתנו" ("the time of the giving of our Torah") is that, according to our present calculation of the fixed calendar, Shavuos always falls on the sixth of Sivan, and the Torah was given on the sixth day of Sivan10. But when the Beis Din used to sanctify the month on the basis of sighting the new moon through witnesses, the festival of Shavuos — the fiftieth day of the Omer — could also fall on the fifth day of Sivan (when, under sanctification by sighting, the months of Nissan and Iyar were both full) or on the seventh day of Sivan (when Nissan and Iyar were both deficient)11. In such a case, although Shavuos is celebrated on the fiftieth day of the Omer (since, as he states in that same section, the festival of Shavuos does not depend on the day of Matan Torah but on the fiftieth day of the Omer), nevertheless, since it is not the sixth of Sivan, one does not say "the time of the giving of our Torah"12.
From this we see that in Matan Torah there are two aspects. One aspect of Matan Torah is connected with the fiftieth day of the Omer, the day on which the fiftieth gate is drawn down13. A second aspect of Matan Torah is connected with the day of the sixth of Sivan14, and it is specifically because of this aspect that we say "the time of the giving of our Torah."
The difference in terms of Divine service between the two aspects is as follows. The aspect of Matan Torah that is connected with the fiftieth day of the Omer comes after the preliminary of man's service. Man's service is not sufficient to draw down the revelation of the fiftieth gate, and it comes from Above by way of an arousal from Above; yet it is drawn down specifically after the completion of man's service15 — after he completes the service of the forty-nine days of Sefirah he becomes a vessel for this revelation of Matan Torah. But the aspect of Matan Torah that is connected with the sixth day of Sivan does not depend at all on man and his service. It is a giving that has to do only with the Torah itself, and from the standpoint of the Torah its time is on "the sixth day" — on the sixth of Sivan15.
4. The two aspects of Matan Torah — that of the fiftieth day of the Omer and that of the sixth day of Sivan — can come at separate times. Not only in the era when the month was sanctified on the basis of sighting, when Shavuos (the fiftieth day of the Omer) could fall on the fifth of Sivan or on the seventh of Sivan; but even now16, when Nissan is always full and Iyar deficient, it can happen for an individual that the two aspects are drawn down at two different times:
It is known that because the earth is a sphere*16 (like a ball), and the sun (by whose course the days are determined) circles around the globe, there must be a certain line on the earth (the "קו התאריך" — "the International Date Line") where the days divide from one another, and the place on one side of the line is shifted in time by (nearly) a full day from the place on the other side of the line. Consequently, when someone crosses this line he will skip a "day" (after Sunday will come Tuesday, and the like) — a full day will be missing for him — if he travels from east to west; or a full day will be added for him (a Sunday after a Sunday) if he travels from west to east, against the course of the sun.
When someone travels across this place (the Date Line) in the middle of the days of Sefirah, since the mitzvah of Sefiras HaOmer rests on each individual separately, he must count his Sefirah according to the reckoning of his own days, which does not depend on the Sefirah being counted by someone else on the side of the Date Line where he has arrived. For example: Pesach fell on Shabbos, and someone travels from east to west, and on Monday, after counting the second day of Sefirah, he crossed the line (where it is already Tuesday). When the following night comes he must count the Sefirah that comes after his second Sefirah — that is, the third Sefirah — even though everyone who has been in the place where he arrived since the beginning of the days of Sefirah is already counting (on Wednesday) the fourth Sefirah. And likewise, if he crossed the line from west to east, he must count the third Sefirah, even though everyone in that place is only up to the second Sefirah.
For, as was said earlier, Sefiras HaOmer is not a mitzvah on the community of Jews as a whole; it is a mitzvah on each individual separately — to count his days, how many days have passed for him from the beginning of his Sefiras HaOmer17. Regarding Shabbos and the other festivals, the individual must observe them according to the reckoning of the residents found in that place. It makes no difference whether for him, having crossed the line, the seventh day is the same as for the inhabitants of the place, because the fixing of Shabbos was not handed over to each individual separately18. The same applies to the festivals, which depend on the fixing of the month, which is determined by one Beis Din for all Jews and (in our times) by their calculation. (And so it is also with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.) It is different, however, with Sefiras HaOmer, which must be "for each and every one." Since the mitzvah of Sefirah is for each individual separately, it is understood that in the reckoning of Sefirah, too, he does not depend on the reckoning of another person, for the mitzvah is that he count the days that have passed for him19.
