Refining purity from impurity during the Omer

בענין הספירה.

Concerning the Sefirah (the Counting of the Omer).

The Sefas Emes turns to the avodah of Sefiras HaOmer, the counting between Pesach and Shavuos.

ובמד' אימתי הם תמימות כשישראל עושין רצונו של מקום.

And in the Midrash: when are they "temimos" (complete/whole)? When Yisrael do the will of the Omnipresent.

The Torah requires the seven weeks of the Omer to be "temimos" — complete; the Midrash says this completeness depends on Bnei Yisrael fulfilling Hashem's ratzon.

דכתי' אמרות ה' אמרות טהורות.

For it is written, "The words of Hashem are pure words" (Tehillim 12:7).

The Sefas Emes connects "temimos" to the purity of Hashem's "amaros" — His utterances.

רמז לעשרה מאמרות.

A hint to the ten utterances (with which the world was created).

"The words of Hashem" allude to the asarah ma'amaros, the ten utterances of creation.

שהגם שכל הטבע והגשמיות בכח המאמרות אבל הם טהורות כסף צרוף ונתלבשו תוך הטבע בעליל לארץ מזוקק שבעתים.

For although all of nature and physicality exist through the power of the utterances, they are nonetheless "pure" — refined silver — and they have become clothed within nature, "in a crucible on the earth, refined sevenfold" (Tehillim 12:7).

The divine utterances that sustain the physical world remain inherently pure, like refined silver; but they are "clothed" and concealed within coarse nature, awaiting refinement.

והאדם הוא שצריך לברר ולהוציח אוכל מתוך פסולת.

And it is man who must clarify and extract the edible from amid the waste.

The human task is birur — to separate the holy "food" hidden within nature from the surrounding dross.

ובנ"י ביצ"מ ביררו אלה הבירורים ונגמר בקבלת התורה שנעשה מעשרה מאמרות עשרת הדיברות.

And Bnei Yisrael, at the Exodus from Mitzrayim, accomplished these clarifications, and it was completed at the receiving of the Torah, when from the ten utterances the Ten Commandments came to be.

The process of birur began at the Exodus and culminated at Sinai, transforming the ten utterances of creation into the Aseres HaDibros of Torah.

והנה כתי' מי יתן טהור מטמא לא אחד ובגמ' דם טמא ונעכר ונעשה חלב.

Now it is written, "Who can bring a pure thing out of an impure? Is it not the One?" (Iyov 14:4), and in the Gemara: the blood is impure, and it becomes turbid and turns into milk.

Only Hashem ("the One") can draw purity out of impurity; an example is how a mother's impure blood is transformed into pure, nourishing milk.

וכמו כן אמרו ש"ז טמא ואדם הנוצר ממנו טהור.

And likewise they said: the seed is impure, yet the human being formed from it is pure.

Another instance of purity emerging from impurity: the lowly physical seed, yet the human formed from it is pure.

וב' אלו הבירורים נעשין כאחד כשהארה מן הנשמה יורדת מתברר הטפה ונוצר האדם כמ"ש במד' תזריע על פסוק ארחי ורבעי זרית.

And these two clarifications occur as one: when the illumination from the neshamah descends, the drop is refined and the human being is formed, as the Midrash on Tazria says on the verse, "my path and my lying down You have sifted (zerisa)" (Tehillim 139:3).

When the light of the soul descends, it both refines the seed (forming the person) — the verse hints that Hashem "sifts" and refines in the very act of forming a person.

ואז ג"כ דם האם נעכר ונעשה חלב.

And then too the mother's blood becomes turbid and turns into milk.

Simultaneously, the mother's impure blood is transmuted into pure milk — two refinements happening as one.

נמצא עיקר הבירור ע"י האדם בכח הנשמה שהיא טהורה ומטהרת לגוף האדם.

It emerges that the essential clarification is through man, by the power of the neshamah, which is pure and purifies the body of the person.

The agent of refinement is the pure neshamah, which radiates its purity outward to purify even the physical body.

כדכתי' וייצר כו' ויפח באפיו נשמת חיים ויהי האדם לנפש חי'.

As it is written, "And He formed [man]… and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul" (Bereishis 2:7).

The Torah's account of man's creation shows that the divine "breath of life" is what animates and elevates the physical body.

פי' שבכח הנשמת חיים יוכל לברר גם הגוף.

The meaning is that by the power of the breath of life one is able to refine even the body.

The neshamah's power reaches even into the physical body, refining it too.

וכאשר נעשה הבירור מטפה ונוצר האדם מתברר הדם ונעכר ונעשה חלב כמ"ש שם במד' תזריע.

And when the clarification is made from the drop and the human being is formed, the blood is refined and becomes turbid and turns into milk, as stated there in the Midrash on Tazria.

The forming of the human and the transformation of blood into milk are one continuous act of refinement, as the Midrash teaches.

