Special Features ASK THE REBBE from the virtual desk of the OU Vebbe Rebbe The Ask the Rabbi project is a joint venture of the OU, Yerushalayim Network, Eretz Hemdah... and the Israel Center. The following is a Q&A from Eretz Hemdah... Question: I will be flying to Australia from the west coast of the US during sefirah time. I will depart Tuesday night and will arrive in Sydney early Thursday morning. Wednesday disappears. We follow the rule that we observe matters, such as Shabbat, in Australia, according to the local day (while it is Friday in the US). How do I count omer? I really do not have any Wednesday. Can I count Thursday day in place of Wednesday evening as if I had forgotten to count, and proceed from there? Answer: India accepts Shabbat and all other new days before Israel; Chicago accepts the days after Israel At what point do we draw the line and say that to the east is Wednesday (in your case) and to the west is Thursday? There are different opinions regarding the Halachic International Date Line (HDL). One of the important sources on the issue is Chazon Ish, O.C. 64. All agree that in all of Australia, days begin earlier than in Israel (and much earlier than LA). You actually have a Wednesday (Tuesday night, when you leave, is halachic, yom r’vi'i) and you should count before, or soon after, takeoff. As you approach Sydney, you will lose much of Wednesday day and all of Wednesday night (yom chamishi). Thus you will be unable to count omer with a bracha that day. You should indeed count Thursday morning (without a bracha) as you will miss the night before (see B’er Moshe 7:90). On subsequent nights, you may count with a bracha (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 489:7-8). (If you arrive over the Australian continent before alot hashachar of Thursday morning local time, count then with a bracha). There is a minority opinion that the HDL is 180° longitude from Jerusalem. If you cross that “line” before alot hashachar of Thursday morning, count without a bracha at that time (to do the mitzva on the night of yom chamishi, according to those opinions) and then again, in Australia, when you arrive (according to the opinions that it had still been yom rvi’i). I have seen poskim discuss losing a full day and what impact this would have on sefira and Shavuot (see Ohala Shel Torah, O.C. 72). Although the HDL could cause a day to be extremely short, the possibility of losing a full day is statistically impractical. It doesn’t seem to me that one needs 49 sunsets to have 49 days of sefira. As halacha has no choice but to set a HDL, there is no reason one can’t “jump” into a new day without a new sunset. “Ask the Rabbi” Q&A is part of Hemdat Yamim, the weekly parsha sheet published by Eretz Hemdah. You can read this section or the entire Hemdat Yamim at www.ou.org or www.eretzhemdah.org. If you would like to receive Hemdat Yamim by email, on a weekly basis, please send an email to
lists@eretzhemdah.org with the message: Join Hemdatya - Please leave the subject blank. Because something that can be acquired in a single hour can be lost in half an hour. There is nothing more purifying than a stream of water. However, when such a stream is frozen, you can carve an idolatrous image upon it. All moral qualities require a certain degree of intent – except for humility. Because intentional humility cannot qualify as humility A Counting before Aleinu allows the counting of the Omer to be as soon after nightfall as possible. (The sooner after dark that one counts, the more "complete" the counting is. Maariv, on the other hand precedes the counting because of TADIR - the more frequently done mitzva goes first, and because of the Sh'ma, which is a Torah command, whereas S'fira is "maybe Torah maybe Rabbinic in our time. Thus, counting before Aleinu, although it only means a couple of minutes earlier, is significant to make the point of T'MIMOT.) Also, the Kaddish after Aleinu can also be considered to "apply" to the post-counting Psalm. A Those who count after Aleinu make the statement that Maariv is one mitzva and S'firat HaOmer is its own separate mitzva, and the two should not be mingled. Also, if Maariv was davened a bit early, waiting until after Aleinu to count the Omer might be just enough to allow the counting to be done properly after nightfall. Q Why is the Omer counted while standing? The first pasuk of the Torah reading of Shavuot morning tells us that on Rosh Chodesh Sivan - ON THIS DAY - we arrived at Sinai. Rashi points out that if this were just a story, it would say BaYom HaHu, on THAT day. The significance of ON THIS DAY is to teach us that we must constantly relive the Sinai Experience, not just remember it as an occurrence of the distant past. It follows from this that we are also to relive the experience of Bnei Yisrael, who in the course of 7 short weeks went from being a slave nation to being on the highest spiritual level, worthy of receiving the Torah from G-d We should emerge from S'firat HaOmer as better people and better Jews than when we started the count. The best text to help in our quest for improvement is Pirkei Avot, which contains valuable lessons for living a true Torah life. And so the custom developed to read the chapters of Avot on the Shabbatot between Pesach and Shavuot. Originally, there were five chapters in Avot. And there are six Shabbatot between the Festival of Matzot and the Festival of Weeks. Our Sages collected Mishna-like writings and compiled a sixth chapter for Pirkei Avot. This sixth chapter speaks beautifully about a Torah way of life, making this chapter most appropriate for the Shabbat before Shavuot, the Shabbat Kalla of Bnei Yisrael. There wase now a chapter of Avot for each Shabbat of the Omer period. This Land is ours; G-d gave this Land to us! We who know the Torah, who have learned why the Torah starts from B'reishit, are terrified and frustrated by recent events in Israel. It is no surprise that the nations of the world call us thieves. They have even assigned the term "Palestinians" to Arabs in order to drive home the notion that we are thieves. The tragic disappointment is that we, His Nation, have not stood up and announced that We know Who created the World. That we have recognized His miracles, and we know that He has given the Land to us, the Jewish People. What can we do now? A first step is to cherish the Land, thanking Him for returning us to its borders, and begging Him not to take it away from us. May we soon merit the Complete Geula. Prayer to be recited by inhabitants of Eretz Yisrael Our G-d and G-d of our fathers, please help me to cherish Eretz Yisrael with all my heart, at all times, at every moment. Thus will I fulfill the mitzva of settling Eretz Yisrael, as it is written: "And you shall dwell there." And may I be forever joyous in living here, filled with enthusiasm, like that of a child happy to be reunited with his mother. This is the way our father Avraham felt about being here, and I am, after all, one of his descendants. Bless me, please, with this quality, so that I may atone for all the sins and transgressions of my whole life; and even those of earlier existences, as in the Wilderness, when I rejected the Land and caused grief for generations. And may the move here and its difficulties be an atonement for my soul. May I dwell here until the coming of Mashiach, speedily in our days, and may I cling to you in happiness. May I be among those of whom it is said, "Who is like Your people Israel, one nation in the Land." Bathe my spirit of the holy light of the heavenly Eretz Yisrael so that I may grow in sanctity until I merit seeing HaShem's glory with all the people of Israel. May I merit living in this Land, immersed in Torah and Divine service, praying without the distractions of this world. Enable me to do Your will with alacrity, without weakness or laziness, to embrace at least this one of the 613 mitzvot with great fervor. As our rabbis said, "Anyone who does even one mitzva fully, benefits much, enjoys long life, and inherits the Land." And, through this one mitzva will I merit all the others. May I never have any need to leave the Land all the days of my life - not I, nor my children, nor my children's children, forever. "For the Almighty will deliver Zion, rebuild the city of Judah, and they will dwell in the Land and inherit it. The descendants of His servants will take over the Land and those who love His Name will live in it..." [The Sh'mini Homepage]
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