[Avodah] omer - Rihal

[Eli Turkel]

It may be old news to many but I just learned about the opinion of
R.Yehuda Halevi on the date pf shavuot.
He holds that from the Torah there is no fixed date for bringing the
Omer it depends on the harvest season. Shavuot starts on the 50th
day afterwards (ie count 49 days).
It was onlt chazal that set it to be brought on the 16th of Nissan and
so Shavuot is on the 5/6/7 of Sivan and with the calendar on the 6th.

This answers many questions
1. Why doesnt the Torah give a date for shavuot?
Because there is no fixed date it varies from year to year

2. Why doesnt the Torah connect shavuot with Matan Torah?
Because there is no connection. It was only later that shavuot
came out close to the date of Matan Torah

3. Why does the Torah make a big deal of counting 49 days which
doesnt appear anywhere else
Because this is the only way of knowing when shavuot begins. It has
no intrinsic connection to Pesach

Also explains why counting the Omer is rabbibic today.
Because counting the Omer intrinsically connects the 2 karbanot.
It has no connection to the second of Pesach (again from the Torah) and so
has no application today

-- 
Eli Turkel