This post is a synopsis of a shiur by R' Elefant about שומע כעונה for sefiras haomer
The Rishonim and Poskim (see siman 489) discuss if one can fulfill the mitzvah of sefiras haomer through שומע כעונה. The simple understanding behind the debate is that it is rooted in the derasha of the Gemarah Menachot (65b) וספרתם לכם שתהא ספירה לכל אחד ואחד. Why does the Gemarah need a derash that everyone must count, what else would we have thought? Tosfos says that we thought only the Beit Din does the counting as is done for counting the years of the shemittah cycle, קמ"ל it is an obligation on the individual. Another way to learn the Gemarah is that the derash is coming to say that everyone must actually count themselves and the regular law of שומע כעונה will not help. This is the way the Pri Chadash originally explains this way to the point that he asks why does the Gemarah in Sukkah need a different source for the law of שומע כעונה, it should be derived from the fact that this derash is needed to exclude that halacha. However, he answers that the derash is mainly to tell us it is not just a mitzvah of Beis Din (therefore, he concludes it is better to count for one's self but שומע כעונה will work if one has intent to be yotzei.) It is unclear to me how he comes to the conclusion that it is better to count for one's self if שומע כעונה does work.) At the end of the day it is unclear why שומע כעונה will not work?
The Dvar Avraham siman 34 has a yesod that since the mitzvah is a sefirah, a count, not a mere proclamation, that means one has to know exactly what they are counting. He concludes that one can not count for two days to cover one's bases if one loses track of which day of sefira it is for although he may have said the day, it can not be defined as a sefirah if one does not know at the time of the counting which day it is. With this principle it is possible to suggest that although when it comes to laws of speech there is a law of שומע כעונה, when it comes to a law of a sefirah, of a precise act of counting, a person must count themselves.
The Beur Halacha cites a proof from the Ritz Gaous that he holds שומע כעונה does work for he writes that one must stand to count the omer based on the fact that the Torah says הקמה and yet he writes if the tzibbur is already sitting, so as not to bother them to stand, the chazan can count and everyone answers אמן. Says the B.H., is he merely means that they are listening to the beracha of the chazan but are counting themselves, they would have to stand anyway, he must mean that everyone is fulfilling the mitzvah of counting by listening to the chazan. We see from the B.H. that to count for one's self one has to stand but to be yotzeh through שומע כעונה one does not need to stand. The Achronim ask a contradiction to this from the Shaar Hatzion siman 690:1 where he says that for the beracha of the megillah everyone, even those being yotzei through שומע כעונה must stand, there he holds even when fulfilling the obligation through שומע כעונה one must still stand?
It is possible to differentiate between the two laws. When it comes to the law of standing for a beracha that is a law to give honor to the blessing being done for the mitzvah and that is a din in the gavra to give honor to the blessing so everyone must stand. On the other hand, the law to stand for sefirah is a derash from the word הקמה and that is a law in the maaseh mitzvah limited to the one doing the counting. However, while this works for the Mishna Berurah it can not be the explanation for the Ritz Gaous. The Beis Yosef siman 124 cites in the name of the Ritz Gaous that if one is fulfilled tefillah by listening to shemone esrai from the chazan then one does not need to take three steps back at the end of shemone esrai for the chazan will do it for you. The halacha of taking three steps back is a law in kavod for removing from the presence of standing before Hashem, a din in the gavra, and yet still he holds if one is fulfilling the law via שומע כעונה one doesn't need to do it? We see the Ritz Gaous holds that always when fulfilling a law via שומע כעונה the listener gets the complete kium without doing any of the details personally. If so the contradiction is back?
The answer is very simple. The halacha is not like the Ritz Gaous regarding the details of שומע כעומה, the Mechabar in the beginning of siman 124 paskens that the one listening has to take three steps back. That is what the Shaar Hatzion says as well. The Beur Halacha in the laws of seferah is merely citing the words of the Ritz Gaous to prove that he holds one can fulfill sefirah through שומע כעונה, it doesn't mean that he is ruling like him on the all the details that he says.
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