[Avodah] Safeiq Sefirah

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Micha Berger's son Zack asked:
> We know from "mashiv haruach" the rule that if you haven't been
> saying something 30 days I should assume I didn't say it. To
> the extent that we override safeiq berakhos lehaqeil and require
> repeating. So why do we say there is a S"S, the second safeiq
> has a chazaqah -- day 1 to 30, assume it was missed, day 31
> onward, assume it wasn't. And therefore if someone isn't sure if
> he counted on day 15, why doesn't he have to skip the berakhah?

Excellent question, and I compliment your son on it!

I have seen in several places (but of course I cannot remember where any of them are located) that although these rules about Sefiras HaOmer are often referred to as "s'fek s'feka", that actually are not good examples of that principle. In actuality, rov poskim hold that each day of sefira is a separate mitzva, and is entitled to its own bracha even if one missed a day. However, in deference to the opinion that the 49 countings are all interdependent, we are machmir to skip the bracha IF one is SURE that he missed a day.

Again, I don't know who gives the above svara, but it does answer your son's question. And it answers other questions too. For example, I don't recall ever seeing anyone describe the sort of sfeikos which can/can't be used in combination.

Suppose I'm not sure whether or not I counted sefira on day 10. Since I'm not sure, I'm allowed to continue counting with a bracha. Then I'm unsure about whether or not I counted on day 20. This ought to be a sfek sfeka in the other direction! "Even if I did say it on one day, I might have skipped the other." Yet I *am* allowed to continue counting with a bracha.

Or take this case: Let's say that on day 10, I forgot to count until Bein Hashmashos at the end of the day. No problem; I can count with a bracha from day 11 onwards, because it is only a safek that maybe I missed day ten. But then, suppose on day 20, for some reason I counted during bein hashmashos at the *beginning* of the day; I was going to count again later, but then I forgot to. Can I count from day 21 onward with a bracha? Yes I can, even though day 10 and day 20 are contradictory against each other. There's no way to count both of them; if one was on the correct day, then the other was incorrect.

Perhaps there are poskim who say that one cannot combine contradictory sfeikos, but if not, then I think the only explanation is that we really do hold the 49 countings to be independent.

Akiva Miller
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