A Missed Day of Sefiras HaOmer

Q. Even though one who misses a day of Sefira may no longer count with a bracha, if one remembers to count during the daytime, this is sufficient to allow one to continue with a bracha the next night. However, how does counting during the daytime help if the Behag, the author of the view that one who misses a day may no longer recite a bracha, also holds that counting during the daytime does not fulfill the mitzvah?

A. The Behag (quoted by Tosfos, Megillah 20b) maintains that one who misses a complete day of Sefira may no longer count with a bracha, because sefira must be “temimos” (complete). The common understanding of the Behag is that the counting of all forty-nine days constitutes a single mitzvah, and therefore if one missed one day, one can no longer fulfill the mitzvah. However, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, zt”l explained that even the Behag agrees that Sefiras Ha’omer consists of forty-nine separate mitzvos as indicated by the fact that we make a bracha each night. The reason that a single failure to count can affect the Sefira of the subsequent nights is because the nature of counting implies wholeness and continuity. Counting during the day constitutes an act of counting, even though it is not a fulfillment of the mitzvah and as such does not allow for a bracha. The mitzvah was lost, but with the count restored, Sefira may continue. Missing a complete day produces a list of numbers that are no longer ordinal, and this flaw in the count cannot be repaired. [Adapted from The Seder Night: An Exalted Evening]

____________________________________________________

The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.