Q&A: Counting Toward the Sabbath
Counting Toward the Sabbath
Question
Hello, honored Rabbi. I wanted to ask: without getting into the reason for the matter, is there a halakhic obligation to count the days of the week as “first of the Sabbath,” “second of the Sabbath,” and so on?
If so,
—does this obligation apply generally to the Jewish people, who are required to refer to the weekdays by counting toward the Sabbath (like how today we say first, second… or perhaps it specifically has to be in the form “first of the Sabbath”)?
Or does this obligation apply to each individual, such that each person has to count the days that way? (Again, here too: is any counting format enough, or only the specific wording “first of the Sabbath…”?). If so, does one have to say it every time one mentions the days of the week, or only once a day in a formal way, or only if one happens to think about the days of the week—then just once? Does one have to say it, or is it enough just to think it?
Or does this obligation apply both generally and individually?
I’m aware that this is mentioned in the daily psalm, but let’s say a person does not have the practice of reciting it; and in any case, even if he does recite it, there are still other details, as you can see from the questions above, that I’d be happy to know about. Thank you very much in advance.
Answer
I don’t understand the question. Since when is there an obligation to count the days of the week? Where does this obligation come from?
Discussion on Answer
I don’t understand. The claim here is that if one counts, one should count in that way. I haven’t seen anywhere an obligation to count the days.
Forgive me, honored Rabbi, I didn’t understand. Meaning, from the sources I brought it sounds like one may not simply say “today is Sunday,” but rather one should say “today is the first day of the Sabbath,” or specifically “first of the Sabbath.” Likewise, one could understand that the Jewish people referred to the days as numbering toward the Sabbath, and if, say, we wanted to change that now, it would be forbidden. In other words, all kinds of obligations and prohibitions could be inferred from this. So what I want to understand is how far this is considered a halakhic obligation, and if it is, what its details are.
Is counting the days toward the Sabbath an obligatory commandment or a fulfilled-when-done commandment? In other words, does it derive from the obligation to remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it, or is the idea that if you actually counted the days, then you remembered the Sabbath day to sanctify it?
There is no such halakhic obligation. This is the common practice in the world. And even the obligation that does exist here is that if you mention a day, you mention it specifically that way (and even that is not observed strictly). But there is no obligation to count days. In any case, these views too were not accepted, and there seems to be no reason to be concerned about them.
So why does someone walking in the wilderness have an obligation to count the days when he does not even know which day it is?
On the contrary, that is evidence to the contrary. There there is an obligation to count because the counting defines his Sabbath. And even there, there is no obligation to count, only to keep track so as to know which day to observe.
That is true for someone who is not in the wilderness as well. The Sabbath presupposes the existence of the week—or, more precisely, creates the concept of a week. (The concept of a week did not exist in cultures that were not influenced by Judaism, and only in the modern period did it become universal.) Therefore, counting the days toward the Sabbath is essential to the Sabbath. The fact that in the daily psalm we mention which day of the week it is, even when we are not in the wilderness, is part of creating the cultural concept of the week, which is part of the commandment of “Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it.” And as a result, it also turns out that we remember to observe the Sabbath on the correct day.
“And some learned from this verse that when you count, you should count with reference to the Sabbath (Rabbi Yitzchak in the Mekhilta there; Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira in the Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai there): first of the Sabbath, second of the Sabbath, etc., and eve of the Sabbath (Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira in the Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai there), and you should not count in the way others—the gentiles (Nachmanides on the Torah there; Ritva, Rosh Hashanah 3a)—count (Rabbi Yitzchak in the Mekhilta there), for they gave each day its own separate name, whether after the heavenly ministers or other names they called them, whereas Israel counts all the days with reference to the Sabbath (Nachmanides there; Ritva there). And medieval authorities wrote that this derivation is the plain meaning of the verse (Ibn Ezra, short commentary, there; Nachmanides there).
And because of this commandment, the halakhic decisors wrote that the reason bills of divorce are dated ‘on the first,’ or ‘on the second,’ etc., of the Sabbath, and not ‘of the week,’ is because of the commandment to count the days toward the Sabbath (Arukh HaShulchan, Even HaEzer 126:10).
And because of this commandment, those who have the practice of reciting the daily psalm begin by saying: ‘Today is the … day of the Sabbath’ (Shaar HaKollel on the Torah Or prayerbook 11).
“In the Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. There Rabbi Yehuda’s interpretation of the commandment ‘Remember the Sabbath day’ given at Sinai is brought: ‘Remember—Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira says: from where do we know that when you count, you should count first of the Sabbath, second of the Sabbath, third of the Sabbath, fourth of the Sabbath, fifth of the Sabbath, and eve of the Sabbath? The verse says: Remember’ (Mekhilta of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai 20:8).
According to Rabbi Yehuda, the practical expression of the commandment of remembrance is not on the Sabbath itself, but specifically during the rest of the week as preparation for the Sabbath. The author of Sefer Haredim sees the counting of the days that we do today as the practical expression of this commandment: ‘Nachmanides wrote on this verse that two commandments are included in it. One is sanctification on Sabbath night, which our sages derived from the word “to sanctify it”—that you should remember it verbally and sanctify it at the beginning of its entrance, like the expression “the religious court sanctifies” the new month and the Jubilee and says “sanctified, sanctified.” The second commandment, which is the main point of the verse, is to remember the Sabbath day throughout all the days of the week in all a person’s affairs, wherever he can mention it, as is stated in the Mekhilta: the nations call each of the weekdays by its own separate name—Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday—as is the custom of the people who became mixed among the nations. But the commandment of our God in this verse is to call them first of the Sabbath, second of the Sabbath, third of the Sabbath, fourth of the Sabbath, fifth of the Sabbath, sixth of the Sabbath, and likewise in every similar case we must fulfill the commandment of remembering the Sabbath every day’ (Sefer Haredim, positive commandments dependent on speech).
And in Kaf HaChaim (132:26) it is brought that the commandment of remembering is the basis and reason for saying ‘Today is the … day…’ before the daily psalm each day.
Remembering the Sabbath during the rest of the week is derived from two different angles, both focused on one underlying principle. Ibn Ezra explains that there is concern that a person may forget the Sabbath day and come to do labor on it: ‘The meaning of “Remember the Sabbath day” is that one should remember every day the count of the days of the week, lest he forget which is the seventh day, which he is obligated to sanctify. And the explanation of “to sanctify it” is to give it a higher status than all the days, so that you do not do labor on it, in the sense that God sanctified it’ (Ibn Ezra 20:8).
If a person does not count the days of the week as directed toward the Sabbath, it is possible that he will err and the Sabbath day will become displaced from its place, and so he may come to do labor on the Sabbath.
But there is also another aspect to the need to remember the Sabbath day, which we find in Sforno: ‘Remember the Sabbath day. Always remember the Sabbath day in your activities during the working days, as in “Remember what Amalek did to you” (Deuteronomy 25:17), “Observe the month of spring” (ibid. 16:1): “to sanctify it”—and do this so that you will be able to sanctify it. He warned that a person should arrange his affairs during the working days in such a way that he will be able to take his mind off them on the Sabbath day’ (Sforno 20:8).
According to him, remembering the Sabbath day is not meant to prevent mistakes, but so that a person can plan the entire week. That way, on the seventh day, the person will indeed rest from his affairs.”