10
votes
Is there an obligation to Count the Omer without a Bracha?
There's no such thing as "counting with a bracha" and "counting without a bracha". The Mitzva is to count.
Blessings on (just about) all Mitzvot are separate rabbinic obligations. Whether or not a ...
- 97.3k
8
votes
Accepted
May one shave/haircut on Friday, Rosh Chodesh Iyar
R' Moshe Feinstein (Igros Moshe OC 6, §36) is lenient in the above case. He posits that the prohibition of R' Yehuda HaChassid to shave on a Friday Rosh Chodesh applies only when it was possible to ...
- 7,891
7
votes
Why not count 50 days of the omer instead of 49?
We do count 50 days. On day 50 we say in Kiddush "This day of Shavuot" which essentially means "Today is 50 days" since by definition "Shavuot" is the 50th day of the Omer count (not unlike counting ...
- 97.3k
7
votes
Is there any evidence that Rabbi Akiva's students fought alongside Bar Kochba?
R' Hershel Schachter quotes R' Yosef Eliyahu Henkin who wrote in one of his essays that Rebbe Akiva's students were in fact killed in the Bar Kochba revolt. The Talmud hid this fact by mentioning ...
- 33.4k
6
votes
What is the halachic source for the minhagim of mourning during Sefira?
As DoubleAA pointed out, the Beis Yosef quotes the "Gaonim".
Those "Gaonim" could be referring to the Halachos Pesukos, which was a sefer written by one of the Gaonim, possible ...
- 40.3k
6
votes
Accepted
If 1st day Shavuot occurred on Shabbat, could you begin early?
See yeshiva.org.il who writes
חג השבועות
יב. בליל שבועות אין מתפללין ערבית מבעו"י, אלא מאחרין להתפלל בצאת
הכוכבים כדי שיהיו ימי הספירה מ"ט יום תמימות (מ"ב תצד ס"ק ד). וכן
נוהגים בקהילות ...
- 47.2k
6
votes
May a non-Jew count the Omer?
according to HasidicUniversity.org (who lists what are obligation privileges (to do mitzvot) non-Jew's are) a non-Jew may do the mitzvah of counting the omer
(Related Rambam Kings 10.10
Where the ...
- 7,466
6
votes
Saying the right thing then saying the wrong thing toch kedai dibur
Halichos Shlomo quotes Reb Shlomo Zalman Aurbach's handwritten tshuva as saying it seems that the person has fulfilled his obligation with the first counting.
This is found in chapter 11 halacha 5.
...
- 33.4k
6
votes
Accepted
Chasam Sofer on Sefiras HaOmer
Maybe you're thinking of Drashos Chasam Sofer II p. 280a (Sefiras HaOmer, halfway down the right column):
וזהו שאמר בפרשה זו (ויקרא כ"ה ח') "וספרת לך שבע שבתות שנים שבע שנים שבע פעמים והיו ...
- 19.6k
5
votes
Accepted
Is there an obligation to Count the Omer without a Bracha?
The short answer is yes. The reason is that there is a machlokes as to whether it is a mitzvah to count each day or if the mitzvah is one "long" mitzvah to count all seven weeks or both. Thus, we ...
- 42.9k
5
votes
Accepted
are you allowed get music lessons during sefirah?
Rav Heinemann told us:
If you are practicing for your parnasa or are practicing because you
want to have the choice to enter such a field, then that would be the
equivalent of practicing ...
- 13.8k
5
votes
We do not bring the omer offering, so why do we still count?
Tosfot (Menachot 65a) rules that indeed nowadays counting the Omer is a rabbinical Mitzva (as the Gemara there says: זכר למקדש הוא it's a remembrance of the Temple).
Rambam (Temidin 7:24) rules that ...
- 97.3k
5
votes
Accepted
How do we know that ממחרת השבת means from the first day of Pesach and not the seventh?
Menachot 65b cites 4 Tan'aim who provide 4 explanations to reconcile these 2 verses:
(1) Rabbi Eliezer
(2) Rabbi Yehoshua
(3) Rabbi Yishmael
(4) Rabbi Yehuda ben Betera.
Rabbi Yishmael says ...
- 22.7k
5
votes
Why do we count Sefirah cardinally rather than ordinally?
I saw a nice answer in a sefer named Maadanei Yom Tov.
