Opinion & Comment
Every Day and Every Minute Counts
by HaRav Eliezer Dunner

Later in parshas Emor the Torah writes the mitzvah of Sefiras HaOmer: "You shall count for yourselves from the morrow after the Shabbos, from the day that you brought the omer of the waving; seven complete Shabbosos shall there be, until the morrow after the seventh Shabbos shall you number fifty days" (Vayikro 23:15-16).

Finally, in parshas Behar we have the mitzvah of counting the shmittah and yovel years (the Jubilee Year when working in the field is prohibited like on shmittah, land reverts to its original owners, and slaves are freed): "You shall number for yourself seven cycles of sabbatical years, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbatical years shall be to you forty- nine years" (Vayikro 25:8).

The Chinuch (mitzvah 330) writes that the Sanhedrin counts the years until the yovel: "They would count each year and each group of seven years until the yovel as we do during the days of the omer"; and later he mentions that they would count these years aloud.

The Tosafos (Kesuvos 72a, s.v. vesofroh) raise a question about the dissimilarity of the different types of counting. We make a brocho when we count Sefiras HaOmer, and beis din annually makes a brocho when it counts the years, but a zovoh does not make any brocho at all when counting her clean days.

The difference, explain the Tosafos, is that it is possible for a zovoh to see zov during the seven clean days, and that will invalidate her count, but for Sefiras HaOmer and counting the shmittah and yovel years nothing can break the count. (This reasoning is similar to what the Mishnah Berurah [489:3] cites in the name of the Shulchan Shlomo, that women should not make a brocho on Sefiras HaOmer because they may not count every day especially since they do not daven ma'ariv.)

The teirutz of the Tosafos is perplexing. The Torah Temimah (Vayikro 15:28, par. 118) points out that there are many mitzvos which do not take into consideration a possible outcome of not completely fulfilling the mitzvah. The only thing that interests us is that a person acts at the present according to the din. The Torah Temimah therefore offers another teirutz: the counting of a zovoh is no more than a preparation for her tohoroh, a mere hechsher mitzvah, not a mitzvah per se. A brocho is made only over actual mitzvos, not when dealing with preparations for mitzvos, just as we do not make any brocho for baking matzos, tying the four minim of a lulav together, and spinning threads for tzitzis. Counting the omer is different; it is itself a mitzvah, and therefore a brocho is made when doing it.

Nonetheless, we can infer that the opinion of Tosafos (since they do not answer like the Torah Temimah) is that the counting of a zovoh is not a preparation for a mitzvah but a mitzvah in itself. What is the reasoning behind this position, that a zovoh's counting should be more than a hechsher mitzvah, that it should be unlike baking matzos?

Mori verabi HaRav Eliyahu Lopian zt'l had a kabolo from his mentors that besides Sefiras HaOmer being a preparation for Matan Torah, it is a fitting occasion to advance in the forty-eight ways by which the Torah is acquired (Ovos 6:6). On each day of the forty-nine days of Sefiras HaOmer a person should try to embrace the particular quality corresponding to that day. On the forty-ninth day he should review all the forty- eight ways so he can be properly prepared for Shavuos.

Within the mitzvah of counting aloud the years of the sabbatical cycle, there is an inner meaning. The gemora (Sanhedrin 39a) writes: "HaKodosh Boruch Hu said to Yisroel: `Sow six years and refrain from doing so on the seventh, so that you will know that the land is Mine." This mitzvah strengthens the foundation of our emunah so we can recognize that everything belongs to Hashem. The Torah (Vayikro 26:34-35) punishes annulling the shmittah and yovel so harshly because we have discarded this opportunity to gain emunah. The counting is not only a preparation for a mitzvah but a time when each person advances in faith.

Similarly, after a woman has become a zovoh and must remove her tumah, the Torah allocates a time for her tohoroh. Each day is a further buildup of tohoroh, until after seven days she reaches full purity. She is unlike a niddah who does not count seven days (according to the Torah, but miderabonon she does) since counting is only done when it indicates some sort of continual advancement, such as in tohoroh by a zovoh, or in kedusha as by Sefiras HaOmer, or in emunah as in the mitzvah of counting the shmittos.

This month (Nisan) shall be to you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you" (Shemos 12:2). Rashi (ibid.) explains that besides teaching us the mitzvah of Kiddush HaChodesh (see Chinuch, mitzvah 4) we see from the posuk that Nisan (the month when we left Egypt, and not Tishrei, the month when the world was created) is the first month in the year, Iyar the second, and Sivan the third.

[Actually, the Chasam Sofer (Droshos Chasam Sofer, part 1, pg. 93) writes that we should be careful, when we have to write a month of the standard Gregorian calendar, not to indicate its number but rather its name, since for us the first month (and so on) is only Nisan.]

