How to Continue Making a Blessing over the Omer Even Though One Forgot a Day
Haelef Lecha Shelomo Orach Chayim #328
Hagaon Rav Shelomo Kluger, zt"l

Forgetting to count the Omer is particularly distressing, especially missing a full day, because from that day on one can no longer count with a blessing. One rabbinical judge (in the 1600s) came up with a creative way for a person in such a predicament to continue saying the blessing.

Question: Here was his suggestion. That person can act as the shaliach tzibbur (one that leads the prayers) for Maariv (the evening prayer). Then, at the end of the service, he can count the Omer with a blessing for the congregation. Is this a legitimate solution?

Answer: Rav Shelomo Kluger's position is that it matters on who is in the congregation. If the members of the congregation can and will be making their own blessings and counting, the solution does not work. On the other hand, if there is someone in the congregation who does not know how to count for himself, the shaliach tzibbur can make the blessing and count, thereby enabling that individual to fulfill his mitzva. This is based on two halakhic principles, "shomeia k'oneh" -- hearing is tantamount to saying something one's self - and "Af al pi sheyatza motzi" - even someone who already fulfilled a mitzva (like kiddush) can do it on behalf of another.

The solution of that rabbinical judge originally appears in the book Peri Chadash (in his commentary to Shulchan Arukh Orach Chayim 489), a commentary on the Shulchan Arukh by Rabbi Chizkia de Silu zt"l, who preceded Rav Shelomo Kluger by several centuries. But the Peri Chadash came up with exactly the opposite conclusion. According to him, even though everyone in the congregation knows how to make the blessing, the shaliach tzibbur can still make it publicly for the congregation. As a precedent, he cited the repetition of the Shemoneh Esrei, which is said publicly even though everyone in the congregation knows how to pray. So also, reasoned the Peri Chadash, we count the Omer publicly even though everyone knows how to and counts individually. The Peri Megadim (and Rav Shelomo Kluger agrees with him) countered that one cannot compare Shemoneh Esrei with Sefirat Haomer. Repeating the Shemoneh Esrei is a takana, a rabbinic decree, whereas there is no such decree to publicly count the Omer (people are accustomed to do it, but not out of the force of any rabbinical decree). Even though the reason for originally instituting the public Shemoneh Esrei is no longer applicable, the decree stands. However, we should not create a new situation - counting the Omer publicly - where a blessing will be said unnecessarily.

Concerning the second situation, when someone is present in the congregation who does not know how to count and make the blessing, the Peri Megadim [and Rav Shelomo Kluger] also argue with the Peri Chadash. The Peri Chadash had maintained that the unlearned congregant cannot fulfill the mitzva through the blessing and count of the shaliach tzibbur who had forgotten a full day of counting the Omer because he is no longer obligated in the mitzva.

The Peri Megadim and Rav Shelomo Kluger, though, counter that one who forgot to count one day is still obligated in the mitzva - he just ruined his ability to fulfill his obligation. His situation, they argue, is no worse than that of someone who already made the blessing and counted himself on a particular day. That person can legitimately count with a blessing on behalf of an unlearned person.

This is especially the case, says Rav Shelomo Kluger, with regards to this particular Sefirat Haomer situation. The reason why one who forgets a complete day does not continue to count with a blessing is because counting all forty-nine days of the Omer is considered one long mitzva. Forgetting one complete day makes the Omer period incomplete and the requirement that the count be "temimot," complete, is not fulfilled. (There are differing opinions about this issue and we rule that one should continue to count but not make the blessing.) The person who forgot a day is definitely considered obligated in the mitzva because he was obligated when the Omer began. He is just unable to carry out his personal obligation. You could never compare him to a child who is not yet Biblically obligated or a woman who is not even Rabbinically obligated to keep this time-bound mitzva. We therefore can apply the principle of "Af al pi sheyatza motzi," allowing him to say the blessing and count on behalf of another.

In conclusion, Rav Shelomo Kluger rules that someone who forgot to count one complete day can only get to say the blessing over the Omer if there is someone in the congregation who does not know how to do it himself. [The forgetter can, of course, answer Amen to the blessing of someone who is still making it.]