The Omer and the Toil That Reaches Above the Sun

The commandment of the Omer. "What profit has a person in all his toil at which he toils under the sun?" (Ecclesiastes 1:3). Rabbi Benjamin bar Levi said: The Sages sought to hide away the book of Ecclesiastes, because they found in it words that incline toward heresy. They said, was it fitting for Solomon to say, "What profit has a person in all his toil at which he toils under the sun?" One might suppose that even the toil of Torah is included. They reconsidered and said: had he said "in all toil" and fallen silent, we would say even the toil of Torah is included; but since he says "in all his toil," it is in his own toil that there is no profit, while in the toil of Torah there is profit. Rabbi Samuel bar Isaac said: The Sages sought to hide away the book of Ecclesiastes, because they found in it words that incline toward heresy. They said, was it fitting for Solomon to say, "Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes" (Ecclesiastes 11:9)? Moses said, "You shall not go astray after your own heart and your own eyes" (Numbers 15:39), yet Solomon said, "walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes." The strap has been loosed [restraint is gone]; there is no judgment and no Judge! But once he said, "yet know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment" (Ecclesiastes 11:9), they said: Solomon spoke well. Another interpretation: "What profit has a person in all his toil?" Rabbi Yudan said: under the sun he has none, but above the sun he has profit. Rabbi Huna and Rabbi Aha in the name of Rabbi Halafu said: the toil is under the sun, but the treasure is above the sun. Rabbi Levi said: whenever people increase commandments and good deeds in this world, it is enough that the Holy One, blessed be He, makes the sun shine for them, as it says, "the sun also rises, and the sun goes down" (Ecclesiastes 1:5). The Rabbis said: whenever the righteous increase commandments and good deeds in this world, it is enough that the Holy One, blessed be He, renews their faces like the disc of the sun, as it says, "and those who love Him are like the going forth of the sun in its might" (Judges 5:31). Rabbi Yannai said: In the way of the world, a person buys himself a pound of meat from the market; how he labors over it, how much trouble he takes with it before he cooks it! Yet while people sleep on their beds, the Holy One, blessed be He, sends the winds, raises the clouds, brings down the rains, sprouts the dew, grows the plants, and fattens the fruit, and you will not even give Him the Omer. Rabbi Phineas said: In the way of the world, a person washes his garment in the rainy season; how he labors over it, how much trouble he takes with it before it dries! Yet while people sleep on their beds, the Holy One, blessed be He, sends the winds, raises the clouds, brings down the rains, sprouts the dew, grows the plants, and fattens the fruit, and you will not give Him the Omer. Rabbi Abin said: Come and see how much Israel troubled themselves over the commandment of the Omer, as we have learned there: they reaped it and placed it in baskets, brought it to the Temple court, and singed it in fire so as to fulfill the commandment of parched grain in it (the words of Rabbi Meir); but the Sages say with reeds and stalks they beat it so that it would not be crushed. They put it into a perforated tube so that the fire would reach all of it, spread it out in the court while the wind blew on it, put it into the mill for groats, and brought forth from it a tenth-measure that was sifted through thirteen sieves. Rabbi Levi said: Behold, you have toiled and plowed and sown and weeded and pruned and hoed and reaped and bound and threshed and made it into a heap; if He does not bring out for you a little wind to winnow it, from where would that man live? Behold, you do not even give Him the reward for the wind, "what profit has he that he toils for the wind?" (Ecclesiastes 5:15). Rabbi Levi said: It is written, "they do not say in their heart, let us now fear the LORD our God, who gives the rain, the early and the latter rain, in its season" (Jeremiah 5:24). "Who gives": He has given you everything; you no longer have need of Him. "He keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest" (Jeremiah 5:24): He keeps for us against the scorching heat and against the harsh winds. And which are these? These are the seven weeks between Passover and Atzeret [Shavuot]. Rabbi Hiyya taught: "seven complete weeks they shall be" (Leviticus 23:15) — when are they complete? When there is no Yeshua and Shekhanyah among them [no failure of the harvest]. Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said: Where is your guard? You do not give me my guard-fee. Rabbi Berekhiah said: If I am from your group, you do not let me taste of your dish so that I may know what they need. That is what David says, "a generous rain You poured down, O God; You confirmed Your inheritance when it languished" (Psalms 68:10): if it needs rain, "a generous rain"; if it needs dew, "You poured down, O God"; "Your inheritance, when it languished, You established." Rabbi Banaiah said: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: My children, when I was giving you the Omer, I gave to each one of you an Omer, "an omer for each head" (Exodus 16:16); but now that you give Me the Omer, I have only a single Omer from all of you, and not only that, but it is not of wheat but of barley. Therefore Moses warns Israel and says to them, "you shall bring the Omer of the first of your harvest to the priest" (Leviticus 23:10).