The Torah itself never writes any names for months of the year but only specifies whether it is the first month, the second month or whatever, starting from Nisan. Each month is separate, each has its own importance, each is counted, and each must be individually utilized for its particular attributes and the assistance it offers in our climb up the ladder of Torah and yiras Shomayim. No precious time should be wasted or frittered away.

"One who makes a brocho for the new moon in its proper time is regarded like one who greets the Shechina" (Sanhedrin 42a). Why is performing other mitzvos, even those that the Torah obligates us to do, like eating matzos or putting on tefillin, not regarded as greeting the Shechina? What is the exceptional importance in this mitzvah of Kiddush HaLevonoh, which is only miderabbonon?

Chazal are teaching us how meaningful it is to utilize our time, how important every new month is. We must truly feel that a whole month has pased and we are starting a new one. Every new month is a fresh opportunity for growth and is regarded like greeting the Shechina!

The first of Rashi's comments on Chumash asks why the Torah starts by describing the creation and not with the mitzvah of Kiddush HaChodesh. What is actually bothering Rashi? Is not telling us about the whole world's creation by Hashem important enough to start the Torah with it? Why start the Torah with Kiddush HaChodesh? If we are not going to begin with an account of the Creation, it seems far more proper to start with one of the Thirteen Principles of Faith.

Once again we see the magnitude of recognizing each month's significance. We must sanctify our time and infuse it with Torah and mitzvos. In this way we can reach the aim of the Creation.

Before the cheit ha'eigel, "The people saw that Moshe delayed descending the mountain, and the people gathered around Aharon and said to him: `Arise! Make for us gods who will go before us, for this man Moshe, who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him' " (Shemos 32:1).

Rashi (ibid.) explains that bnei Yisroel thought Moshe would come down from Mt. Sinai after exactly forty days. Moshe did not reckon the part of the day he ascended the mountain as being of the forty days, but only counted days that included their previous night. When the exact time of forty days passed, bnei Yisroel erroneously figured that Moshe had died (and also the Satan showed them a vision of Moshe being carried in a funeral procession across the heaven's firmament).

The mistake bnei Yisroel made (of course, according to their sublime level) was caused by their inability to value time correctly. Moshe wanted to utilize his stay in Shomayim to the fullest and study Torah from HaKodosh Boruch Hu. He had no reason whatsoever to consider the part of the day he ascended the mountain as part of the forty days. Why should he lose out?

When, for example, a person is a guest at an expensive hotel, the manager does not expect him to pay for the time it takes him to vacate his room the last morning. As for the guest himself, he is in no rush to leave and wants to enjoy his stay to the fullest. As long as Moshe Rabbenu could study Torah from Hashem Himself he wanted to enjoy this pleasure.

Only the men gave Aharon their golden earrings to make the eigel. The women flatly refused (Tosafos, Rosh Hashanah 23a, s.v. mishum) to have anything to do with this affair, and were later rewarded by being given a mitzvah of not doing work on Rosh Chodesh, somewhat like a Yom Tov -- a mitzvah that men do not have. It is quite conceivable that the reason the women did not agree to participate in the cheit ha'eigel is that from the start they had not made the mistake the men had, of valuing time insufficiently. They were therefore rewarded with a special Yom Tov on Rosh Chodesh, which is a day that reminds us of the worth of time.

In 1748 Benjamin Franklin advised Americans that "time is money," and ever since this saying has remained an incentive for industriousness. We, as Jews, should say that "time is kedusha." By using time well we can attain more and more kedusha. I remember that HaRav Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman zt'l, the rav of Ponevezh, once said that although Yom Kippur is more kodosh than any other time, nonetheless each time has its own particular kedusha. If we understood this and always acted with it in mind, we would help the Creation reach its objective.

The gemora (Shabbos 147b) tells us that R' Elazar Ben Arach visited a place where many physical pleasures were available, and stayed there too long. (We must remember that the gemora's criticism was meted out according to the high madreigo of the Amoroim and should, chas vesholom, not be understood simplemindedly.) He forgot all his Torah learning, and when he received an aliya to the Torah he read "their hearts were deaf" (hacharesh hoyoh libom) instead of "this month shall be to you" (hachodesh hazeh lochem), mistakenly changing one letter in each word.

What is the significance of his reading the posuk in such a way? What does this mistake allude to? I believe the gemora is telling us that R' Elazar was off course in his evaluation of the importance of time as taught to us from the mitzvah of Kiddush HaChodesh ("this month shall be to you. . ."). He remained too long in a city where enjoyment was easy to come by, and the result was his heart becoming deaf. He lost the spiritual achievement that he had previously attained.