וחלב הוא נקודה שנתבררה מתוך הפסולת.

And milk is a point that has been refined out from amid the waste.

Milk symbolizes the pure "point" extracted and separated out from impure material.

ולכן אסור לבשל בשר בחלב שהנקודה שנתבררה לא יחזירנו לתוך התערובות כי בשר הוא מעורב וסימנך בערב תאכלו בשר.

And therefore it is forbidden to cook meat in milk, for the point that has been refined must not be returned into the mixture, for meat is "mixed," and your sign is, "in the evening (ba-erev) you shall eat meat" (Shemos 16:8).

Since milk is the refined, separated point and meat represents the still-mixed material (hinted by "erev," related to "mixture"), one may not recombine them — that would reverse the birur.

וכמו שהוא בפרט כך הוא בכלל.

And just as it is on the individual level, so it is on the collective level.

This process of refining purity out of impurity operates both in the individual and in Klal Yisrael as a whole.

וכשנתבררו בנ"י כתי' בדמיך חיי ונתהפך להם הדם להיות נעכר ונעשה חלב.

And when Bnei Yisrael were refined, it is written, "in your blood, live" (Yechezkel 16:6), and the blood was transformed for them, becoming turbid and turning into milk.

When Bnei Yisrael underwent their collective birur, their "blood" (lower physicality) was transformed into "milk" (refined holiness).

וזה הרמז למאכלי חלב בחג השבועות שאז נגמר הבירור.

And this is the hint of the dairy foods on Chag HaShavuos, for then the clarification is completed.

We eat dairy on Shavuos because milk represents the completed birur — and Shavuos, the giving of the Torah, is when the national refinement reaches its conclusion.

ועיקר הבירור בימים אלו מפסח עד עצרת כמ"ש במד' שבועות חקות קציר ישמור לנו מטללים ורוחות רעות.

And the main clarification is in these days, from Pesach until Atzeres (Shavuos), as the Midrash says: "the appointed weeks of the harvest He guards for us" — from harmful dews and evil winds.

The seven weeks of the Omer are the prime season of birur; Hashem "guards" this period of harvest from spiritual harm so the refinement can be completed.

זה הבירור מן תערובת הפסולת שנעשה אחר החטא.

This is the clarification from the admixture of waste that came about after the sin.

The refinement undoes the intermingling of good and evil that resulted from Adam's sin.

כמ"ש וקוץ ודרדר תצמיח כו' וזהו נק' תמימות כשמבורר מפסולת ומום.

As it is written, "and thorns and thistles it shall sprout for you…" (Bereishis 3:18), and this is called "temimos" — when it is refined from waste and blemish.

The sin introduced "thorns and thistles" — a mixture of dross; "temimos" (wholeness) is achieved precisely when one is purified of that waste and blemish.

ולכן כתי' התהלך לפני והי' תמים ע"י הסרת הערלה שהיא תערובות ומום בגוף.

Therefore it is written, "Walk before Me and be tamim (whole)" (Bereishis 17:1) — through the removal of the orlah, which is an admixture and blemish in the body.

Avraham was told to become "tamim" through milah — removing the orlah, the bodily "blemish" of admixed impurity.

וכן לכל אדם כ' תמים תהי' עם ה' זהו מה שצריך לברר תמיד הפסולת ותערובות מחשבות הבלי עולם.

And so for every person it is written, "You shall be tamim with Hashem your God" (Devarim 18:13) — this is the constant need to refine away the waste and the admixture of vain worldly thoughts.

Every Jew is commanded to be "tamim" by continually sifting away the dross of empty, worldly thoughts.

וכפי התמימות בנפשות בנ"י כך נעשה בשורש.

And according to the wholeness in the souls of Bnei Yisrael, so it is effected at the root.

The degree of "temimos" we achieve below draws down a corresponding wholeness in the spiritual root above.

וז"ש אימתי הם תמימות כשישראל עושין רצונו של מקום.

And this is the meaning of "when are they temimos? When Yisrael do the will of the Omnipresent."

The weeks of the Omer become truly "complete" only when Bnei Yisrael do Hashem's will and accomplish the birur.

כמו שרמזנו לעיל. שע"י בירור הטפה. הדם של האם נעכר ונעשה חלב:

As we hinted above, that through the refinement of the drop, the mother's blood becomes turbid and turns into milk.

Doing Hashem's will accomplishes the inner birur — just as the refinement of the drop transforms impure blood into pure milk.

Summary: The divine utterances that sustain nature are inherently pure but concealed within physicality, and man's task is birur — extracting the holy "food" from the dross. The neshamah's pure light purifies even the body, transforming impure "blood" into pure "milk" (hence dairy on Shavuos, when the refinement is completed). The seven weeks of the Omer are the prime season of this refinement, undoing the post-sin admixture; the Counting becomes truly "complete" (temimos) when Bnei Yisrael do Hashem's will and accomplish the birur.