Barley harvested for Omer offering
As soon as Passover ended on Tuesday night, entire families, men, women, and children, gathered in a field in the Negev to harvest barley for the omer offering of barley.
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According to the Bible, the barley for the Omer wave offering is harvested directly after Passover ends on the 16th day of the month of Nisan in the Jewish calendar. An omer is a sheaf of wheat gathered in the field. As per the verse In the Torah, on the night of the 16th of Nisan, after Passover ended, the participants went out to the fields of Kibbutz Ruchama in the Negev to harvest the barley.
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The sheaves of grain were brought to Jerusalem where it was beaten, the chaff removed, and sifted through 13 sieves. Finally, the grains were roasted and ground into a coarse meal. Olive oil, specially prepared for temple use, was added, along with frankincense.
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As Passover ended, Jews begin counting 50 days until the holiday of Shavuot, when two loaves made from barley were brought to the Temple as an offering.
The procedure for harvesting and offering up the omer is carefully described by Maimonides, a medieval Torah authority. In the days of the Temple, the Sanhedrin appointed three agents to go to a field to select barley plants and bind them together while the grain remained rooted in the soil. Then they would return to Jerusalem to bring their Passover sacrifice and conduct their seder.
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The next night, when the stars came out, the three agents would return to the field with scythes and tools for harvesting the barley. They were accompanied by crowds celebrating the mitzvah. The three representatives of the Sanhedrin would harvest precisely three se’ah – approximately seven-tenths of a bushel – and bring it to the Temple.
That same night, the harvested barley was flailed and winnowed. The edible seeds were roasted and finely ground. The flour was passed through 13 sifters. One-tenth of an ephah, about 14 cups, was set aside.
A kohen then took the omer offering to the eastern side of the Incense Altar, which was inside the Temple sanctuary. He would face the south-western corner of the main altar and wave the grain in a wave offering (korban tnufa). This offering is a prayer that God will send rain and dew in their proper times. The priest would then take one handful of the grain and burn it on the altar.
The omer offering is a grain sacrifice wave offering, brought in the temple in Jerusalem. A Kohen of the priestly caste recreated this offering at a model of the altar erected for this purpose. A handful was then scooped out and burned. In the Temple, a male sheep was brought as a burnt offering.
After this offering is brought, the new grain is permitted to be eaten. The leftover of the sacrifice is kept by the priest and is listed as one of the twenty-four priestly gifts.
The omer offering is a grain sacrifice wave offering, brought in the temple in Jerusalem. A Kohen of the priestly caste recreated this offering at a model of the altar erected for this purpose. A handful was then scooped out and burned. In the Temple, a male sheep was brought as a burnt offering, but this was not done at the reenactment.
After this offering is brought, the new grain is permitted to be eaten. The leftover of the sacrifice are kept by the priest and is listed as one of the twenty-four priestly gifts.
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