There are three anecdotes in the gemora (Avoda Zorah 10b, 17a, 18a) where a bas kol issued from Shomayim proclaiming that some person would receive Olom Haboh, while Rebbe wept, proclaiming, "There is someone who can attain his [eternal] world in one moment while another person takes many years to attain it." The first anecdote tells us about a non-Jew who was about to be put to death for embarrassing the king. The non-Jew made an impromptu bris mila on himself and donated all his possessions to R' Akiva and his talmidim. The second story is about R' Elazar ben Dordayah who, after committing countless aveiros of zenus, experienced a hirhur teshuvah, and died while doing teshuvah. The third account is about the man who executed R' Chanina ben Tradyon who, by increasing the fire, helped R' Chanina suffer less while dying, and who later threw himself into the fire too.

HaRav Leib Lopian zt'l, the rosh yeshiva of the Gateshead Yeshiva, explained that Rebbe cried because through these incidents he fully realized the value of time. By utilizing even a single moment immediately and correctly, one can be zoche to Olom Haboh, something that others work hard an entire lifetime to reach. How momentous is every moment of life! How it should be cherished!

It is told that R' Yisroel of Salant, the founder of the Mussar Movement, never owned a watch. Nonetheless, he was famous for being punctual, always coming on time, never late. For someone to whom each second counts, someone who values time, time is not something to be wasted. It must be used well.

A chochom is greater than a novi. The gemora (Bovo Basra 12a) infers this from a drash (not the pshat) on the posuk, "A novi is like a heart of wisdom" (Tehillim 90:12). But how does the beginning of that posuk ("Teach us to count our days") fit in? What secret of life is it coming to disclose to us? It seems that Moshe Rabbenu (Book Four of Tehillim starts with "A prayer by Moshe") is advising us that if we want to reach the level of a chochom who is greater than a novi we need Hashem to "teach us to count our days," so that we will be aware of the importance of each day. This is a key to elevating ourselves in our avodas Hashem.

The Dubner Maggid (Mishlei Yaakov, parshas Emor) compared the mitzvah of Sefiras HaOmer to a moshol of two poor people who would collect pennies to keep themselves alive. One poor person, after acquiring a little money, would immediately go and buy food and drink and squander it all. The other poor person saved the money and later changed the coins for paper bills. After several years the thrifty person even bought an apartment for himself. The other poor person, who remained homeless, wondered where the other had gotten so much money. His friend's answer was, of course, that by keeping track of each penny and not wasting it, he managed to save a considerable sum. This is meant by Chazal's (Menochos 66a) obligation to count both the days and weeks in Sefiras HaOmer. We must reach an understanding that each week and each and every day is of immeasurable value.

Each year members of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations of Great Britain receive an official luach listing its communal agencies, such as the Kedassia Kashrus Committee (with a list of supervised products and services), Shatnez-testing facilities and welfare organizations. Also included are important notices to the public about halachic matters. The luach, as any good luach does, also cites the exact times for the beginning and end of every Shabbos, Yom Tov, and ta'anis, as well as other memorable dates of the Jewish year.

The Ravad, my father, HaRav Yosef Zvi Dunner shlita, annually adds a unique touch to the luach, in the form of a personal message to its recipients: "Does seeing so many exact times on each page of the luach not give us the feeling of how important and valuable time is? A minute too early or a minute too late could cause an issur. Does this not teach us not to waste time?

"How, therefore, is it possible that many of our functions and simchos do not start at the exact time stated on the invitation -- often much, much later? Does one not realize that because of this, all the people who have to wait are wasting their time?"

Not only my father shlita is disturbed when people are not punctual. About fifteen years ago the Rosh Yeshiva shlita, HaRav E. M. Shach, agreed to incorporate into his busy agenda speaking before a women's chizuk meeting. The Rosh Yeshiva arrived at the scheduled time, but to his dismay he found the auditorium almost completely empty! He returned an hour later and found a packed hall, but instead of lecturing about the subject he had previously prepared he spoke about the importance of being on time.

In Rav Breuer, His Life and His Legacy (pg. 193, nt.7), a biography of Rav Joseph Breuer, the rav of Kehal Adas Jeshurun of Washington Heights and grandson of Moreinu HaRav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch zt'l, we find that "Rav Breuer would always enter the room for an appointment at precisely the time that had been agreed upon. One visitor, R. Lipa Geldwerth, recalls that knowing the importance that Rav Breuer placed upon being punctual, he arrived with him at a scheduled meeting five minutes ahead of time. Rav Breuer entered the room at precisely the time set, smiled at him, and said: `Too early is also not on time.' "

Time is kedusha!

HaRav Eliezer Dunner is the rav of Kehilas Adas Yisroel in the Ma'ayenei Hayeshua Hospital in Bnei Brak and a dayan of the Beis Din Tzedek of Shearis Yisroel.