Tucked away in Parshat Emor’s discussion of the biblical festivals, between the mitzvot relating to Pesah and those concerning Shavuot, are two less “glamorous” commandments: one involving the ceremonial offering of an omer of barley, the earliest-ripening grain, on the second night and day of Pesah; and the other, the counting of the omer for forty-nine days, culminating in the festival of Shavuot, when bread made from wheat is offered:

When you enter the land that I am giving to you and you reap its harvest, you shall bring the first sheaf (omer) of your harvest to the priest. He shall elevate the sheaf before the Lord… (Leviticus 23:9–11)

And from the day on which you bring the sheaf of elevation offering—the day after the Shabbat—you shall count off seven weeks. They must be complete: you must count until the day after the seventh week—fifty days; then you shall bring an offering of new grain to the Lord. (Leviticus 23:15–16)

With the destruction of the Temple, we........

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