Sefirah: From Pesach to Shavuos

1.BETWEEN PESACH AND SHAVUOS - NATIONAL CALAMITIES

Though in Torah times, the 49 days bridging Pesach and Shavuos were days of joyful anticipation and spiritual ecstasy, in later times several national tragedies befell our people throughout the centuries during this same period of time. As a result, the festive character of these seven weeks was muted and certain mourning practices were adopted.

The first of these tragedies was the collapse of the Bar Kochba state in Israel (135 C.E.) and the death of some 24,000 of Rabbi Akiva's students at the time. Nearly a thousand years later, the infamous Crusades began in this same season. Successive waves of religious fervor at the Christian Easter time would inevitably result in the plunder, destruction and death of Jews who happened to be in the path of the Crusader armies. Finally, the brutal massacre of 100,000 Polish and Ukranian Jews by Chmielnicki and his maniacal Cossacks began on the eve of Pesach, 1648 and continued intermittently for nearly a decade with the fervor of Easter time invariable turning to Jews being massacred.

All told, aside from the unspeakable pain and anguish in the physical sense, the loss of major segments of Torah knowledge and inspiration in these three instances is beyond imagination.

2.SEFIRAH RESTRICTIONS - CUSTOMS VARY

Since Talmudic times, a period of 33 days of mourning has been traditionally observed for the loss of Rabbi Akiva's students and the fall of the Bar Kochba state. In the 16th century, the Ari(Rabbi Isaac Luria) urged, as others before him, that all 49 days between Pesach and Shavuos be regarded as tragic times, thus allowing for the commemoration of all of the tragedies.

While some do follow the opinion of the Ari, the two most dominant segments of time when mourning practices are observed are:

1) beginning with Pesach until 33 days later on Lag BaOmer day, and

2) beginning with Rosh Chodesh Iyar, a week after Pesach, until three days before Shavuos

There are as many as seven additional customs legitimately on record concerning Sefirah observance.

Prior to World War II, European as well as American communities had developed local customs with regard to which segment of Sefirah was observed in mourning. In the post-Holocaust era, uniformity of practice is virtually no longer possible to implement since pockets of population with all sorts of customs have descended upon all Jewish communities. Accordingly, in one city it is no longer surprising to see a host of customs simultaneously observed. Where one does not have a fixed family tradition in the matter, rabbinic guidance should be sought.

3.MOURNING PRACTICES

Mourning practices during these periods involve:

a)curtailing celebrations of festive occasions

b) haircutting

c)according to some authorities, refraining from the purchase of new items which require saying of the b'racha of Shehecheyanu.

4.HAIRCUTS

[4.1]Haircuts for men, women, and for children (as an educational tool to teach them of national mourning) are suspended. For those who keep the Sefirah restriction from Pesach, haircuts are permitted before Pesach and from the day of lag baOmer on. Those who begin Sefirah restrictions from Rosh Chodesh Iyar may take haircuts for one week after Pesach and then again during the three days prior to Shavuos. Some interrupt this mourning practice on Lag BaOmer similar to the first practice.

[4.2]Where one must shave daily due to professional or business demands, he may do so during the entire Sefirah period (R.Moshe Feinstein in Igros Moshe, Orach Chayim IV: 102)

[4.3]Haircuts on Lag BaOmer are generally permitted during the day but not on the evening before. When Lag BaOmer falls on Sunday, one may take a haircut on Friday in honor of Shabbos and Lag BaOmer.

[4.4]On the occasion of a Bris, the father as well as the Sandek and Mohel may take a haircut on the evening before the Bris in honor of the simcha.

[4.5]A Bar Mitzvah boy and his father may take haircuts on the day of the actual Bar Mitzvah (R. Isaac Liebes in Bais Avi).

[4.6]A groom may take a haircut on the Friday before his Aufrufwhen the Aufruf is the Shabbos before the wedding.

[4.7]Those who regard the 5th and 28th days of Iyar as festive days (Yom HaAtzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim) and who demonstrate in a consistent and substantial manner that for them these days are special occasions of thanksgiving unto G-d, may rely on the permission granted by Israel's Chief Rabbinate to take haircuts on these days in honor of the occasion.

