I have enjoyed all of your posts on this subject of the calendar, they are very informative and thought provoking. I do have a question regarding your timing of Shavuot. Torah explicitly states “You shall count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath ; then you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD. (Leviticus 23:15-16)
The day after the seventh sabbath is always the first day of the week!
How then do you arrive at a fixed date of Sivan 6 when nowhere in Torah is that criterion for the Feast of Shavuot?
Firstly the big mistake is when we forget that the word Shabbat does not always mean the last day of the week, i.e. 7th day, what most call Saturday
According to God Shabbat is a day of rest, the root שבת appears in words like to sit, and to strike, as in stop working. And we know that the first and last days of all the Biblical Festivals, and the Day of Yom Yippur, are called “Shabbats”, regardless of what day of the week they fall on.
So in fact God’s instructions for counting the Omer are not actually that clear.
Karaite Jews to this day begin the counting of the Omer on the day after the “weekly Shabbat” during Passover, rather than on the second day of Passover, and because of this Shavuot does not fall on a fixed date in the 3rd month (Sivan).
I do not know why or when the majority of Jewry decided the word “Shabbat” here in Lev. 23, means the day after the “Shabbat” of the 1st Day of Pesach, but because they do it means the first day of the counting always begins on 16th day of the first month (first called Aviv then Nissan) and that Shavuot will always fall on the 6th day of the 3rd month (now called Sivan).
Greetings
I have enjoyed all of your posts on this subject of the calendar, they are very informative and thought provoking. I do have a question regarding your timing of Shavuot. Torah explicitly states “You shall count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath ; then you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD. (Leviticus 23:15-16)
The day after the seventh sabbath is always the first day of the week!
How then do you arrive at a fixed date of Sivan 6 when nowhere in Torah is that criterion for the Feast of Shavuot?
Shalom Ed,
Thank you for your excellent question.
Here are my thoughts, about it.
Firstly the big mistake is when we forget that the word Shabbat does not always mean the last day of the week, i.e. 7th day, what most call Saturday
According to God Shabbat is a day of rest, the root שבת appears in words like to sit, and to strike, as in stop working. And we know that the first and last days of all the Biblical Festivals, and the Day of Yom Yippur, are called “Shabbats”, regardless of what day of the week they fall on.
So in fact God’s instructions for counting the Omer are not actually that clear.
Karaite Jews to this day begin the counting of the Omer on the day after the “weekly Shabbat” during Passover, rather than on the second day of Passover, and because of this Shavuot does not fall on a fixed date in the 3rd month (Sivan).
I do not know why or when the majority of Jewry decided the word “Shabbat” here in Lev. 23, means the day after the “Shabbat” of the 1st Day of Pesach, but because they do it means the first day of the counting always begins on 16th day of the first month (first called Aviv then Nissan) and that Shavuot will always fall on the 6th day of the 3rd month (now called Sivan).
I hope that makes sense, and helps a little?