[Mesorah] Ba'omer vs la'omer.

[R Davidovich]

Someone wrote:

Examples of la- and ba- prefixes are common in chumash, e.g., yom XX
bachodesh and yom XX lachodesh.

As I've written before, puk chazi mai 'ama dvar:

I will change to la-omer after lag la-omer or after tish'a l-Av or 'asara
le-Tevet. Until then I stick to ba-omer because that's the way people talk
the language.
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Punkt farkert.  On the contrary:  Tisha B'Av means it's in the month of Av.


BaChodesh means within the Month. LaChodesh means since the Chodesh, or what
we would nowadays call Rosh Chodesh.

The 7 weeks are not IN the Omer.  They are since the Omer, or According to
the Omer.  The count of days uses the (Korban Ha)Omer as its starting
point.  Therefore the pure etymology would require LaOmer, as in
"Lemishpechosam L'Veis Avosam".

It is only because Omer became a colloquialism for the counting itself
"Sefiras Haomer" that "BaOmer" makes sense.  I compare it to how the word
"Goy" changed, from its original meaning as "Nation" to its colloquial
meaning as non-Jew.  And we see that Chazal accepted colloquial changes as
valid for Nusach.  "Shelo Asani Goy".  That's how I explain to my balebatim
that either LaOmer or BaOmer is acceptable, but why I make a point of saying
LaOmer.

Raffy
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