The Israelite Samaritans are celebrating Shavuot today (Sunday, 28 June). Last week, I emailed my IS friend & asked him until what day should I count the Omer, until this past Friday night/Saturday, making 49 days, or unil last night (Saturday)/this morning, making 50 days. Jews, if course, count only 49 days. While our Shavuot is the 50th day, we do not count it; our last day is 49. He said that ISs count 50 days & so I did as well. (May God grant that I one day celebrate Shavuot on Aargareezem as it is meant to be celebrated!)
Yesterday, I looked the source of this whole kerfuffle, namely Leviticus 23:15-16, which says:
"And you shall count unto you from the morrow after the Shabbat...sevencomplete weeks; even unto the morrow after the seventh Shabbat you shall number fifty days..."
The plain meaning of the text is that we count 50 days. The Jewish sage Rashi comments on this and says that it means "until, but not including, 50", i.e. 49.Thus the Jews count only 49 days. The claim is that if we were to count 50 days this would not be "seven complete weeks." But the problem with hat is that the text clearly says that we are to count 50 - not 49 - days! Why can't it mean that we re o count seven complete weeks *plus* one day. This would be in keeping with "...you shall number 50 days." I think that this more Rabbinic sophistry that does not jibe with the plain written sense of the Torah.
I counted 50 days. May it be God's will that I do so next year as well (and the year after that, and the year after that, etc., until a ripe old age)!
nb
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