The counting of the Omer that we perform every year at this time, between Pesach and Shavuot, is actually counting down the days and weeks following the bringing of the Omer offering on the second day of Pesach. The Gemara in Sota (9a) emphasizes that barley, the ingredient of the Omer, is food fit for animals. On Shavuot we bring two leavened loaves of bread (i.e., chametz), the food of humans. Much has been made of this distinction and the transition between these states – that of the animal and that of the enlightened, reasoning being who receives the Torah.
Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook famously, at the end of the magnificent collection of his writings known as Orot (Lights) (p. 167), speaks of the transition we undergo as individuals and as a nation when we transition from barley-eaters on Chol HaMoed Pesach to bread-eaters on Shavuot in preparation for receiving the Torah. Rav Kook explains that the distinction between animal and human not only manifests in every one of us, but the juxtaposition and the tension between these aspects of our consciousness impacts on our spirituality and intellect. For in most humans, there is a struggle between intellectual sophistication and faith, and where one is emphasized, the other tends to atrophy.
Thus, in typical discourse between scholars on the one hand and religious leaders on the other, there is rarely a shared set of assumptions to provide a framework for them to communicate constructively. But, Rav Kook emphasizes, this should not be the case. Truly enlightened individual must cultivate in themselves both rational thought and devout faith to their fullest perfection. These shouldn’t be in conflict with one another, but complement and amplify one another.
There is another aspect to this tension between faith and reason which Rav Kook connects with the unique spiritual nature of the Nation of Israel, and which establishes the suitability of Israel to the Torah and of the Torah to Israel. In most of humanity, the natural state of affairs is for the individual to pursue knowledge of the material world through reason, and in spite of all his wisdom to behave in an animalistic fashion without regulation of appetites and passions. On the other hand, the spiritual figures of various faiths and traditions must overcome their natural urges and teach the faithful to supersede the inclinations of their animal nature in seeking Divine wisdom. Among the nations, Israel is unique, because we experienced the revelation at Sinai where we beheld the glory of Hashem and the truth of His Torah with our physical senses. For Israel alone, it is natural to be spiritual and to have faith because our faith is reinforced by evidence from our rational experience.
Through the counting of the Omer, Rav Kook explains, we don’t so much transition from the animal barley to the human bread; rather, we unite these elements in ourselves. We connect Pesach with Shavuot – liberation from bondage followed by receiving the Torah. Rav Kook points out that according to an opinion in the Gemara (Berachot 40a), the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden was wheat. We learn from this that wheat is uniquely identified with the cleverness and canniness of humanity, whether these are used for good or evil ends. When, over the course of Sefirat Ha’Omer, we unite in ourselves the barley and the wheat, then and only then is our mind, body, and spirit prepared to take on the Torah as a vehicle for greater elevation of the intellect and for spiritual transcendence.
