From Barley to Wheat

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah (www.bircas.org)

In this week’s parsha, Parshas Emor, the Torah gives us the mitzvah of Sefiras Haomer — counting the Omer. On the second day of Pesach, they would bring the Omer, an offering made from barley flour. It was the first of the new harvest. From that day, the Torah tells us to begin counting seven complete weeks, until Shavuos, when the Shtei Halechem, the two loaves made from wheat, were brought.

What is the purpose of this counting? Usually, a person counts because he does not know how many there are. If someone counts eggs, it is because he wants to know the number. But here, we know the days. Nobody is making a mistake. It is not that Beis Din counts for everyone. Each person has his own mitzvah to count. Why?

The Chinuch (306) explains that the count shows how much we are waiting for Kabbalas HaTorah. We left Mitzrayim, but the whole purpose of leaving Mitzrayim was to receive the Torah. So we count the days: another day passed, another day closer to reach that great moment. We are showing how much we are longing for the Torah.

The Shvilei Haleket (236) also says that when Klal Yisrael left Mitzrayim, they counted by themselves because they wanted so badly to reach Kabbalas HaTorah. Hashem then made it a mitzvah for us too, so that we should also build up this ratzon — this strong desire — to receive the Torah.

This teaches us a very important point. A person can only be mekabel Torah if he really wants Torah. Hashem gives us the Torah each Shavuos, but we have to desire it. A person may be learning or davening, but sometimes he is doing it only because that is the habit, or because that is what people around him do, or even because of kavod. During these days, a person has to work on his heart and say: I want to learn. I want to daven. I want Torah because this is the purpose of Yetzias Mitzrayim. This is the purpose of the world.

This desire has to become very strong. Even if there were times when a person was weak in learning or weak in tefillah — maybe Erev Shabbos, Motzei Shabbos, bein hazmanim, or other difficult times, he now says: I want to be stronger. I want to learn because this is what Hashem wants from me even when I am struggling. This brings me closer to HaKadosh Baruch Hu.

This ratzon has to bring a person to some level of mesirus nefesh — giving himself over for Torah. The days of the Omer are intricately connected to Rabbi Akiva and his talmidim. Rabbi Akiva began as a shepherd. He started learning at the age of forty. It was hard for him, but he kept going. He learned for many years away from home. He came back with tremendous numbers of talmidim. Even after his 24,000 talmidim passed away, he did not give up. He began again with a few new talmidim, and through them Torah sheba’al peh was carried forward.

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai also showed tremendous mesirus nefesh for Torah. He learned in the cave with his son for years, living on carobs and water, separated from the world, giving himself completely to Torah. We are not on those levels, but we can learn from them. A person has to want Torah enough to give something up for it. He has to be ready to push himself beyond comfort, at least in some small way.

But still we have a question. Why does the Torah connect the counting of the Omer to the Shtei Halechem. We begin with barley and we end with wheat. What does that have to do with Kabbalas HaTorah?

The Maharsha (Rosh Hashanah 16a) explains that there is a hint here. Barley is usually animal food. Wheat is food for a person, and Chazal say that wheat gives da’as — understanding. This teaches that when we left Mitzrayim, we were still affected by the physical desires and materialism of Mitzrayim. The avodah of these days until Shavuos is to move from “barley” to “wheat,” from the pull of the animal side to the level of an adam — a person who controls his desires and puts himself into Torah.

People run after comforts, desires, luxuries, and all sorts of extras. A person says, “I need this, I need that.” But these days teach us to leave that behind. Even other bad middos, can come from being too attached to physical desires. A person has to become an adam, someone who rules over his desires and makes Torah the center.

Rav Shimshon Rafael Hirsh explains another hint in the Omer. At the beginning of the harvest, we bring the first barley to Hashem. We are saying: this harvest is not my doing, it’s all from Hashem. Then, at the end of the harvest, when the wheat is ready, we bring the Shtei Halechem on Shavuos. Again we say: it is all from Hashem. It all belongs to Him.

Before Kabbalas HaTorah, Hashem is teaching us how to look at our work and our money. A person works and earns money, but he has to know that the money really belongs to Hashem. Hashem gave it to him in order to do His will. Hashem wants a person to buy what he needs to support himself and his family, but of course also to use the money to help him learn Torah and do mitzvos. He cannot be lax when it comes to using his money for his own learning, sending his children to cheder, giving tzedakka and doing other mitzvos. If a person overworks, and because of that he learns less Torah and weakens in his avodah, he is missing the purpose of work. In a certain sense, he is misusing Hashem’s money, because the money was given to help him serve Hashem, not to pull him away from serving Hashem.

The Gemara in Berachos (35b) says that if a person makes his Torah the main thing and his work secondary, both will succeed. If he makes his work the main thing and Torah secondary, neither will succeed. The Maharal explains that this is because he has changed the proper order. The order for a Jew is that Torah and avodas Hashem are the ikar — the main thing — and parnassah is what he must do in order to serve Hashem properly.

My father was a living example. I am already older, but I cannot forget how clear it was that his ikar was avodas Hashem. He was born in America and grew up there, but he had no desire for luxuries or for Olam Hazeh. He wanted only the minimum that he needed. In America, he worked in Limudei Kodesh because he wanted to stay connected to learning. He went out of town to teach, even though it was difficult, because his goal was always to remain around Torah and mitzvos.

Later he came to Eretz Yisrael and learned to be a sofer. He worked just a few hours a day and made a minimal parnassah. But he did not want more. Most of his time was for learning, mitzvos, tefillah, and working on his mussar. When people offered him more work, he said, “I don’t want more work.” If people in the neighborhood needed help, he was happy to help them, but he did not want to take money from them.

In his mid-sixties, he stopped even those few hours of work. He said, “I am getting older. I have to be more involved in my avodas Hashem.” He did not have a big pension plan. Still, it was clear to him that the main thing was to serve Hashem.

This is one of the great preparations for Shavuos. We should remind ourselves that all our work and all our possessions are only tools to serve Hashem.

May we be zocheh to prepare ourselves properly for Kabbalas HaTorah.