When our oldest daughter Dena was wed to Mark, I found myself in deep thought.  A dear friend came by and said, "Loosen up Avi.  Enjoy it.  You'll have time to think later." 

This exchange helps to shed light on the mandate in this week's portion to count 49 days between Passover and Shavuot. (Leviticus 23:15)  Sefer Ha-Hinukh asks why we begin the count from the second day and not the first day of Passover.

The way Jewish ritual approaches celebratory and tragic moments in life may reveal the answer. Consider the painful experience of death.  Halakha insists the bereaved be able to become totally involved in the tragedy to the extent that family members are relieved from performing affirmative commandments between death and burial.  Only after burial does the period of Shivah, of deep reflection set in.

Similarly, in moments of joy.  When leaving Egypt, Am Yisrael was immersed in the euphoria of the Exodus.  Only following that euphoria, which manifests itself through the Passover Seder, do we begin counting towards the receiving of the Torah -- the event that gives meaning and purpose to the Exodus. Jewish law allows for the full experiencing of the event.  Only then does it ask for separate distinct moments of evaluation.

My son Dov noted that there is psychological benefit to this principle.  After all, when something of import occurs, we should be encouraged to feel deeply and wholly what is happening.  We should literally be in the moment. Only afterwards, from a distance, can we step back and with clarity, contemplate the significance of the event and begin to put it in perspective.

Not coincidentally, this portion is read between Israel Independence Day and the anniversary of the liberation of Jerusalem.  Some erroneously suggest these days should be de-emphasized as we are in the post - Zionist era.  To the contrary.  These days deserve greater focus as we are, in fact, in a new, even more challenging phase within the modern Zionist period.  For sixty years we ecstatically celebrated the coming into being of the State.  Now begins the more reflective period of looking inward and defining what is the significance of the State to the Jewish people and the world at large.

Evaluating only after the event occurs is a lesson for all of us. And that's why we begin counting from the second day of Passover - so we can enjoy moments when they come and then afterwards take the time to reflect and anticipate.  

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Avi Weiss