5. As stated in the Torah, the festival of Shavuos is not tied to a particular day of the month but to the count of Sefiras HaOmer — the fiftieth day of the Omer is Shavuos. That is why, in the era when the month was sanctified on the basis of sighting, Shavuos could fall on the fifth of Sivan, the sixth of Sivan, or the seventh of Sivan.
This connection of Shavuos to Sefiras HaOmer does not mean that the very festival of Shavuos is brought about by the Sefirah — that the forty-nine days which one actually counts, or is obligated to count, bring about that the day following them should be a festival. For we see that even those who do not have (the obligation) to count (such as minors who became bar mitzvah during the days of Sefirah, or converts who converted during the days of Sefirah) have, by Torah law, the festival of Shavuos when the fiftieth day from the second day of Pesach arrives. (Moreover, there are opinions, and so is the halachah20, that in our times the mitzvah of Sefiras HaOmer is only Rabbinic, whereas the festival of Shavuos is of Torah origin.) So what creates the festival of Shavuos for them, since for them there was no matter of the forty-nine days of Sefirah?
— One cannot say that the Sefirah of the community of Israel creates the festival for them as well, because they follow the community — for we do not find any such thing as "the Sefirah (of the Omer) of the community of Israel"; as said earlier, the reality is that every Jew counts Sefirah for himself —
It is therefore understood that the festival of Shavuos is not created by the Sefirah. It is only that the Torah fixed the time of this festival on the fiftieth day of the Omer; that is, the days of Sefirah merely indicate — they clarify — the time of Shavuos: that the day following them is the festival. And the matter of the days of Sefirah (as an indication and clarification) applies to everyone: when a person stands on a day such that, were he obligated in Sefirah, he would have counted forty-nine days before that day, this is a clarification that this day is Shavuos.
Consequently, when someone completes the forty-nine days of Sefirah earlier or later than others, the days of Sefirah that have passed for him establish that he must celebrate the festival of Shavuos on the day that comes immediately after his days of Sefirah21. (One cannot say that although with regard to Sefirah he has his own reckoning, with regard to Shavuos he should follow the community — for the only determination and sign of when Shavuos falls is that it is the fiftieth day of the days of Sefirah, a matter that has nothing to do with the community but with each individual separately.)22
All this concerns the festival of Shavuos, whose time the Torah did not fix on a particular day of the month; rather, it depends on the forty-nine days of Sefiras HaOmer. This is not so, however, with regard to saying "the time of the giving of our Torah," which is connected with the sixth of Sivan, as quoted above from the Alter Rebbe. Even though he does indeed celebrate the festival of Shavuos a day earlier or a day later, nevertheless, since it is not the sixth of Sivan, he cannot say "the time of the giving of our Torah." And even if he crossed the Date Line after Rosh Chodesh Sivan (so that for him the fiftieth day of the Omer is the sixth day counting from his own Rosh Chodesh), he nevertheless cannot say "the time of the giving of our Torah," because with regard to fixing the days of the month we find no distinction from the fixing of the day of Rosh Chodesh itself, which was not given over to the private reckoning of each individual, as explained above.
6. From all this the following law emerges:
When someone has crossed the Date Line traveling from west to east, the fifth day of Sivan is for him the fiftieth day of Sefirah — the festival of Shavuos, with regard to all laws (except that he cannot say "the time of the giving of our Torah"). And the sixth of Sivan is for him the second festival day of the Diaspora (Yom Tov Sheni shel Galuyos), if he is a resident of the Diaspora.
And likewise, when someone has crossed the Date Line in the opposite direction, from east to west, the seventh of Sivan is for him the festival of Shavuos, and the eighth of Sivan is for him (if he is a resident of the Diaspora) the second festival day of the Diaspora.
