SHEYIBANEH BEIT HAMIKDASH...
A series of articles on Beit HaMikdash-related topics by Catriel Sugarman intended to increase the knowledge, interest, and anticipation of the reader, thereby hastening the realization of our hopes and prayers for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Beit HaMikdash.

More on Miracles in the Mikdash
Last week in answer to Shimon's email, we considered some of the miracles in the Beit Hamikdash listed in Avot 5:7 - "Asara Nisim… Ten miracles were wrought for our forefathers in the Beit HaMikdash". Shimon said, "My problem is that when one takes a closer look at many of the so-called "Nissim" they do not appear (at least to me) as miraculous as they did at first glance." We noted that R. Irving Bunim wrote, "Many of the extraordinary phenomena that the Mishna lists were helpful in the Sanctuary's ritual procedures, to let them go on without difficulties or interferences… Yet we read explicitly. 'Ten miracles were wrought for our forefathers: they were for the benefit of the people of Israel. We can assume that each miracle was meant to impart some teaching to our forefathers. And if the Mishna recorded them for all future generations, they must have significance for us too" (Ethics from Sinai, Vol. III, pg. 61). We noted why no Keri befell the Kohen Gadol on the eve of Yom Kippur. According to R. Bunim, "Providence evidently wished to spare the feelings of the Kohein Gadol; such an occurrence would have brought him shame and loss of esteem, and doubly so as a mark that perhaps Heaven held him in disfavor." This week we will continue examination of the Mishna.

"Nothing was ever found in the Omer, the 'two loaves', or the show bread to ritually defile them [and disqualify them from being offered in the Mikdash]. Should the cut barley (for the Omer CS), which had to be harvested at a specific time (Menachot 10:3), become ritually contaminated between the time of gathering until it reached the Kohein in the Azara, it could not be replaced. R. Bunim notes, "Scripture is clear: no bread or grain from the year's harvest might be eaten unless and until the Omer was brought. Should this sacred measure of barley have ever become ritually impure, it would have meant hardship for the people of Israel.…Expecting the Omer to be offered the second day of Pesach, many everywhere would begin at once to eat bread (i.e. baked goods prepared) from the new crop and violate the Torah's law in all innocence…

Where the people could not ensure their own safety against transgression, Heaven took a hand. The Omer never became Pasul…"
The same reason applied to the Shtei Halechem - the "two loaves" - offered on Shavu'ot. The Torah says, "…you shall count for yourselves from the morrow of the rest-day from the day you bring the Omer of the waving, seven weeks, they shall be complete; until the morrow of the seventh week you shall count, fifty days; and you shall offer a new meal offering (Mincha) to the Lord. From your dwelling places… you shall bring two loaves of bread [of] fine flour… as first offerings to the Lord" (Vayikra 23:15-17). Rabbi Bunim writes (pg. 70), "Two loaves of bread were offered then [on Shavu'ot] at the Sanctuary, baked from the new harvest of wheat that ripened after the barley. This was the 'new Mincha' - not only from the year's first wheat, but the year's first such meal- offering at the Sanctuary. Only after it was brought, could other meal-offerings be taken, as people needed them, from the new wheat crop. Once again, we have the same situation: the two loaves had to be baked before Shavu'ot began. Should they become ritually defiled during Yom Tov, between the time baked and the time offered, they could not be replaced." The Torah ordained that they be brought on Shavu'ot as an integral part of the day's Avoda and they accompanied the special Korbanot of the Chag. (Strictly speaking, the "two loaves" themselves were not "Korbanot". Unlike other Menachot meal offerings, they were "waved" before G-d twice but they were not offered on the Mizbei'ach.) "…no one could bring a Mincha, a meal offering, until the crop of the following year [ripened]. [Until then], that year, countless Israelites could not achieve atonement for sin… In the religious life of Israel, hardship and misery would prevail. Here again, Providence did its share for a people of faith: the two loaves never became ritually unfit through an accident."

The great Tanna, R. Akiva pictures the Holy One Blessed be He saying, "Bring the Omer before Me on Pesach, so your produce in the field be blessed… Bring the two loaves before Me on Shavu'ot so that the fruit of the trees be blessed (Rosh Hashana 16a)." (Bikurim, which included the first fruits of "Sheva Minim trees", were not brought to the Mikdash before Shavu'ot.)

Incidentally, the exact date of Shavu'ot was the basis of one of the crucial disagreements between the Sages (aka Chaza"l) and the Sadducees, a major dissident group in the Bayit Sheini period. (Adumbrating many other schismatic groups in our history, the Sadducees denied the authenticity of Torah She'be'al Peh, the Oral Law.) Surprisingly, the written Torah does not designate a specific date for Shavu'ot. The Torah does say that the bringing of the Omer (a meal offering of a tenth of an Eifa of newly harvested barley) on Mimacharat HaShabbat - "the morrow after the rest-day" - inaugurates the seven-week period of the "counting of the Omer". The Shavu'ot festival is the fiftieth day, the day following the completion of the counting of the seven "complete" weeks. The Sadducees maintained that the Torah's use of the phrase Mimacharat HaShabbat meant that the counting of the seven weeks was to begin the day after the first Shabbat that fell during Pesach. They interpreted HaShabbat as referring literally to the Sabbath, i.e., Saturday. Since they began counting seven complete weeks on the first Sunday after the first day of Pesach, Shavu'ot by their calculation always fell on a Sunday. However, the Sages, emphasizing the connection between Pesach and Shavu'ot, maintained that in this case, Mimacharat HaShabbat always meant the second day of Pesach. The Sages contended that the first day of Pesach - Yom Tov - is itself the 'Shabbat' prescribed in the Torah, because similar to Shabbat, "work" (Melacha) is forbidden on Yom Tov. The Gemara preserves the sage R' Yochanan b. Zakkai's reply to a doubting Sadducee. "One passage says, 'You shall count fifty days'" (Vayikra 23:16) while the other passage says, 'Seven weeks, they shall be complete.' (Vayikra 23:13). How can we reconcile the two Pesukim?" The first Pasuk refers to counting fifty days without regard to the completeness of the weeks. The second verse refers to seven complete weeks where it is understood that the counting of the fifty days begins on Sunday. The Gemara continues, "The latter passage refers to the time when (the first day) of Pesach falls on Shabbat i.e., the seventh day of the week (and since the counting begins on Sunday, fifty days would include seven complete weeks). The former Pasuk refers to when the first day of the Pesach falls on another day" [and not Sunday. In this case, the fifty days would not include seven complete weeks] (Menachot 65b). This would prove that Shavu'ot could fall on other days of the week besides Sunday. <to be continued>

Catriel's book in progress: The Temple of Jerusalem, A Pilgrim’s Perspective; A Guided Tour through the Temple and the Divine Service