This Shabbos we continued our discussion of Pesach. Pesach is a holiday that commemorates our becoming a Jewish nation. We are freed from Egypt in order to receive the Torah, and to become the chosen people to carry out the commandments and serve Hashem. However, when we first left Egypt we had very little faith in Hashem, and were not yet spiritually ready to receive the Torah.
After years of enslavement, there was only a tiny amount of faith left, like a flame that has been reduced to a small flickering. The Jews did see how Hashem had helped free them, which brought back some faith, but it was necessary to have still a higher level of faith before the Torah could be received.
In addition to faith, the Jews needed to become spiritually ready to receive the Torah by improving their character. There are 7 character traits in which the Jews needed improvement. These 7 traits are listed in the Siddur. They are chesed, gevurah, tipheret, netzach, hod, yesod, and malchut. These traits represent the number 1 through 7 when counting the weeks and days.
The Torah prescribed a 49 day period in which the Jews would travel to Mt. Sinai and work on becoming more spiritually fit. This period is known as the Omer, and we are commanded to count this period every year even though we are no longer travelling to Mt. Sinai to receive the Torah. We count both the days and the weeks, and focus on our spiritual condition during this period. This period begins the second day of Pesach – which is the day of the Barley sacrifice. After 49 days, the festival of Shavuos begins. In ancient times, after these 49 days there would be a wheat sacrifice.
There is some debate as to whether the counting is now only a rabbinic mitzvah as we are no longer making sacrifices, such as sacrificing Barley during Pesach. There are some practices and laws that no longer apply, such as purity and sacrifices, because we no longer have a Temple and counting the Omer would seem to be one of them - but the rabbis did reinstitute this practice.
The fact it is a rabbinic mitzvah means we can be lenient when we are not sure of whether or not we have counted the Omer at the right time. This is an issue during the summer, when many congregations bring in Shabbot early. If we count the Omer after Mariiv, it may not be completely dark at the time but as long as it might be the new day, we can consider it the new day.
David talked about how Pesach is a physical holiday, Shavuos is a spiritual holiday, and Sukkot is a combination of the two. It took time for us to grow spiritually fit enough to receive the Torah. But then additional time was needed, to learn how to apply the Torah to our world, and elevate the physical to the spiritual realm. During sukkot, the Jews have learned how to do this and the holiday is both physical and spiritual.
If one forgets to count the Omer, one can do it during the day but should not say a blessing. If one forgets to count during the entire day, one must no longer say a blessing for the remaining days. We had some discussion whether or not counting the Omer was one big mitzvah, or whether each day is a separate mitzvah.
This Shabbos we also discussed the halakah which forbids Jews to charge interest when loaning money to other Jews. It is also possible to raise money by selling stock and equity. Equity deals are allowed whereas charging interest is not.
However we had some discussion as to whether or not interest refers to nominal or real interest. Real interest is the interest rate minus the inflation rate. We discussed the case of a Jew who borrows $100 and then pays it back 10 years later. Because of inflation, $100 is no longer worth “$100 dollars” after 10 years so is it ok to require that the borrower at least make up for the loss in purchasing power?
Yaki pointed out that in ancient times what was loaned out was silver and gold coins so this was not an issue because they retained their purchasing power. If we loaned out these coins today, if we were paid back with the same coins, theoretically the value measured in dollars will have increased and we would retain the same purchasing power.
Although it is not permissible to charge interest, we agreed it is ok to be reimbursed our fees. For example, if I am going to have to pay a fee in order to get money to loan someone, it is permissible to ask the borrower to reimburse me the fee. This being the case, it would seem reasonable to ask a borrower to make up for lost purchasing power because of inflation.
This is a summary of what we discussed this Shabbos. No Halachic rulings are intended or should be inferred.
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