7. The explanation of this in terms of man's service of G‑d:
The service of Sefiras HaOmer is the refinement of the emotional attributes (middos). That is why one counts Sefirah for forty-nine days, "seven complete weeks" — to refine the seven middos, each of which comprises all seven, and to make them "complete." When a Jew completes his service of refining his middos, he is given from Above the matter of Torah, which comes after the forty-nine days of Sefirah. It makes no difference to him what is happening with others: if he has finished refining his middos, he is given the Torah immediately (the fiftieth gate) — even though others are not yet ready for it; if he has not yet refined his middos, he must still wait until he finishes refining his middos — even though others are receiving the Torah.
This, however, applies only to the part of Matan Torah that comes after man's service. But the aspect of Matan Torah that is not connected with man's service — which is entirely above it, and in which his service of refining the middos plays no part — has its time equally for everyone: the sixth of Sivan23.
(From the sichos of Chag HaShavuos 5717 and 5721)
Notes
1) See also above, Parshas Shemini (p. 976), and the sources cited there.
2) Menachos 65b. Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe, beginning of siman 489; see there. And see Likkutei Sichos vol. 4, Parshas Bamidbar, section 3.
3) See Ramban, Shemos 20:2. Pesikta Rabbasi ch. 21:6.
4) See Iggeres HaKodesh, sec. 29. Kuntres Acharon, discourse beginning "Lehavin Pratei HaHalachos." And elsewhere.
5) See Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, siman 5.
6) Bamidbar 10d. Shir HaShirim 35c.
7) For through the fiftieth gate the level of "Anochi" ("Mi she'Anochi" — "Who I am") is drawn down, as explained in Likkutei Torah there. The connection of the fiftieth day of the Omer with Matan Torah (even though Atzeres sometimes falls on [the fifth of Sivan, etc.] (Rosh Hashanah 6b)) is alluded to (as are all matters of the inner dimension of the Torah) also in the revealed part of the Torah: "Atzeres is the day on which the Torah was given" (Pesachim 68b; and similarly in the Jerusalem Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 4:8). And as Divrei Nechemiah proved, in the supplement to the Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe, siman 581, in the Kuntres Acharon. (Except that in certain details it is evident from the Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe that he does not follow Divrei Nechemiah, as below, notes 10 and 12.)
8) It can also be explained (and in light of this the simple wording of the verse "You shall count fifty days" becomes sweeter, its meaning being that the service of counting applies also to the fiftieth gate) — that there are several levels within the fiftieth gate. The very level that is beyond the comprehension of a given person, and is for him the level of the fiftieth gate, is, for a more elevated person, included within the forty-nine gates, and his fiftieth gate is a still higher level. And since a person must always ascend in his service, we were commanded "You shall count fifty days": the completion of counting the forty-nine gates on his level should bring him to begin counting forty-nine higher gates, so that the level that was for him in the category of the fiftieth gate, beyond comprehension, now becomes for him a matter of counting. (From the sichah of Shabbos Parshas Bechukosai 5722, based on a teaching of the Baal Shem Tov — Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Parshas Devarim.)
9) Siman 494, sec. 1.
10) For the halachah follows the Sages, and not as written in Divrei Nechemiah there. (As for what he proved there from what is written in siman 430, that the Jews left Egypt on Thursday — the Alter Rebbe explicitly wrote in siman 494 that even according to the Sages the Exodus was on Thursday, and Nissan and Iyar of that year were both full. (And see Machatzis HaShekel (siman 494), who proved from the wording of the Talmud, "This is according to whom? It is Rabbi Yosei" (and it did not say "only"), that the Baraisa stating that the Exodus was on Thursday holds according to the Sages as well.))
11) Rosh Hashanah 6b.
12) Unlike what Divrei Nechemiah writes there, that even when Atzeres falls on the fifth of Sivan we say "the time of the giving of the Torah," because of the drawing down of the fiftieth gate. As for his explanation there — that although the first Matan Torah was on the fifty-first day of the Omer, the time of Matan Torah each year is specifically the fiftieth day, because even then the Torah was fit to be given on the fiftieth day, only for some reason it was actually given on the fifty-first — this requires some examination. For all matters recur and are renewed each year; if so, each year both aspects are aroused — the Torah's being fit to be given, and the actual giving of the Torah — each one at the same time it occurred the first time.
