Ramban

ON THE MORROW AFTER ‘HA’SHABBATH’ THE PRIEST SHALL WAVE IT. “That is, the morrow after the first day of the Festival of Passover. For if you are to say it means [on the morrow of] the Sabbath of Creation [i.e., the weekly Sabbath], you have no indication which Sabbath is meant.” This is Rashi’s language. And indeed, this is the greatest of the proofs mentioned in the Gemara [to show that ha’shabbath here is not to be interpreted literally as meaning the weekly Sabbath, but refers to the first day of Passover]; for what sense is there for Scripture to state that “when ye are to come into the Land … and shall reap the harvest thereof ye shall bring the sheaf on the morrow of the weekly Sabbath,” which would mean that at any time of the year when we come into the Land and reap its harvest, the priest shall wave the sheaf on the morrow of the first Sabbath after we have come into the Land! In that case the Festival of Weeks would have no [definite] starting point from which we are to count [the forty-nine days, so that on the fiftieth day we should celebrate that festival]! Moreover, according to this way we would not know even in the years following [our entrance into the Land] when we are to begin counting [the forty-nine days], but only from the day that we first put the sickle to the standing grain at our will. But these are meaningless words! If, however, the expression on the morrow after ‘ha’shabbath’ means “on the morrow after [the first day of] the festival,” in accordance with the tradition of our Rabbis, then the matter appears correctly. For at first Scripture commanded that we should observe in the first month the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days, and that on the first day there should be a solemn rest and on the seventh day a solemn rest, and we are not to do thereon any manner of servile work. Afterwards He stated that when we come into the Land we are to bring on the morrow of this rest-day [previously] mentioned, the sheaf of the waving, this being the first rest-day here mentioned. And He also taught that the [bringing of the] sheaf was not obligatory in the desert, nor outside the Land [since the section begins, When ye are come into the Land …]. However, the expressions, even unto the morrow after ‘ha’shabbath’ the seventh and seven ‘shabbathoth’ cannot possibly be interpreted as referring to a festival [as does the expression on the morrow after ‘ha’shabbath’ here in Verse 11 and also further in Verse 15.] Onkelos, however, rendered them as meaning “week”, but if so, there are two different usages of the same word in one verse!. According to Onkelos the first ha’shabbath means “the festival,” while the second shabbathoth means “weeks.” And the commentators have written that this is a literary expression [Scripture using one term in the same instance with two different meanings], such as: they rode on thirty ‘a’yarim’ (ass colts) and they had thirty ‘a’yarim’ (cities). And in another place Scripture clearly states, Seven weeks shalt thou number. Similarly, those that were to come in on ‘ha’shabbath,’ with those that were to go out on ‘ha’shabbath,’ [where both ha’shabbath mean] “week.” Likewise, Saying: ‘When will the New Moon be gone, that we may sell grain, ‘v’ha’shabbath,’ that we may set forth corn?’ [also means “and the week”], for since every seven days contain one Sabbath, and the enumeration of the days is with reference to it [the Sabbath], therefore one week is called “one shabbath”, this usage being well-known and common in the words of our Rabbis, such as: “for twice b’shabbath (in the week) the court sits in towns [on Mondays and on Thursdays].” It is possible that every shabbath mentioned [here] in the section means “week.” And the meaning of the expression on the morrow after ‘ha’shabbath’ is that on the day of the waving of the sheaf they should begin counting the week, and if so, that day will be “on the morrow after the week” which has passed, it being as if He had said: “The day of the waving of the sheaf shall be on the morrow after the week with relation to the days that have passed by, and the first with reference to the weeks which he is to count until he finishes seven weeks.” And since He mentioned the expression, and on the fifteenth day, He thus states that [the priest] should wave the sheaf on the morrow after the week mentioned, and count therefrom seven weeks. One cannot mistake the expression [ha’shabbath] as referring to the fourteenth day [of Nisan, thus making the offering of the omer, brought on the morrow, to be on the fifteenth day of Nisan, the first day of Passover], for of that fourteenth day He has said that only at dusk [is the Eternal’s Passover]. of the festival is the next day, i.e., the fifteenth. Hence on the morrow after ‘ha’shabbath’ must refer to the expression and on the fifteenth day etc. (in Verse 6), thus establishing that it is on the sixteenth day of Nisan that we are to begin a new week — the first of the seven complete weeks. And the meaning of they shall be complete is that a Sabbath together with its six days is called “a whole” Sabbath. And the meaning of the expression mimachorath ha’shabbath [literally: “from the morrow of the shabbath”] is like b’machorath ha’shabbath (“on the morrow of the shabbath”). Similarly, Even unto ‘mimachorath ha’shabbath’ the seventh, shall ye number [fifty days] the morrow after the seventh week …” This cannot be understood literally, for it would mean that the festival day of Shevuoth is to be observed on the day “from the morrow after the seventh week, i.e., on the following day after the morrow of the seven weeks.” Instead, it must mean: “Even unto on the morrow …” [is like b’machorath ha’shabbath (“on the morrow of the shabbath”)] So also: It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it u’mimachorath [literally: “and from the morrow,” means u’b'machorath — “and on the morrow]. Scholars have said that the letter beth cannot occur as a prefix in the word machar (tomorrow) or machorath (the morrow). [Therefore it states], And it came to pass ‘mimachorath’ [literally: “from the morrow”] that Moses sat to judge the people [which means “on the morrow”]. And the Eternal did that thing ‘mimachorath’, 9:6. [literally: “from the morrow,” which means “on the morrow”], and similarly all such expressions.