The articles in this column are transcriptions and adaptations of shiurim by Rav Joseph Ber Soloveitchik, zt”l. The Rav’s unique perspective on Chumash permeated many of the shiurim and lectures he presented at various venues over a 40-plus-year period. His words add an important perspective that makes the Chumash in particular, and our tradition in general, vibrant and relevant to our generation.
Mazal Tov to Rozzie and Jeff Sleopoy on the marriage of their daughter Chaviva to Yossi Rotenberg.
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In Parshas Emor, the Torah presents the various festivals celebrated throughout the year. The formula of V’hikravtem isheh l’Hashem indicates the requirement to bring a special korban Mussaf on each festival. The specific components of these korbanos are provided in Parshas Pinchas. In Parshas Emor, the Torah precedes the obligation to offer the korban Mussaf with a declaration of mikra kodesh, the sanctity of the day, and issur melacha, prohibiting work, followed by V’hikravtem isheh l’Hashem. The one exception is the festival of Shavuos, when the obligation l’hakriv isheh, to offer the korban Mussaf, is omitted. Instead, the festival of Shavuos, is not mentioned by name but is referred to by its connection with Sefiras HaOmer. The Torah mentions the special sacrifice that accompanied the Shtei Halechem, the special twin bread Mincha offering that heralded the first use of the new wheat crop in the temple service. While the Torah mentions a prohibition against work on Shavuos in Parshas Emor, it does not link it to or mention V’hikravtem isheh, the korban Mussaf that was unique for the festival. Why is Shavuos unique in this way among the festivals?
The Kedushas hayom, sanctity of the day, of Shavuos is based on its close association with the festival of Passover. Shavuos, Yom HaBikurim, is the fiftieth day as counted (with the Sefiras HaOmer) after the korban Omer was brought on Passover. The Torah does not identify the specific month and day of Shavuos; it is simply defined as 50 days after Passover. It is called Atzeres, the conclusion of the previous festival, Passover. However, there is another defining characteristic of Shavuos; the unique sacrifice of the twin breads. The Omer offering and the Twin Breads have the common characteristic that they permit the use of the new wheat. The Omer permits the use of the new wheat crop throughout the land, except in the Mikdash while the Shtei Halechem permits its use in the Temple. Sefiras HaOmer, simply counting the days between Passover and Shavuos alone would not have been sufficient to permit the use of the new wheat in the Temple. The twin breads specifically sanctions the use of the new wheat in the Temple. Therefore, the twin breads are necessary to be kovea, to establish, the kedushas Yom Tov for Shavuos.
The Midrash Shochar Tov derives that there is a special g’zeiras hakasuv, scriptural edict, that Shavuos applies in our days, bezman hazeh, just like it was applicable during the period of the Temple. Why single out or even question the applicability of Shavuos nowadays? Why not question the currency of Passover or Sukkos? The reason is that since the unique sanctity of the day is based on its association with Passover and the offering of the twin breads, and since nowadays we can’t offer the twin breads, the unique aspect of Shavuos would be unattainable. Sefiras HaOmer alone would not have been enough to certify the applicability of Shavuos nowadays without this special g’zeiras hakasuv.
In Parshas Pinchas the Torah introduces the Mussaf for Shavuos by describing it as Yom HaBikurim when we bring the new offering. Why does the Torah use this unique term for Shavuos in describing it as the day when the Mincha chadasha was brought, a descriptive syntax that is not used when introducing the Mussaf for the other festivals? After all, in Parshas Pinchas we are interested specifically in the korban Mussaf of Shavuos, so why even mention the bringing of a Mincha chadasha when describing the Mussaf of Shavuos? Because without that Mincha chadasha we would not have a festival of Shavuos. It is an integral factor, together with the counting of the fiftieth day, in establishing the sanctity of the day for Shavuos as the Atzeres, conclusion, of Passover.
The Rambam says (Hilchos Temidim U’Musaffim) that the fiftieth day of the counting of the Omer is Chag HaShavuos, because on that day they brought the twin breads which completes and concludes the Korban HaOmer brought 50 days earlier. The Torah commands us to count 50 days and then bring the new offering in order that we recognize that the Shtei Halechem establishes the sanctity of the day of Shavuos. Unlike other festivals, a prohibition against work does not impose the sanctity of the day, it is only mentioned later in the description of Yom HaBikurim well after the description of the special sacrifice associated with the twin breads, “Ukrasem B’Etzem HaYom Hazeh Mikra Kodesh Yihye Lachem Kol Mleches Avoda Lo Taasu.” (According to Ramban this applies even when there is no Beis Hamikdash and no offering of the Shtei Halechem). Unlike other festivals where the Korban Mussaf is linked to the prohibition against work that defines the sanctity of the day, it is the twin breads that defines the sanctity of Shavuos. The obligation to bring the Shtei Halechem persists to the present day even though we don’t have the means to fulfill it. When the Torah mentions the sacrifices associated with the twin breads, it is pointing out the criterion that gives Shavuos its sanctity of the day, a criterion that is different from all other festivals. On all other festivals the Mussaf is a result of the prohibition against work. On Shavuos, the prohibition against work is a result of the sanctity of the day created by the twin breads.
The Torah does not mention isheh l’Hashem regarding Shavuos in Parshas Emor in order that we not confuse the establishment of sanctity of the day for Shavuos with a prohibition against work like all other festivals. Even though in Parshas Pinchas the Torah mentions the prohibition against work on Shavuos right before defining the Korban Mussaf for the day, the Torah goes out of its way, as if to introduce the section by describing Shavuos as Yom HaBikurim – B’Shavuosaychem, the day when the Mincha Chadasha was brought, to underscore in Parshas Pinchas that the source for the sanctity of the day on Shavuos is the twin breads. Mincha chadasha, similar to the Omer offering brought on second day Passover, is connected to Shavuos and not the prohibition against work.
Note that no date is specified in the Torah for Shavuos. In the period that the new moon was sanctified based on witnesses, Shavuos could have fallen on either the fifth or sixth of Sivan. A specific date was not the fundamental requirement for fixing the festival. The sanctity of Shavuos depended on the day that the twin breads were offered; the fiftieth day after bringing the Omer. That is why in Parshas Pinchas, the Torah describes the Korban Mussaf of Shavuos in terms of the special Shtei Halechem, an introductory syntax that is not used to describe any of the other festivals.
