1) REAPING BEFORE THE “OMER” (cont.)

(a) Answer #1 (Rabah): Harvesting before the Omer must be done by hand (without a scythe), this reminds him not to eat.
(b) Question (Abaye): Granted, this reminds him not to eat while harvesting, but perhaps he will eat while grinding or sifting!
(c) Answer (Rabah): He must grind with a hand-mill (not with a water-mill), he turns the sifter upside down when sifting.
(d) Objection: It is permitted to harvest Beis ha’Shelachin (a field that must be irrigated) normally – perhaps he will eat!
1. (Mishnah): One may harvest Beis ha’Shelachin in (some texts – or) a valley, but one may not make piles of the grain.
(e) Answer #2 (Abaye): People shun Chadash (it has been forbidden from its inception), they do not shun Chametz (it is permitted all year).
(f) Question (Rava): Indeed, you answer the contradiction in R. Yehudah – but Chachamim also contradict themselves (they are concerned about Chadash, but not about Chametz!)
(g) Answer (Rava): Chachamim do not decree about Chametz – since he searches in order to burn it, we are not concerned lest he will eat (if he finds)!
(h) Answer #3 (for R. Yehudah – Rav Ashi): R. Yehudah permits preparing parched flour (it is hard, it is not normally eaten.)
(i) Rejection: This is wrong! Granted, we are not concerned lest one eat parched flour – however, perhaps he will eat before it is parched!
(j) Suggestion: Perhaps we are not concerned because he must harvest by hand, like Rabah answered!
(k) Rejection: It is permitted to harvest Beis ha’Shelachin normally, perhaps he will eat!
(l) Rav Ashi is refuted.
2) WHEN IS “CHADASH” PERMITTED?
(a) (Mishnah): From when the Omer is offered, Chadash is permitted immediately;
(b) People far from the Mikdash (who do not know when it is offered) are permitted after mid-day.
(c) After the Churban, R. Yochanan ben Zakai enacted to forbid Chadash the entire day of the 16th.
(d) R. Yehudah: It is forbidden mid’Oraisa – “Ad Etzem ha’Yom ha’Zeh”!
(e) People far away are permitted after mid-day because Beis Din (of Kohanim) are not lazy (surely, they offered it by then.)
(f) (Gemara – Rav and Shmuel): When the Mikdash stands, the Omer permits Chadash; when there is no Mikdash, daybreak (normally, this means dawn – Rashi explains, sunrise) of the 16th permits.
(g) Question: What is the reason?
(h) Answer – Contradiction: It says “(Chadash may not be eaten) Ad Havi’achem”, and it says “Ad Etzem ha’Yom ha’Zeh”!
1. Resolution: When the Mikdash stands, the Omer permits; when there is no Mikdash, the day itself permits.
(i) (R. Yochanan and Reish Lakish): Even when the Mikdash stands, daybreak of the 16th permits.
(j) Question: But it says “Ad Haviachem”!
(k) Answer: Indeed, there is a Mitzvah (Tosfos – an Ase; Shitah Mekubetzes (and Tosfos (2B)) say that it is not even an Ase) to wait until bringing the Omer, but there is no Lav after daybreak.
3) WHEN IS “CHADASH” PERMITTED?
(a) (The following questions are also against R. Yochanan and Reish Lakish.)
(b) Question (Mishnah): From when the Omer is offered, Chadash is permitted immediately.
(c) Answer: Then it is l’Chatchilah to eat.
(d) Question (Mishnah): The Omer permits people (to eat Chadash), Shtei ha’Lechem permits in the Mikdash.
(e) Answer: Then it is l’Chatchilah.
68b—————————————68b

(f) Question (Beraisa): After the Churban, R. Yochanan ben Zakai enacted to forbid the entire day of the 16th;
1. Question: What is the reason?
2. Answer: The Mikdash will be rebuilt soon, people will remember that the previous year they ate Chadash in the morning of the 16th (and will assume that this is likewise permitted this year);
i. They do not know that daybreak of the 16th permitted last year because the Omer was not offered, this year it will be offered, the Omer will permit!
3. Summation of question: If there is no Lav to eat (after daybreak) before the Omer, we would not decree, even if it is a Mitzvah to wait!
(g) Answer (Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak): R. Yochanan ben Zakai holds like R. Yehudah, who expounds “Ad Etzem ha’Yom ha’Zeh” – (after the Churban, it is forbidden) until the day itself;
1. R. Yehudah holds Ad v’Ad Bichlal (“Ad” means ‘up to and including’ – also the day itself is forbidden);
(h) Question: R. Yehudah argues with R. Yochanan!
1. (Mishnah): After the Churban, R. Yochanan ben Zakai enacted to forbid Chadash the entire day.
2. R. Yehudah: It is forbidden mid’Oraisa – “Ad Etzem ha’Yom ha’Zeh”!
(i) Answer: R. Yehudah said this because he mistakenly thought that R. Yochanan forbids mid’Rabanan – really, R. Yochanan agrees that it is forbidden mid’Oraisa.
(j) Question: But it says that he *enacted* to forbid the day!
