PikiWiki Israel 6074 At grain harvest of the Omer

The omer offering (''korban omer''), or the sheaf offering, was an offering ('' korban'') made by the Jewish priests in the

Temple in Jerusalem The Temple in Jerusalem, or alternatively the Holy Temple (; , ), refers to the two religious structures that served as the central places of worship for Israelites and Jews on the modern-day Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. Accord ...

. The offering consisted of one omer of freshly harvested grain, and was waved in the Temple. It was offered on Passover, and signaled the beginning of the 49-day counting of the Omer (which concluded with the Shavuot holiday), as well as permission to consume '' chadash'' (grains from the ''new'' harvest). The omer offering was one example of a wave offering (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: ''tenufah'' ), which was waved in the Temple.

Omer offering

The offering containing an '' omer''-measure of

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

, described as ''reishit ketzirchem'' ("the beginning of your harvest"). Josephus describes the processing of the offering as follows:

After parching and crushing the little sheaf of ears and purifying the barley for grinding, they bring to the altar a
issaron
for God, and, having flung a handful thereof on the altar, they leave the rest for the use of the priests. Thereafter all are permitted, publicly or individually, to begin harvest.

The leftover of the '' korban'' are kept by the ''

kohen Kohen (, ; , ، Arabic كاهن , Kahen) is the Hebrew word for "priest", used in reference to the Aaronic Priest#Judaism, priesthood, also called Aaronites or Aaronides. They are traditionally believed, and halakha, halakhically required, to ...

'' and was listed as one of the twenty-four priestly gifts. The offering was made on "the morrow after the day of rest". This phrase was variously interpreted (see Counting of the Omer): According to rabbinic tradition, the omer offering was offered on the second day of Passover, the 16th day of Nisan. According to

Karaite Judaism Karaite Judaism or Karaism is a Rabbinic Judaism, non-Rabbinical Jewish religious movements, Jewish sect characterized by the recognition of the written Tanakh alone as its supreme religious text, authority in ''halakha'' (religious law) and t ...

, it was offered on the Sunday occurring within Passover. The omer offering was discontinued following the destruction of the

Second Temple The Second Temple () was the Temple in Jerusalem that replaced Solomon's Temple, which was destroyed during the Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC), Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. It was constructed around 516 BCE and later enhanced by Herod ...

Counting of the Omer

Along with the offering of the omer offering, the counting of the Omer begins. This is a count of 49 days beginning with the omer offering, and concluding with the holiday of Shavuot (which is the 50th day). For rabbinic Jews, the count is performed at night. For example, the first day of the omer is counted on the second night of Passover (which precedes the second day, as Jewish days begin in the evening).

Other wave offerings

Various other offerings are also described as being waved as part of their ritual. After the ritual, the wave-offering then became the property of the priests. The noun ''tenufah'' (waving) is formed from the verb ''nuf'' in the same way as ''terumah'', the heave offering, is formed from ''rum'' "heave." In the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

, ''tenufah'' was translated ''aphorisma'' (ἀφόρισμα). Both ''tenufah'' and ''terumah'' are often mentioned together. Both being given to the priests as kohanic gifts. The Levites themselves were also offered to God by

Aaron According to the Old Testament of the Bible, Aaron ( or ) was an Israelite prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of Moses. Information about Aaron comes exclusively from religious texts, such as the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament ...

as a wave offering..

References

* {{The twenty-four kohanic gifts Jewish sacrificial law