Home
Archives
«Prev || 1 | 2 || Next»
Posted by: Benjamin
Today is Sunday, May 31, 2009 -


Day 50 of Omer
Chag Sameach Shavuot!

Feast of Weeks, Feast of Harvest
Feast of First Fruits

Baruch YHWH!



Rabbinical Jews start the counting of the Omer on the day after Passover. Karaites believe the counting of the Omer starts the day after the shabbat that occurs during passover. Let's try to understand what the Torah actually says.

A couple simple verses leading to the first day of Omer starting the day after shabbat during Passover:
- We are to count 7 shabbats which logically points to shabbat as the shabbat, not Passover as the first shabbat -- there are not 7 Passovers. Shavua is hebrew for week - Shavout is afterall interpretted to mean Feast of Weeks. Having the name for week in the Feast name and still interpretting shabbat as week rather than 7th day of rest seems extreme.
- Most revealing is Lev 23:16 where it specifies the fiftieth day being the "morrow after shabbat", which clearly would be a Sunday.
Therefore, the count would begin on the day after shabbat during Passover.

Interestingly enough, those following the lunar calendar would have the same count in the year 2009 since Passover fell on shabbat according to the lunar calendar.

Contrary to popular belief, the Counting of Omer leading to Shavuot (Feast of Weeks/Pentecost) begins after shabbat, not after Passover.

From http://www.karaite-korner.org/shavuot.shtml:
Shavuot (Feast of Weeks/Pentecost) is the Biblical harvest-festival celebrated 50 days after the Sunday which falls out during Passover. These fifty days are called the Counting of the Omer.

A more accurate translation of Lev 23:15-16 follows:


Leviticus Chapter 23
15 And you shall count for yourself from the day after the seventh day of rest (the shabbat - הַשַּׁבָּת), from the day that you brought the sheaf of waving; seven seventh days of rest (a shabbatote - שַׁבָּתֹות) shall there be complete;
16 even unto the day after after the seventh day of rest (the shabbat - הַשַּׁבָּת) shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall present a new meal-offering unto YHWH.


The references to shabbat in these verses specify a definite article using "the shabbat" rather than "a shabbat". The definition of shabbat occurs a few verses earlier in Lev 23:3.

Leviticus Chapter 23
3 Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest (a shabbat shabbathown - שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתֹון), a holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of work; it is a sabbath (a shabbat - שַׁבַּת) unto YHWH in all your dwellings.

Leviticus Chapter 23
15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the day of rest (הַשַּׁבָּת), from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the waving; seven weeks (שַׁבָּתֹות) shall there be complete;
16 even unto the morrow after the seventh week (הַשַּׁבָּת) shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall present a new meal-offering unto YHWH.
17 Ye shall bring out of your dwellings two wave-loaves of two tenth parts of an ephah; they shall be of fine flour, they shall be baked with leaven, for first-fruits unto YHWH.
18 And ye shall present with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams; they shall be a burnt-offering unto YHWH, with their meal-offering, and their drink-offerings, even an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto YHWH.
19 And ye shall offer one he-goat for a sin-offering, and two he-lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace-offerings.
20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first-fruits for a wave-offering before YHWH, with the two lambs; they shall be holy to YHWH for the priest.
21 And ye shall make proclamation on the selfsame day; there shall be a holy convocation unto you; ye shall do no manner of servile work; it is a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

Posted by: Benjamin
Karaite Jewish University, and the people and organizations quoted on kjuonline.com, are in no way associated with peshat.com and views expressed here.

Thanks Zvi for corrections to Hebrew grammar -- see comments...


On the relationship between Tahor and Qadosh
by Benjamin ben Daniel
(with Tanakh references from JPS 1917)



The children of Israel are instructed to be both Tahor (clean) and Qadosh (holy). While Tahor and Qadosh have different requirements and seem to have different goals, they can appear equally important to the reader of the Tanakh. Teaching the differences between the Tahor (clean) and the Tamei (unclean/defiled) as well as between the Qodesh (holiness) and the Chol (common/profane) is commanded; but this essay is not about those differences. This essay will explore the relationship between Qadosh and Tahor. Hopefully, this will lead to a greater understanding of their goals and how each is applied.