(k) Answer: It means, he expounded and taught this to people.
(l) Rav Papa and Rav Huna brei d’Rav Yehoshua would eat Chadash on the night after the 16th (all the Amora’im mentioned here were in Bavel);
1. They hold, Chadash is only mid’Rabanan in Chutz la’Aretz, therefore we are lenient when in doubt (perhaps Kidush ha’Chodesh was a day later than expected, that is the reason why we keep two days of Yom Tov in Chutz la’Aretz.)
(m) Rabanan of Rav Ashi’s academy would eat Chadash on the morning of the 17th;
1. They hold, Chadash is mid’Oraisa in Chutz la’Aretz (so we are stringent, perhaps what we call ’16th’ was really the 15th), and that R. Yochanan ben Zakai’s enactment was mid’Rabanan;
2. The enactment only applies to the 16th, not to the 17th, which is kept on account of doubt.
(n) Ravina’s father would not eat until the night after the 17th;
1. He is stringent about the doubt of the day, and he holds like R. Yehudah (who says that mid’Oraisa, the entire day of the 16th is forbidden.)
4) THE “OMER” AND “SHTEI HA’LECHEM” PERMIT
(a) (Mishnah): The Omer permits people, Shtei ha’Lechem permits in the Mikdash;
(b) We may not bring (Chadash) Menachos, Bikurim or Minchas Nesachim before the Omer – if it was brought, it is Pasul;
1. We may not bring any of them before Shtei ha’Lechem – if it was brought, it is Kosher.
(c) (Gemara – R. Tarfon) Question: Why is the law different if he brought before or after the Omer?
(d) Answer (Yehudah ben Nechemyah): Before the Omer, its prohibition to people was not permitted; after the Omer this was permitted!
(e) R. Tarfon was silent; Yehudah’s face beamed. (Rashba – R. Tarfon had assumed that the Isur of Chadash in the Mikdash before Shtei ha’Lechem is unrelated to the Isur of Chadash to people before the Omer. Tosfos Yom Tov – Rambam understands that R. Tarfon did not agree with Yehudah’s answer.)
(f) R. Akiva: You are happy that you outsmarted the Chacham?! I will be amazed if you live a long time!
(g) R. Yehudah bar Ilai: This occurred two weeks before Pesach; Yehudah died before Shavu’os.
(h) (Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak): According to Yehudah, if Nesachim of Bikurim (i.e. Chadash wine; Tosfos Yom Tov – Nesachim (of Chadash) *or* Bikurim) were offered before the Omer, they are Kesherim.
(i) Objection: This is obvious!
(j) One might have thought, grain was Hutar mi’Klalo (forbidden and then permitted), wine (or Bikurim) was not Hutar mi’Klalo – Rav Nachman teaches, all the more so it is Kosher, for it was never forbidden.
(k) Question (Rami bar Chama): Does Shtei ha’Lechem permit out of order?
1. Question: What is the case?
2. Answer: (In this order) grain was planted after the Omer, Shtei ha’Lechem was brought on Shavu’os, the Omer was brought the next year;
i. Perhaps Shtei ha’Lechem permits Chadash (in the Mikdash) only when it is in order (the Omer already permitted the grain to people);
ii. Or, perhaps it permits even out of order (but in any case, one must wait until the coming Omer, for the grain is still forbidden to people, and therefore Pasul for Korbanos.)
(l) Answer (Rabah – Beraisa): “V’Im Takriv Minchas Bikurim (…Aviv Kaluy)” – this refers to the Omer, it is brought from barley;
1. Suggestion: Perhaps it is brought from wheat!
2. Rejection #1 (R. Eliezer): It says here “Aviv”, the name the Torah calls the month of leaving Miztrayim;
i. Just like Aviv of Mitzrayim refers to (Nisan, the season to harvest) barley, also Aviv of the Omer.
3. Rejection #2 (R. Akiva): Individuals bring obligatory Menachos of wheat (Minchas Chotei) and of barley (Minchas Sotah) – the Tzibur brings Menachos of wheat (e.g. Shtei ha’Lechem) and of barley;
i. If the Omer would be wheat, the Tzibur would never bring barley.
4. Rejection #3 (R. Akiva): If the Omer would be wheat, the Shtei ha’Lechem would not be Bikurim (the first of its species – but the Torah calls it Bikurim!)
5. Summation of answer: If Shtei ha’Lechem permits out of order, it would be possible for Shtei ha’Lechem to be Bikurim even if the Omer was wheat:
i. The Omer could be brought from wheat that took root last year between the Omer and Shtei ha’Lechem, and Shtei ha’Lechem (this year) will be brought from wheat that took root after last year’s Shtei ha’Lechem and before this year’s Omer;
ii. (This is called Bikurim, for it is the first Korban permitted by this year’s Shtei ha’Lechem, the Omer was permitted by last year’s Shtei ha’Lechem.)
(m) Rejection: We do not call something ‘Bikurim’ because it is the first permitted by Shtei ha’Lechem – rather, it must be the first of its species brought in the Mikdash from the new produce. (Therefore, the Omer must be barley.)