Spiritual and Ethical Issues in the Bamidbar Stories by Dr. Meir Tamari From Omer Offering to Bringing Bikurim In addition to the national-religious significance of the Seven Weeks from Pesach to Shavuot, there is a spiritual perspective dealing with our money and our material wealth, both as individuals and as a nation. This is not surprising since parallel to the cycle of the Exodus from Egypt on Pesach, Matan Torah on Shavuot and G-d's protection symbolized by Sukkot, the Shalosh Regalim are a cycle of the agricultural year, the katzir on Pesach, the bikurim on Shavuot and the ingathering on Sukkot. "On Pesach there is no specified reference to simcha, on Shavuot there is one and on Sukkot there are three. On Pesach, Israel had only to come to the Mikdash for one day whereas Sukkot required all eight days of their presence. This is because at the beginning of the harvest, people are too busy and worried about their future wealth and so have little mind or time for simcha. Whereas on Sukkot, when all the crops are collected and saved in the granaries and storehouses; man's mind is at rest and the time for simcha has arrived" (Abarbanel). However, far from being a celebration of nature, this cycle comes to teach of G-d as the source of our wealth and the real owner of all our material goods and future. This knowledge is the key to practice morality and sanctity in the earning, spending and saving of money. Pesach is Chah HaKatzir, the beginning of the barely harvest that we commemorate with the 49 days of the S'fira, either because of the offering of the Omer that became obligatory then [Rambam] or as a memorial of that Temple offering [Ramban]. The simple waving of a small measure of barley on the first day of Chol HaMoed Pesach was accompanied by a major public ceremony; "Messengers of the Beit Din go to reap the first bundles and all the surrounding villagers gather around them so that the reaping may be accompanied by a great gathering and with much publicity even on Shabbat" (Menachot 10:3). This ceremony and the obligation to count the seven full weeks and the 49 days from its observance, seems out of proportion to the simplicity and slight material value of Korban HaOmer. Yet the spiritual message for the individual's money and wealth is basic and almost limitless. "You shall not eat bread or roasted kernels or plump kernels until this very day, until you bring the offering [Korban haOmer] of your G-d" (Vayikra 23:14). Thus the Omer made it permissible for Israel to eat of the new harvest, a harvest that they had produced legally and morally from land acquired and owned legally and morally. To this day, we may not eat of chadash, the new crop before the first day of Chol HaMoed. It is more than a matter of being thankful for the material wealth we get, important as that is. Here, the real Owner of the crops has to be acknowledged before we are entitled to enjoy them. The 'of your G-d' in the verse of the Korban HaOmer stresses this ownership. Such recognition means that all an individual's wealth has to be earned only in the manner permitted by the Owner and all property, used only in ways that He commanded; this ensures morality in the acquiring of money and in its use. "And you shall count seven weeks from the day of bringing the Omer, until the day after the seventh Shabbat shall you count fifty days; shall you bring two loaves of fine wheaten flour; first fruits unto G-d" (Vayikra 23:15-17). This counting therefore connects the two korbanot - the Omer and Shtei HaLechem - the korbanot of Pesach and Shavuot, Chag Hakatzir and Yom HaBikurim. "The first fruits are brought that we may remember His goodness and kindness before we enjoy any benefit; it is proper to bring an offering to G-d who owns all. In consequence of this physical material act, our thoughts will be elevated and our hearts stirred." (Sefer HaChinuch, mitzvot 302-303). "One who derives a benefit from this world without first saying a b'racha commits a breach of holiness [taking something without the owners permission]" (B'rachot 35a). The Shtei HaLechem permits the use of the new wheat in the Avoda of the Beit HaMikdash on behalf of the nation, just as Korban HaOmer permits the use of the new crops by the individuals; national wealth like that of its citizens has to be earned and used after the real Owner has been recognized and only in ways that He permits. This bringing of the Sh'tei HaLechem on Shavout marks the beginning of the obligation to bring Bikurim to the Mikdash that continues all summer long till Sukkot, the Festival of the Ingathering (and even until Chanuka). Bikurim of Shavuot were brought amidst much publicity, pomp and rejoicing as the nation acknowledged the Source of their wealth and prosperity. Yet the main thrust of the Bikurim is the VIDUI that has to be recited (D'varim 26:5-8). In four simple verses this VIDUI describes how all benefits, achievements and successes, of the individual and of the nation, are not the results of wisdom, ability, hard work or luck, but flow only from the real Owner. A small family was forced down to Egypt, enslaved and oppressed there, then freed and taken out from there with wonders and miraculous signs, to be brought to a promised land flowing with milk and honey. In acknowledgement of all those gifts, the farmer brought Bikurim of the crops of that Land. It is particularly significant that both the VIDUI of Bikurim and that of Ma'aser, that recognize His Ownership of all wealth, are mentioned in the Torah at the end of the nation's 40 years of wanderings and at the conclusion of all the divine commandments. Now, just prior to Israel's entry into its Promised Land, it was essential that it learn that its whole purpose was to translate that recognition into the social, political and religious fabric of the individuals and of the nation in that Land. The spiritual, moral and religious perspective of that recognition may be seen in Seder Nezikin, literally damages: "He who wishes to be pious, let him fulfill the words of Nezikim" (Bava Kama 30a). The Mishnaic Seder that contains our commercial, civil, criminal and constitutional law was accordingly given the alternative name Sefer HaYeshuot, Book of Redemption (Shabbat 31a). [The Parshat Tzav Homepage]
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