[Avodah] Does Bat Mitsva girl continue counting during Sefira

[Saul Mashbaum via Avodah]

I am gratified that my understanding that a girl who becomes Bat
Mitzva during the sefira period can continue to count with a bracha
was also expressed to  RAFrimer by RMH. Unlike RAFrimer, I do not
think that  this this constitutes a "fundamental misunderstanding" of
brachot women make on time-bound mitzvoth, according to the Rema and
standard Ashkenazic practice. If a pre-Bat Mitzva girl can make a
bracha on sefirat haomer, her count is clearly a kiyum mitzvah
(otherwise she could not make a bracha) , and thus she should be able
to continue counting with a bracha after becoming Bat Mitzva, her
chiyuv-level not having changed.

I am completely unsurprised that Rav Asher Weiss paskened that a girl
who becomes Bat Mitzva during sefira can continue counting with a
bracha,  based on his understanding of the mitzvah of sefirat haomer,
as appears in Minchat Asher Vayikra chapter 51. R. Asher asks a series
of questions that indicate that sefirat haomer is different from other
mitzvoth which are performed verbally (see there). He then explains as
follows (my formulation): There are mitzvot in which the action
(peula) constitutes the mitzvah, and there are those in which the
result (totzaa) is the mitzvah, the action being the means to
achieving the purpose of the mitzvah, the result alone constituting
avodat Hashem. Shofar, lulav, matza are examples of the former. Biur
chametz and maakeh are examples of the latter. We make brachot on both
categories of mitzvot, but there are differences between them. Sefirat
Haomer is a mitzvah in which the totzaa is the mitzvah itself;  the
avodaat Hashem of sfirat haomer  is knowing the count every day, not
saying the words themselves. Saying the words is the action by which
the desired result is achieved (unlike other verbal mitzvoth like
kriyat shma and hallel in which saying the words themselves is avodat
Hashem). R. Asher explained elsewhere that mitzvot in which the tozaa
is the mitzvah do not require kavana , which is why someone who
answers the question "what's the count tonight?" without intending to
perform the mitzvah of sefira is nevertheless  considered to have
performed the mitzvah. In sefira, when a day is counted, when the
result of the counting  has been achieved (the person knows, by
counting, what day it is), the mitzvah has been done.

My application of the above: Even if a minor is not obligated in a
mitzvah in which the totzaa is the kiyum kamitzva, if he does it, the
mitzvah has been done (for example , mistaber if a katan made a
maakeh, the owner of the house has fulfilled his obligation, as is
definitely true if a non-Jew made a maakeh). Thus, when a katan
counts, he has achieved on the personal level the mitzvah of sefira
(he knows the proper count, which he expresses by counting) , even if
strictly he is not  obligated; when he becomes a gadol, he is
considered not to have missed any days, and can continue to count with
a bracha.  As Rav Asher explicitly paskened, this applies to a k'tana
as well.

Saul Mashbaum