Guide
When to Begin Counting the Omer According to the Rabbis
1st–7th Centuries
Restricted
In the Second Temple period, the proper time for observing Shavuot was a subject of sectarian dispute. In biblical law, the festival falls fifty days after the offering of the omer, which occurs “the day after the Sabbath” (Leviticus 23:15). The rabbis interpreted “Sabbath” as the first festival day of Passover, while others, including the Sadducees and Boethusians and the Qumran sect (see Communal Identities), interpreted it in the usual sense of the seventh day of the week and began the count from the first Sunday after the start of Passover. The Mishnah describes a dramatic procedure for reaping the omer, which it attributes to the need to emphasize the timing of the ritual as a polemic against the Boethusians.
Related Primary Sources
Primary Source
The Procedure for Reaping the Omer
How would they do it [reap the omer]? The agents of the court used to go out on the day before the festival and tie the unreaped grain in bunches to make it the easier to reap. All the inhabitants of…
Primary Source
Beginning the Count on a Fixed Day
As the Boethusians would say [that the festival of] Shavuot [always occurs] after Shabbat, R. Yoḥanan ben Zakkai joined [the discussion with the Boethusians] and said to them, “Fools! From where [have…