Rabbi Doniel Staum, LMSW
Rabbi, Kehillat New Hempstead
Rebbe/Guidance Counselor – ASHAR/ Yeshiva Bais
Hachinuch
STAM
TORAH
PARSHAS
EMOR 5774
“STUCK
IN PLACE
Although it was more than two decades
ago, I would venture to think that anyone who was a classmate of mine when I
was in second grade, remembers the time that “Staum got stuck in his chair.”
Our second grade classroom was full of
little chairs tailored for little second graders. The wooden chairs had a gap
between the chair and the back, and we loved to climb into that gap and fasten the
chair snug against our waists. Then we would walk around the room with the
chair hanging from our bodies, drumming on the cushion of the chair.
I too occasionally engaged in the fun of
transforming my chair into a drum until that fateful afternoon. One day during
an afternoon break, I climbed into the chair’s gap and hoisted it around my
waist. I proceeded to join my fellow chair-drummers, walking around the room. A
few moments later the alarm went out “She’s coming!” Our teacher was returning
to call the class to attention. I and my fellow chair-drummers walked quickly back
to our places and began pulling ourselves out of our chairs. The only problem
was that unlike everyone else I was stuck. I simply could not get myself out of
the chair. I panicked and told some of my friends, who, in turn, told the
teacher. After a few more futile attempts the bewildered teacher sent a student
to summon the principal.
Although it seems humorous now, it was
quite traumatic for me back then. The principal arrived and surveyed the
situation. After seeing the problem, I am sure he turned around to laugh. Then
he called the resident expert on all such matters, i.e. the chief janitor. As
the janitor approached I was filled with dread as I overheard some classmates
murmuring that the janitor would have no choice except to saw the chair apart,
with me in it. But the janitor’s prognosis was otherwise. Suffice it to say
that thankfully the problem was resolved with no damage, other than a bit of a
second grader’s pride.
For years, my classmates would remind
me of the incident and thank me for the extra recess they enjoyed that day. You
can bet that afterwards I no longer climbed into chairs. I was advised to play
baseball or basketball instead.
“You shall count for yourselves – from
the morrow of the rest day, from the day when 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 to G-d.”[1]
This is the mitzvah of Sefiras haOmer- the count of the Omer, i.e. the
forty-nine day verbal count of the days between the second night Pesach and the
holiday of Shavuos. The gemara[2]
derives from the words of the pasuk, “You shall count for yourselves”, שתהא ספירה לכל אחד ואחד – there must
be a count for every individual.
Some halachic authorities explain that
the gemara’s exegesis is coming to inform that the principle of שומע כעונה (“hearing is like answering”)[3]
doesn’t apply in regards to the counting the Omer.[4]
Since the law states that every individual must count, one cannot fulfill his
obligation by hearing someone else’s recitation.
HaRav Nissan Alpert zt’l offered a novel explanation of the
gemara’s statement. He explains that when the Torah demands an individual
count, it does not merely mean that every person must himself/herself recite
the words of the counting. It is also a call for every person to count himself,
in other words, to make himself count! The counting of the Omer must be a personal
experience, and therefore, Reuven cannot recite it for Shimon and Shimon cannot
recite it for Reuven.
The counting of the Omer involves a count of one’s life -
his days, weeks, months, and years. It reminds a person of the fleeting passage
of time. The message of Sefiras haOmer is - “if one does not master time, time
will master him.”
Rabbi Alpert continues that on the first day of Pesach,
Klal Yisroel physically left Egypt
It is for this reason that the counting of the Omer commences on the day
after the first day of Pesach. Counting the Omer symbolizes our ability to
raise ourselves to greater heights. That ability was only granted to us after
the physical exodus was complete.
The Torah uses two indicators of when the Omer count begins: “From the morrow of the rest day” and “From
the day when you bring the Omer of the waving”. Why do we count from “the Omer”
and not “from the morrow of the rest day” (e.g. why do we say “Today is the
third day of the Omer” and not “Today is the third day from the morrow of the
rest day”)?
Rabbi Alpert explains that time is the
greatest gift one possesses. Our mastery of time is symbolized by bringing the
Omer-offering on the Altar. The Omer was brought from the first barley growths
of that season. Its offering initiated the count that culminated with the
holiday of Shavuos. On Shavuos the first wheat-growths of the season were used
for the special offering of the Shtei halechem (two loaves of bread).
The Omer count symbolizes our desire to transform random days into collective weeks
and our ability to convert mundane hours into holy units of time. It is time
utilized for introspection and spiritual growth.
The extent of one’s celebration on the
holiday of Shavuos is wholly contingent on how much preparation one has
expended. Therefore, the name of the holiday is “Shavuos- weeks” referring to
the seven weeks that are counted, preceding the holiday.
I cannot vouch for the
authenticity of the following letter, but its poignancy is clear:
This was written by an 83-year-old woman to her friend:
Dear Bertha,
I'm reading more and dusting less. I'm sitting in the
yard and admiring the view without fussing about the weeds in the garden. I'm
spending more time with my family and friends and less time working.
Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of
experiences to savor, not to endure. I'm trying to recognize these moments now
and cherish them.
I'm not "saving" anything; we use our good
china and crystal for every special event such as losing a pound, getting the
sink unstopped, or the first Amaryllis blossom.
I wear my good blazer to the market. My theory is if I
look prosperous, I can shell out $28.49 for one small bag of groceries. I'm not
saving my good perfume for special parties, but wearing it for clerks in the
hardware store and tellers at the bank.
"Someday" and "one of these days" are
losing their grip on my vocabulary. If it's worth seeing or hearing or doing, I
want to see and hear and do it now!
I'm not sure what others would've done had they known
they wouldn't be here for the tomorrow that we all take for granted. I think
they would have called family members and a few close friends. They might have
called a few former friends to apologize and mend fences for past squabbles. I
like to think they would have gone out for a Chinese dinner or for whatever
their favorite food was. I'm guessing; I'll never know.
It's those little things left undone that would make me
angry if I knew my hours were limited. Angry, because I hadn't written certain
letters that I intended to write one of these days. Angry and sorry, that I
didn't tell my husband and parents often enough how much I truly love them.
I'm trying very
hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would add laughter and
luster to our lives. And every morning when I open my eyes, tell myself that it
is special.
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are
here we might as well dance.
So often
life seems to stagnate and our days become a blur of mundane triteness. We get
stuck in our proverbial chairs and can’t get past our present state of living,
despite having lofty dreams and aspirations. The process of inertia takes its
toll and, before we know it, days become wasted weeks and weeks become wasted
years.
The
counting of the Omer comes to “seize us by the collar.” It encourages us to wiggle
out of chairs by any means necessary in order to seek the fulfillment in our
lives that we truly desire.
In the
words of an American actor who was killed in a car accident before his
twenty-fifth birthday: “Dream as if you'll live forever; live
as if you'll die today”.
“You shall count for yourselves…
seven weeks they shall be complete”
[1] Vayikra
23:15-16
[2] Menachos
65b
[3]שומע כעונה is applicable to some mitzvos and
blessings that must be verbalized. One
can fulfill his obligation by hearing another person’s recitation if both he
and the one reciting have in mind to help the listener fulfill his obligation
through the declaration. This law applies most notably to Kiddush and Megillah
reading.
[4] See Biur
Halacha (489:1)
0 comments:
Post a Comment