[Avodah] rihal - sefirat haOmer

[Eli Turkel]

What I brought from the Rihal is from a derasha of Rav Samet on the web pages
of Yeshivat Har Etzion (Gush). I bring here a portion of the shiur:

Unique among the post-Chazal approaches to this verse is that of Rav
Yehuda Halevi (Rihal) in his Sefer Ha-Kuzari (3:41). He concedes that
"Shabbat" means "Shabbat," and the day spoken of in the verse is thus
Sunday. However, the Torah merely presents this day as an example by
which to demonstrate how to calculate the fifty-day period between the
"omer" offering and the festival of Shavuot. Should the first day,
upon which the "omer" offering is brought, occur on Sunday, then the
fiftieth day, Shavuot ("the day following the seventh Shabbat"), will
also occur on Sunday. The Torah presents this example so as to clarify
how the counting must be conducted and the date of Shavuot determined,
in order to avoid possible confusion. However, the Torah does not
establish a specific date for the offering of the "omer." The only
requirement is that it coincide with the beginning of the barley
harvest. Then, seven weeks later, when the wheat harvest begins, we
observe Shavuot.

All this is according to the simple meaning of the verse. However, the
Halakha established a fixed day for the offering of the omer, namely,
the second day of Pesach. This does not contradict the peshat, but
neither is it necessitated by the peshat.

Rihal's thesis that the peshat of the Torah does not establish a fixed
date for the bringing of the omer, but merely requires its coinciding
with the beginning of the barley harvest, allows him to pose a
convincing challenge to the approach of the Boethusians. Given that
the fifty-day period comes to mark the passage of time from the
beginning of the barley harvest to the onset of the wheat harvest, why
would the day of the week bear any significance? Why would the Torah
link these commemorations to one day of the week over any other?
Rather, the Torah mandates the offering of the "omer" at the beginning
of the wheat harvest, a day determined by the people themselves, after
which point fifty days are counted, culminating with the celebration
of Shavuot.

Although Rihal's approach adequately explains the term "the day
following Shabbat" in the context of the counting of the omer, it does
not explain its usage in the earlier verse: "…you shall bring the
first sheaf of your harvest to the kohen. He shall elevate the sheaf
before God… the kohen shall elevate it on the day following Shabbat"
(23:10-11). Here, there exists no potential ambiguity that
necessitates an example; no confusion would have arisen if the Torah
had written, "on the sixteenth day of Nissan." Nor can we say that the
Torah utilizes this expression as a result of the forthcoming example,
since to the contrary, the later verse is predicated on the chance
instance of the sixteenth day falling on Sunday. Additionally, this
verse clearly states imperatively and unconditionally that the kohen
must conduct the "omer" ritual on "the day following Shabbat;" no
possible flexibility is implied.

-- 
Eli Turkel