5.FESTIVE OCCASIONS DURING SEFIRAH

[5.1]A Bris or Pidyon HaBen are celebrated as usual.

[5.2]Bar Mitzvah dinners may be held during Sefirah but without music or dancing.

[5.3]Tenaim (engagement receptions) may be planned for Sefirah but without music or dancing.

[5.4]Aside from the day of Lag BaOmer, due to the wide divergence of Sefirah practices, it is best to seek proper rabbinic direction before setting any wedding date even on those days which traditionally have come to be acceptable days.

[5.5]If one receives an invitation to a wedding during Sefirah on days when it is prohibited to go according to his/her custom, and according to another custom that date is acceptable, then it is permissible to shift customs for that year. Consult a rabbi to be certain of what to do. (As to the problems of Hataras Nedarim, annulling vows, in such a circumstance, R. Moshe Feinstein held that it was not necessary, while R. Aharon Kotler required it.)

[5.6]Sheva B'rachos may be attended by all any time during Sefirah, even where there is music and dancing (R. Moshe Feinstein in Igros Moshe, Orach Chayim I:159,II:95).

[5.7]Dinners on behalf of Torah institutions may be planned but without music and dancing.

[5.8]There are rare cases when the mitzvah of marriage supersedes the customary Sefirah restrictions. In such cases, weddings may be celebrated in a modified and subdued manner. The ultimate decision as to which instance legitimately falls into this category must be left to a fully qualified rabbinic authority. Rabbis who easily bow to the pressures of brides, grooms and their families, readily officiating at Sefirah-time weddings, debase the memory of untold thousands of martyrs who died sanctifying G-d's name and degrade the title of rabbi.

6.RECITING SHEHECHEYANU DURING SEFIRAH

[6.1]Customs vary concerning purchasing things for whichShehecheyanu is recited (see below). Despite the fact that those who do observe the restrictions do so on rather weak Halachic grounds, nonetheless, authorities are equally divided on the issue. It is best to be guided by one's family tradition, or, in absence of a clear direction, to consult a rabbi.

[6.2]New clothing over which Shehecheyanu is recited includes coats, suits, pants, skirts, and jackets. Not so for shoes, undergarments, or shirts.

[6.3]New fruit now in season, when eaten for the first time that season, requires a Shehecheyanu in addition to the regular b'racha.

[6.4]Even according to those who do not recite Shehecheyanu as a Sefirah restriction, one may do so:

a)on Shabbos

b) on Lag BaOmer

c)when a mitzvah is involved (new Tallis, Tefillin, Bris, Pidyon HaBen)

d) when clothing is needed for a wedding, Bar Mitzvah or Bris.

[6.5]Clearly, restrictions placed on sewing, knitting, crocheting and fixing clothes lack solid Halachic basis.

7.THE MEANING OF IT ALL

The Talmud (Y'vamos 62b) records that the death of Rabbi Akiva's students was directly attributed to the lack of respect they had for one another when differences of opinion arose between them. Masters of Mussar (religious ethics) exhorted that these days of Sefirah should rightfully be spent in cementing relationships between fellow Jews in atonement for the first tragedy which marked the Sefirah days as days of mourning.

The sensitive Jew, in addition to all other external demonstrations of mourning, would do well to highlight this ethical aspect of Sefirah observance.

Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehudah berlon, the NeTZiV, the immortal Rosh Yeshiva of Volozhin, saw the same process operative 65 years earlier when the second Temple was destroyed by Rome. The generation was one of highly educated, scholarly and pious people, the NeTZiV reminds us. The senseless hate (Sin'as Chinam) which ultimately led to the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E., was generated by and instant reaction to anyone holding different opinions concerning how to conduct one's life, caring little if the difference was halachically valid or not. Any change was viewed as a threatening deviation which had to be suppressed and at which one had to revile. This attitude led to a proliferation of hate between brothers. (Preface to HaAmek Davar - B'rayshis)