10 | APRIL 27 • 2023 

opinion

Transitions Can Be Hazardous 
for the Health of the Jewish People
T

he transitional period 
during which the 
omer is counted 
that follows the festival 
of Passover and leads to 
Shavuot should 
be considered a 
festive interlude. 
We are 
proceeding from 
redemption 
from Egypt to 
the revelation 
at Mount Sinai, 
setting the 
Jewish people on a path with 
principle and purpose for the 
future. In fact, Nachmanides 
likens this time to hol 
ha-moed — the intermediate 
days of rejoicing between 
festival days.
Yet, historically, this period 
has become associated with 
tragedy and mourning, 
primarily because of the 
talmudic story of the death of 
the 24,000 disciples of Rabbi 
Akiva. All agree that these 
students died as punishment 
because they did not respect 
one another as they should, 
though some blame plague and 
others the Bar Kochba revolt.
This association 
between the 49 days of 
sefirat ha-omer (counting 
of the omer) and trauma is 
not coincidental — because 
transitions are hazardous. 
In the biblical story, the 
Children of Israel are in a 
very vulnerable position 
during the period after 
their Exodus from Egypt. 
Following their initial 
exuberance, the people must 
then settle into the difficult 
existence of desert life. 

Inspiration evaporates in 
the heat of the desert and 
is replaced by thirst and 
hunger. Passions run high 
and there is one incident after 
another: complaints about 
food and water, nostalgia for 
Egypt, attacks on leadership, 
the unprovoked attack by 
Amalek and ultimately the 
sin of the golden calf.
The people need some 
framework to maintain the 
cohesion and solidarity in 
order to survive the ongoing 
challenges of the wilderness. 
Moses striking a rock and 
interceding with God — 
relying on the stature of one 
individual to “make things 
right” — is not a long-term 
solution.
Politically, as well, the 
people are in limbo. With 
their redemption, they have 
shaken the heavy yoke of 
their Egyptian taskmasters, 
but they have not yet received 
the Torah at Sinai. They have 
political freedom without 
law — i.e. the institutions 
and governing framework a 
society needs to function.

This is a very precarious 
place to be. Freedom without 
the responsibilities and 
boundaries of the law is 
not sustainable and can too 
quickly degenerate into a 
state of anarchy in which 
“everyone did that which was 
right in his own eyes.” (Judges 
21: 25)
The trepidation and 
foreboding which have come 
to characterize the period 
of sefirat ha-omer resonates 
greatly during the current 
circumstances today in the 
State of Israel. We too are in a 
state where we seem to enjoy 
political freedom without the 
grounding of a clear set of 
laws that provide guideposts 
and stability in our society. 
This impending chaos exposes 
us to internal discord as well 
as external threats.
We have secured political 
freedom during the first 
75 years of the state, at a 
significant price in terms 
of blood, sweat and tears. 
Yet, like the Children of 
Israel plodding through 
the desert before arriving 

at Sinai, we see that is not 
enough. We are in need of 
a contemporary equivalent 
of Sinai to consolidate and 
preserve our freedom and 
forge a just and secure 
society which will not only 
survive but thrive.
As we lead up to Shavuot, 
it is also worth examining 
what happened at Sinai and 
how this fractious people was 
brought together. 
All stood together, saw 
the fire and smoke of the 
mountain and heard the 
laws being commanded. 
They shared a formative 
experience that involved 
everyone present, and they all 
responded in unison, na’aseh 
v’nishma, we will do 
and we will understand. 
This consensus forged a 
peoplehood that endured, 
even though challenges 
continued to arise.
We should think about 
the current push for legal 
reforms in this context. Our 
biblical history makes the 
case for the importance of 
a legal framework to shape 
the contours of our freedom 
and to provide clear ground 
rules for society. We also see 
the need for consensus to 
launch such a grand national 
enterprise, where there is 
active buy-in and acceptance 
is broad based.
As Israelis — secular, 
religious, left, right, Jew and 
non-Jew — we all need to be 
concerned. Rushing through 
a set of legal reforms without 
first achieving the kind of 
national unity modeled at 
Sinai — solidarity that we 

Israelis protest against the Israeli government’s planned judicial 
overhaul, at the Goma junction, northern Israel, on April 15, 2023. 

AYAL MARGOLIN/FLASH90

PURELY COMMENTARY

Rabbi Herzl 
Hefter
Times of 
Israel

