The Morrow After the Sabbath: The Beginning of the Counting of the Omer [9 Classical Karaite Arguments] by Hacham Mordecai Alfandari

The debate between our Sages, the Sages of Truth (peace be unto them), and the Sages of the Rabbanites is well known in the matter of the Counting of the Omer and the meaning of the expression in the Torah "Morrow After the Sabbath" which is the day of the waving of the Omer (wavesheaf). The Rabbanites argued that "the Sabbath" mentioned in the Scripture in this instance is the first Holy Day of Hag HaMatzot [on which work is forbidden] and therefore they begin the Counting of the Omer on the second Day of Hag HaMatzot. However, we know from the meaning of the Biblical passages that the Torah is referring to "the Sabbath of Genesis", that is, the Seventh Day of the week. As a result the day of the Omer Waving, as well as Shavuot, must always be on Sunday. Our sages proved the truth of this matter and it is worth mentioning their arguments against the Rabbanites so that we know how to respond to those who inquire:

First Argument: The name "Sabbath" is a special name which the Torah uses to describe the Seventh Day of the week and this name can not be transferred from one object to another, that is to say, it can not be used to refer to any other day.

Second Argument: The Scripture says "the Morrow after THE Sabbath" with the definite article, proving that the Scripture means the Sabbath of Genesis as it is written [only a few verses earlier] "it [the 7th Day] is a Sabbath to Hashem in all your habitations" [Lev 23,3]. If the Scripture intended another day other than that generally known as the Sabbath, it should have mentioned it specifically.

Third Argument: If Shavuot is supposed to fall on a fixed calendar date [as the Rabbanites maintain] like all the other Holidays, [the Torah] should have mentioned this date, as it indeed does for all the other holidays. However, if Shavuot is meant to always fall on a Sunday, as we maintain, the calendar date would change every year and this explains why the Torah did not mention a date for this holiday.

Fourth Argument: It is written in the Book of Joshua "And they ate of the produce of the Land on the morrow after the Passover [Sacrifice]" (Joshua 5,11). The Passover sacrifice is on the fourteenth of Nissan. Thus they ate after the Waving of the Omer, which was carried out on the First Day of Hag HaMatzot (the 15th of Nissan) and not on the following day, the 2nd day of Hag HaMatzot (which is when the Rabbis believe the Omer must be brought). Apparently in that year the 14th of Nissan was on a Saturday and the morrow was the 15th. If the "morrow after the Sabbath" is always the 2nd day of Hag HaMatzot, as the Rabbanites claim, then this verse in the Book of Joshua is an outright contradiction to the words of the Torah, something which is not possible.

Fifth Argument: If we interpret "Sabbath" as a Yom Tov, that is, as a Holy Day [on which work is forbidden], how do we interpret the verse "Seven complete Sabbaths". If the meaning here is a week which contains in it a Sabbath, as the Rabbanites claim,¹ we find that in one instance the meaning of "Sabbath" is Holiday and in another instance its meaning is a week which contains in it a Sabbath. This is untenable for the Torah mentioned "Sabbath" twice in the same breath and it can not have two different meanings unless the Scripture explicitly indicates it does.

Sixth Argument: If we interpret the word "Sabbath" as a Holy Day [on which work is forbidden], it makes more sense to interpret it as the last Holy Day of Passover [=7th Day of Hag HaMatzot], the Seventh Day of Assembly, and not the morrow of the first Holy Day [=1st Day of Hag HaMatzot].

Seventh Argument: The Jubilee year is analogous to the Feast of Shavuot. Just as Shavuot has a period of seven times seven followed by a 50th day which is holy and which comes after a Sabbath day, so too the 50th Jubilee year follows a seventh year which is called a Sabbath [year].

Eighth Argument: The Rabbanite sages claimed that the meaning of "Seven Weeks" [Dt 16,9] is seven periods of seven days and that the Torah did not mean a week beginning on Sunday and ending on Saturday. This is in contradiction to the language of the Bible. When the Scripture wants to refer to a seven day period it says "a week of days" [Shavuot Yamim (Ez 45,6)], meaning a span of any seven days. This term is in contrast to the term "week" [Shavua] which is a fixed week, beginning on Sunday and ending on the Sabbath Day. The Feast of Shavuot always falls out on the morrow of the seventh week and therefore is on the First Day [Sunday] of the following week.

Ninth Argument: Our sage Hacham Aharon author of the Torah commentary "Mivhar" (may he find rest in Eden), in his commentary on Parashat Ki Tisa [Mivhar on Exodus p.69b] said: "The fact that the section on the Sabbath is between the [sections] on Passover and Shavuot [in Exodus 34] is a support that Shavuot is always after a day of Sabbath."²

Notes:

Note 1: I am uncertain which Rabbanite source claims this. [NG] Back

Note 2: This argument uses the faulty Rabbanite method of reading meaning into the juxtaposition of Biblical passages. This sort of argument does not claim to be interpreting according to the context, but instead is purely formalistic in nature. [NG] Back

This article was originally published in Hebrew in the Karaite Journal Ha'Or, Year 2 Volume 2 (Iyyar) [May 1957] p.2 under the title "Inyan Moharat HaShabbat - Hathalat Sfirat Ha'Omer" ["The Morrow After the Sabbath - The Beginning of the Counting of the Omer"]. Translated from the Hebrew by Nehemia Gordon (May 2000).