The main discussion regarding when to begin counting occurs in Menachot 65a.12-66a.15. The discussion is prompted by the Boethusian practice of interpreting the charge of Leviticus 23:15 to begin counting ממחרת השבת, lit. "from the morrow of the Sabbath," as referring to the literal weekly Sabbath, and therefore they would always observe Shavuoth on a Sunday. As we know, the oral tradition is not this way, and eight different proofs (two of which are mentioned twice) are cited in defense of our practice. For the sake of completion, I will cite all eight proofs here; however, not all of them will be relevant to our discussion.

1. Rabban Yokhanan ben Zakkai: One verse states (Leviticus 23:16) that we count fifty days; another verse states (Leviticus 23:15) that we count only seven complete weeks (i.e. forty-nine days). His resolution of the conflict is that in some years you will have seven complete weeks (i.e. Sunday through Saturday), which occurs when we begin counting on a Sunday; other years we will only have fifty complete days.
2. Rabbi Eliezer: We are commanded (Deuteronomy 16:9), "Seven weeks shall you count for yourself." This implies that the counting should hinge on a Sabbath which is "for yourself," i.e. in our power to institute, i.e. a festival and not the weekly Sabbath.
3. Rabbi Yehoshua: In two different contexts we are commanded to count days before sanctifying: once regarding sanctifying the month (derived from Numbers 11:20) and once regarding sanctifying Shavuoth (our discussion). Just as you begin counting the days of the month from a fixed day of a month (i.e. the first), so, too, do you begin counting toward Shavuoth on a fixed day of a month (excluding the count beginning on a different day of Nissan each year, depending on which day of Passover is Sunday).
4. Rabbi Yishmael: The Leviticus verses imply a connection between the Omer offering on Passover, from which we begin counting, to the Two Loaves offering on Shavuoth, toward which we count. Just as the latter is at the beginning of its festival, so, too, the former is at the beginning of its festival.
5. Rabbi Yehudah ben Betheira: A Gezeirah Shavah of the word שבת in Leviticus 23:15 and Leviticus 23:16 teaches that just as the שבת of the latter verse refers to the beginning of its festival (Shavuoth), so, too, the שבת of the former verse refers to the beginning of its festival (Passover).
6. Rabbi Yosei bar Yehudah: "Fifty days" implies that in every year, Shavuoth will fall out exactly fifty days following the beginning of Passover; this does not hold if we begin counting from the Sunday of Passover, in which case Shavuoth might be anywhere from fifty to fifty-six days following the beginning of Passover.^[1]
7. Rabbi Yosei: The verse doesn't say that one should begin counting following the "Sabbath of Passover." If it meant the regular, weekly Sabbath, it could theoretically mean any of them! It must be, then, that it refers to the festival of Passover, not the Sabbath of Passover.
8. Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar: One verse states (Deuteronomy 16:8) that we eat Matzah for six days, while another verse states (Exodus 12:15) that we eat Matzah for seven days. How do we reconcile this prohibition? The Omer is brought on the second day of Passover, permitting Matzah of the new crop for the latter six days; however, Matzah from an old crop may be eaten all seven days. Only if the Omer is brought on the second day of Passover does this resolution work. He then expounds Deuteronomy 16:9 and Leviticus 23:15-16 to prove that we begin counting specifically on the day the Omer is brought, and that we begin counting on the preceding night; as the Omer must be brought on the second day of Passover, the counting begins on that day as well.

Rava proceeds to dispute five of these proofs, allowing to stand numbers 4, 5, and 8 (Rabbis Yishmael, Yehudah ben Betheira, and Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar). He disproves Rabban Yokhanan ben Zakkai's proof by an alternative resolution of the contradiction; Rabbi Yosei bar Yehudah's by suggesting the verse means fifty, excluding the difference due to Passover not always being a Sunday; Rabbi Yosei refutes his own opinion by demonstrating the ambiguity of שבת, and in the actual text he proceeds to offer the same answer as Rabbi Yehudah ben Betheirah (which Rava accepts); and, importantly for our discussion, he refutes the remaining opinions by saying that you haven't proven that it should be counted starting after the beginning of Passover. The remaining proofs are solid, all of them irrefutably linking it to the beginning of Passover.

I'm a big fan of confirming textual variants before assuming that you've got a good reading of the Gemara. At this point, I'm more surprised when a discussion has not fundamentally been altered more than when it has. It's entirely possible that the text was corrupted over time in favor of our first-days practice, right?

To my surprise, this entire page of Gemara is virtually intact! According to FJMS^[2], there are only abbreviation or grammatical variances, not halacha-altering ones. Critically, Rava's refutation of Rabbi Eliezer's and Rabbi Yehoshua's opinions, based on their not linking it to the beginning of Passover, remains intact across manuscript editions.

Therefore, it would seem safe to say that either A) there's been a miscommunication somewhere as to what, exactly, the Ethiopians do, or B) the Ethiopians are wrong.

posted over 3 years ago

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3y ago

DonielF‭

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