Making Our Days Count

The same idea is mentioned by the Acharonim regarding the end of Sefiras HaOmer. If we would accept Shavuos early before the sunset of the 49th day, then we would not have seven complete weeks. We would be lacking the moments that were cut off of the seven weeks by starting Day 50 early. There is some discussion if this means we should not daven Maariv early or just that we shouldn’t make Kiddush early. The upshot is that davening starts very late on Shavuos night. Most shuls wait until nightfall which can be anywhere from 35 to 72 minutes after sunset. Yom tov meals usually take a long time. This is especially true for those that have milchigs followed by fleishigs in the same meal. So when one finally gets to shul after his seudah on Shavuos night, it can be after midnight. Further, most shuls try to daven Shacharis Shemoneh Esreih at sunrise. So davening starts between 25 and 45 minutes before that. There aren’t that many hours left to learn. Just for the sake of argument, I will present a rationale to allow one to daven early on Shavuos based on a novel answer to a rather obvious questions. (This is just to provide fodder to those that need to say something interesting to their chavrusa who has just dozed off. It certainly is not meant to be relied upon.)

Tosfos on 65a asks what seems to be a blatant question. Why do we count only 49 days? The Torah specifically mandates “Tispiru chamishim yom”—You should count 50 days. (Vayikra 23:16). Tosfos suggests in one answer that what is intended by the verse is that we should count up until the 50th day but not the 50th day itself. This would be an example of the dictum of ad v’lo ad bichlal—up until but not including. Alternatively, the Rosh suggests that it is the derech of the Torah to sometimes round up by one. The mitzvah really is to count 49 days but the Torah, in stating the number of days, rounded it up to 50. He offers a few examples of this phenomenon. One example is the verse describing the punishment of 39 lashes. The Torah writes (Devarim 25:3) “He shall hit him 40 times.” The Torah rounded up by one. One controversial example is the verse that counts the number of Yaakov’s family members that descended to Egypt. The verse states (Bereishis 46:27) “All the souls to the house of Jacob that descended to Egypt were 70.” A careful count produces only 69 people. Perforce the Torah rounded up by one. (The conventional understanding is that Yocheved was born as they were crossing into Egypt.)

However, the Aderes Eliyahu offers a radically different answer. Really there is a mitzvah to count 50 days. We don’t actually count it because the Kiddush we recite on Shavuos night which declares the sanctity of the holiday is tantamount to counting the 50th day. What is Shavuos, if not the 50th and final day; the culmination of all our preparation for matan Torah. Counting it as the 50th day is superfluous because by definition that’s what Shavuos is! (The Sfas Emes lends credence to this understanding but only as a means of explaining Tosfos’s initial assumptions.) If we were to accept this answer then presumably we wouldn’t have to wait until nightfall to recite Kiddush on the first night of Shavuos. The mitzvah would be for the 50 days to be complete. Instead, we would wait until nightfall for reciting Kiddush on the second night of Shavuos at the conclusion of day 50. Most shuls anyway wait until nightfall on the second day of yom tov before davening Maariv because food preparations are forbidden until that time anyway.

Hopefully you can count on this vort to keep you awake Shavuos night.