Menachos Daf 72 מנחוס דַף 72

The Mishnah on the previous Daf taught that although the mitzvah of the עומר is to be harvested during the night of the sixteenth of Nissan, if it was harvested during the day, it is valid. The Gemara objects that a Mishnah lists various mitzvos which are performed during the night or the day, listing קצירת העומר as performed during the night. Comparing the two groups indicates that just as mitzvos of the day (e.g., shechitah of korbanos) cannot be performed at night, so too mitzvos of the night, including קצירת העומר, cannot be performed during the day!? Rabbah answers that this reflects a machlokes Tannaim: a Baraisa teaches that if the מנחת העומר became tamei before being offered, Rebbe says that if more barley is available to be harvested, it should be brought (although it is harvested by day); if none is available, we tell him: הוי פקח ושתוק – “Be wise and remain silent” (and offer the tamei עומר). Rebbe Elazar bar Rebbe Shimon says that even if there is available barley to be harvested, we tell him to be wise and remain silent, שכל העומר שנקצר שלא כמצותו פסול – because any omer which is harvested not in its prescribed manner is invalid. i.e., it cannot be harvested during the day.

Rebbe Yochanan explains Rebbe Elazar bar Rebbe Shimon’s basis for disqualifying קצירת העומר performed during the day. He holds like Rebbe Akiva, his father’s teacher, who said a general rule: כל מלאכה שאפשר לו לעשותה מערב שבת – any labor which can be performed on Erev Shabbos אינה דוחה את השבת – does not override Shabbos, and must be performed before Shabbos. Furthermore, he holds like Rebbe Yishmael, who darshened that harvesting the עומר is a mitzvah which overrides Shabbos. Rebbe Elazar bar Rebbe Shimon reasons that if קצירת העומר would be valid during the day, it could not be דוחה Shabbos, since it could be performed on Erev Shabbos! Since Rebbe Yishmael taught it does override Shabbos, it proves it cannot be harvested during the day. The Gemara asks that since Rebbe was a talmid of Rebbe Shimon, he should likewise hold that any מלאכה which can be performed before Shabbos does not override Shabbos. Since he holds that קצירת העומר performed during the day is valid, how can it override Shabbos? The Gemara will ultimately concede that Rebbe holds קצירת העומר is not דוחה Shabbos.

The Gemara suggests that although Rebbe holds קצירת העומר is valid during the day, it still overrides Shabbos, because Rebbe Shimon said: בא וראה כמה חביבה מצוה בשעתה – Come and see how beloved is a mitzvah performed in its proper time! For הקטר חלבים ואברים – burning the fats and limbs of korbanos is valid all night, yet the burning the חלבים ואברים of the korbanos brought on Shabbos is not postponed until the night (after Shabbos), because the preferred time of הקטרה is by day. Likewise, Rebbe can hold that although קצירת העומר is valid by day, it may still override Shabbos to be harvested during the night of the sixteenth, its optimal time. However, the Gemara counters that Rebbe Elazar bar Rebbe Shimon surely also learned this ruling of Rebbe Shimon, and still held that קצירת העומר would not be דוחה Shabbos if it would be valid by day! Rather, הקטר חלבים is different, שהרי דחתה שחיטה את השבת – since the shechitah of the korbanos already overrode Shabbos, so it can be overridden again to allow הקטר חלבים in the preferred time. In contrast, harvesting the עומר in its preferred time would not override Shabbos, since Shabbos was not previously overridden.