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Is there a separate mitzvah aside from counting the days to count the weeks of sfirah as well?

If there is a mitzvah to count the weeks - if a person skipped a day and was thus unable to continue counting the days with a blessing, would he be able to count the weeks with a blessing?

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  • Maybe there's only a Mitzva to count weeks. Who said there's a Mitzva to count days? Tonight is 6 weeks and 1 day. Who said anything about 43?
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented May 13, 2018 at 2:19
  • The gemara in Menachot (66a) cites a dispute among the Amoraim which also appears to revolve around this issue. The gemara quotes Abaye as requiring the counting of both days and weeks during the omer. Subsequently, the gemara records that Ameimar counted days and not weeks, since he felt that the mitzva of sefirat ha-omer is performed only as a "zekher le-mikdash" (in memory of the Beit Ha-mikdash), rather than as a mitzva de-oraita
    – Draizy-Levi Pine
    Commented May 13, 2018 at 4:09
  • Draizy did you mean to edit that into your post? Why did you post it here as a comment?
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented May 13, 2018 at 4:11
  • related judaism.stackexchange.com/a/83024/759
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented May 13, 2018 at 4:11

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Apparently there is an opinion that one should count the weeks, in a case where one forgot to count a day:

Sh"t Beit Halevi 1:39 says that since there is a mitzva to count days and weeks, if somebody misses a night in the middle of the week, he can count with a beracha on the nights that complete the week. (Halachipedia footnote 18)

Others don't seem to mention this idea. See here for more opinions.

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  • I don't understand what "the nights that complete the week" have to do with anything. We count weeks every night, not just once a week.
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented May 13, 2018 at 2:23
  • @DoubleAA is there an opinion that holds that one should say "today is 6 six weeks" instead of saying "today is six weeks 2 days"? If we are only counting weeks, why do it once a day? Maybe we should do it more than once a day? Therefore, according to the beit halevi, if one is not counting the days of the week, one should only do it once a week.
    – aBochur
    Commented May 13, 2018 at 4:23
  • No one TTBOMK holds that you say "today is 6 weeks" every day for a week. Is that what you are asking? I don't see how that is relevant. Are you telling me the Beit Halevi was only saying his opinion according to the Rishon who held, unlike how we hold, that we only count weeks on full weeks? (The Beit Halevi can of course hold whatever he wants, but what I'm trying to emphasize to you and the OP is that there are different ways of understanding what "counting weeks" means and it's not trivially what you just happened to assume.)
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented May 13, 2018 at 4:34
  • @DoubleAA all of the above is my guess as to what he's saying. Feel free to take it or leave it. Imho this answers the OPs question even if we don't agree with the logic.
    – aBochur
    Commented May 13, 2018 at 13:46
  • Double AA - does this make sense? There is a daily mitzvah to count - that mitzvah includes counting the days and weeks, ie Today is the 43rd, which is 6 weeks and one day. When one did that counting - he fulfilled one mitzvah. There is also a separate mitzvah to count the weeks - that mitzvah applies only when the week count changes - 7, 14, 21, etc. I believe there is a Tosafos that ask why we dont make 2 blessings - one on the days and one on the weeks.
    – Draizy-Levi Pine
    Commented May 14, 2018 at 17:17

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