Leviticus Chapter 10
8 And YHWH spoke unto Aaron, saying:
9 'Drink no wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tent of meeting, that ye die not; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.
10 And that ye may put difference between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean;
11 and that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which YHWH hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.'

Ezekiel Chapter 22
26 Her priests have done violence to My law, and have profaned My holy things; they have put no difference between the holy and the common, neither have they taught difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

Ezekiel Chapter 44
23 And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the common, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

» Read More

Posted by: Benjamin
Yochanon Zaqantov, and the people and organizations quoted on KaraiteJudaism.org, are in no way associated with peshat.com and views expressed here.




When you hear our Rabbanite brothers, they use Hashem instead of his name. Hashem literally means "the name". Even some people will use Adonay instead, but why would one not use the name if its there in the Hebrew Text. We will be looking first at the reasoning for not speaking His Name. We will also examine the reasons for using his Name. So, lets examine the reason for not pronouncing the Name.

Referenced from: JewFAQ.org: The Name of G-d

Pronouncing the Name of God

Nothing in the Torah prohibits a person from pronouncing the Name of God. Indeed, it is evident from scripture that God's Name was pronounced routinely. Many common Hebrew names contain "Yah" or "Yahu," part of God's four-letter Name. The Name was pronounced as part of daily services in the Temple.

YHWH is God's name and His name is commonly used throughout the Tanakh -- by everyone, not just priests.

Genesis Chapter 24
26 And the man bowed his head, and prostrated himself before YHWH.
27 And he said: 'Blessed be YHWH, the God of my master Abraham, who hath not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master; as for me, YHWH hath led me in the way to the house of my master's brethren.'

Second Samuel Chapter 14
16 For the king will hear, to deliver his servant out of the hand of the man that would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God.
17 Then thy handmaid said: Let, I pray thee, the word of my lord the king be for my comfort; for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad; and YHWH thy God be with thee.'


Continued from JewFAQ.org: The Name of G-d...

The Mishnah confirms that there was no prohibition against pronouncing The Name in ancient times. In fact, the Mishnah recommends using God's Name as a routine greeting to a fellow Jew. Berakhot 9:5. However, by the time of the Talmud, it was the custom to use substitute Names for God. Some rabbis asserted that a person who pronounces YHVH according to its letters (instead of using a substitute) has no place in the World to Come, and should be put to death. Instead of pronouncing the four-letter Name, we usually substitute the Name "Adonai," or simply say "Ha-Shem" (lit. The Name).

» Read More

Category: General
Posted by: Benjamin
Jews Against Zionism, and the people and organizations quoted on their site, are in no way associated with peshat.com and views expressed here.


The Central Rabbinical Congress of the U.S.A. and Canada placed a quarter-page ad in today's New York Times, affirming the opposition of hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Jews to Zionism and Jewish rule over the Holy Land during exile, and denouncing religious Zionist groups as falsifiers of the Torah. The ad appeared in the newspaper on page A-20.

The text of the ad was as follows:

A Clarification of Torah Doctrine

Consistently, throughout the peace process in the Middle East, various Jewish religious organizations and parties have raised their voices in opposition to the return of territories to the Arabs, issuing statements that, according to the Torah, Jews are forbidden to give up any land in the Holy Land (especially part of Jerusalem).

Land sold returns to the original owner on the Year of Return - Jubilee. The timing of the next Jubilee year appears to be debatable.

Leviticus Chapter 27
24 In the year of jubilee the field shall return unto him of whom it was bought, even to him to whom the possession of the land belongeth.

Accordingly, it has become a commonplace that religious Jews are supportive of stopping the peace process. In the public mind, the policies of these parties became synonymous with Torah Doctrine. Moreover, they are portrayed in the media as "ultra-nationalists" willing to exchange "peace" for "land".

This impression is utterly false. All forms of Zionism, be they secular or religious, are inherently antithetical to the teaching of our faith! The great sages and saints of our people have always been opposed to the existence of the Zionist State. Indeed, when an obscure Viennese journalist first challenged the Torah approach to exile and redemption, over one hundred years ago, he was immediately attacked by the Torah sages of that time. Those orthodox Jews who support the Israeli state and "Greater Israel" are falsifiers of Torah doctrine. They have abandoned the principles of their predecessors.

» Read More

«Prev || 1 | 2 || Next»


Buy me a coffee ($3)