13) As our Sages expound (Avodah Zarah 3a) on the verse "יום הששי" ("the sixth day").
14) And according to the manner of completeness, as above, note 8.
15) Therefore saying "the time of the giving of the Torah" is specifically on the sixth of Sivan, for the matter of the fiftieth day of the Omer is not the time of the giving of the Torah (from the standpoint of the Torah itself, without any connection to the drawing down), but only from the standpoint of man and his service.
16) Nevertheless, the wording in many places is that this applies only in the era when the month was sanctified on the basis of sighting, for then this was the case for all of Israel (and not only for an individual).
*16) Jerusalem Talmud (Avodah Zarah 3:1 — cited in Tosafos, s.v. "Kekadur," Avodah Zarah 41a). Bamidbar Rabbah 13:14. Zohar III, 10a.
17) In light of this, what is written in the Zohar (III, 97b) becomes sweeter — that Sefiras HaOmer is the matter of "וספרה לה שבעת" ("she shall count for herself seven [days]"). See also Tosafos s.v. "Vesafrah" (Kesubos 72a).
18) Except for one who is traveling in the desert and does not know [when it is Shabbos] (Shabbos 69b), for then he does not have (within his knowledge) the general fixing of Shabbos.
19) One cannot say that although the obligation of counting rests on each and every one, nevertheless each person's obligation is to count the count of that place. For on the contrary — we do not find any existence of the count apart from the mitzvah that was commanded, and the command is to each and every one; the count has no existence apart from the mitzvah. (A further proof: if we were to say that one who crosses the Date Line from east to west must skip one count, that would be a law that specifically his seven weeks will not be complete. And one who travels from west to east would — according to this supposition — recite the blessing and count "Today is two days of the Omer," and on the following night also "Today is two days of the Omer.")
20) Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe, siman 489, sec. 2.
21) One cannot say that the requirement of "complete" is lacking because he did not have forty-nine periods of twenty-four hours, for it is obvious that the days of Sefirah do not depend on twenty-four-hour periods (which is why, for one traveling from west to east (who did not cross the Date Line), as soon as the sun sets on the fifth of Sivan it is the festival for him, even though forty-nine periods of twenty-four hours have not yet passed), but rather on sunset of the forty-ninth day.
22) It is understood that there is no contradiction to this from the fact that through the counting of the individual, communal matters are also completed (such as the communal offerings of the festival of Shavuos). An example of this: several laws in monetary cases (or capital cases), even though afterwards capital (monetary) laws branch out from them. [OCR unclear — the end of this note is fragmentary in the source.]
23) For the novelty of Matan Torah is the joining of the higher and lower realms (Shemos Rabbah 12:3). In man's service this is the joining of the acceptance of the yoke that stems from the essence of the soul — the "higher realms" — so that it be drawn down and felt in the inner faculties (intellect, etc.) — the "lower realms" (as explained above in Parshas Yisro and Parshas Mishpatim). Accordingly, in Matan Torah there are two levels: a) what pertains to the essence of the soul — and the revelation of the essence of the soul in each person comes about by including himself with others and going beyond the bounds of an individual (see Tanya ch. 32). Therefore this level of Matan Torah is specifically for the community of Israel as a whole. (That is why at Matan Torah (which was on the sixth of Sivan) there had to be (1) the community in its completeness — specifically six hundred thousand (Mechilta, Shemos 19:1; Yalkut Shimoni, remez 260); (2) the preparation of "ויחן (in the singular) שם ישראל" ("Israel encamped there") — "as one man with one heart" (Mechilta, cited in Rashi, Shemos 19:2).) b) What pertains to the inner faculties — and this level of Matan Torah is for each and every one, according to the manner of his service. See also Likkutei Sichos vol. 4, Parshas Bamidbar, section 6 ff.
Key Lesson
Matan Torah has two dimensions: one that each Jew earns individually by refining his middos through the count of the Omer, and one that is given equally to all on the sixth of Sivan, beyond any service. This Sicha teaches that no one should wait for others before working on himself, while knowing that the Torah's essence is given to every Jew as part of the whole community of Israel.