Why is it that we celebrate Shuvuos on the 6th of Sivan, and call it Zeman Matan Toraseinu -- the time of the giving of our Torah, when the ...
- 9,388
4
votes
Halakhic International Date Line issues
Halachic authorities (e.g., the Chazon Ish and Rav Yechiel Michel Tukatzinsky) dispute where the halachic dateline resides. As such, there is a halachic uncertainty with regards to when Shabbat falls ...
- 17.7k
4
votes
Is counting the Omer considered one mitzvah or 49 individual ones?
In his "Ha-Mo'adim Ba-Halakha", Rav Shlomo Yosef Zevin discusses this question ("בגדר תמימות בספירת העומר"):
if one knows that he will not be able to count one day during sefirah, does he start ...
- 14.3k
4
votes
Accepted
Is counting the Omer considered one mitzvah or 49 individual ones?
Technically, the answer to your question can be "yes". That is it is a machlokes as to what exactly the mitzvah is.
We can also say that the answer can be technically "no", in that it is not ...
- 42.9k
4
votes
Accepted
Is one allowed to listen to music for therapeutic purposes during sefira and the three weeks?
R’ Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (Halichos Shlomo, Sefiras Haomer 11:n14) writes that one who will become overly upset without music may listen to recordings. (source)
- 1,464
4
votes
Accepted
Counting Sefiras Haomer in the Bathroom
Terrific question. I found a discussion of the issue by Rabbi S.B. Genut (in the case of someone locked in a bathroom) here, which I'll summarise for those for whom Hebrew is a barrier.
Firstly, we'...
- 1,312
4
votes
May a non-Jew count the Omer?
I'm not arguing with the great answer above that A Gentile can do Mitzvos* i just want to mention about a prospective convert in an ashkenazi community should follow their custom,** and the Rema ...
- 11.4k
4
votes
Accepted
Sefira - plural or singular
For years, days and many other words Tanakh is using the singular form for one object, there is a separate form for two objects, for 3 to 10 it uses the plural form, and reverts back to the singular ...
- 7,434
4
votes
Why is counting the omer not in all haggadot?
1 - Many people count in Shul right after Maariv. Although there are opinions that it is proper to say it at the end of the Seder (not to have two conflicting things - Seder / Omer) as far as I know ...
- 139k
4
votes
Accepted
Can one fix Tzitzis during the Omer?
There is no prohibition - recorded in classical Jewish halachic works - forbidding buying and wearing new clothes during the Sefira.
That is a prohibition mentioned in the laws of the 9 days and ...
- 42.8k
4
votes
What was unique about Gevas and Antifras that Rebbi Akiva singled them out?
It is an area of land.
Rashi writes:
מגבת עד אנטיפרס - [בין העיירות הללו היו כולם]:
From Gevas until Antifras - i.e. all of them (that died were located) between these cities.
Steinsaltz adds:
...
- 30.1k
3
votes
Meaning of "Shabbatot" when it's translated as "weeks"
R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, in his commentary1 on this verse, explains that while shavua' refers simply to a run of seven days, shabbat, in this context, refers to the Shabbat day and the surrounding ...
- 47.8k
3
votes
Accepted
Should one refrain from fun activities during sefirah?
In this newsletter, you will find a detailed discussion of the various viewpoints regarding what is prohibited during the Sefira. The discussion focuses on the activities that you mentioned, namely, ...
- 70k
3
votes
Sefiras Haomer Counting Direction
This question is asked in Sefer Hachinuch (Mitsva 306):
וזהו שאנו מונין לעמר, כלומר, כך וכך ימים עברו מן המנין ואין אנו מונין כך וכך ימים יש לנו לזמן,
Why we opted for counting from the omer, as if ...
- 22.7k
3
votes
Is there any evidence that Rabbi Akiva's students fought alongside Bar Kochba?
The use of 12,000 pairs in the mentioned in Yevamos 62b is interesting; if the counting was for purposes of the army, as posited by R Abramchik, why say 12,000 pairs (Zugim) instead of 24,000 people? ...
3
votes
Going to a stadium, to watch a game, during Sefirah
In a Shi'ur I attended many years ago, Rav Binyamin Tabory of Yeshivat Har Etzion once expressed his opinion that the custom is to refrain from activities that are public experiences that enhance joy. ...
- 41.5k
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