Sanhedrin Completes Abbreviated First Fruits Ceremony, 5780/2020
Leviticus 23:9-14 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to the LORD. Its grain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to the LORD for a soothing aroma, with its drink offering, a fourth of a hin of wine. Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.
Acknowledging social distancing practices, the Sanhedrin has completed a toned down version of barley harvest and omer wave offering.
The Sanhedrin requested Rabbi Aharon Yitzchak Stern to be in charge of the abbreviated ceremony.
“We did the best we could and what we were able to do was as close to the Biblical commandment as possible. It is a pity the government prevented us from performing the complete ritual on the Temple Mount which is currently empty.” -Rabbi Stern informed Breaking Israel News
With this quote, it appears the Sanhedrin was not allowed to sacrifice the Passover Lamb on the Temple Mount.
With the ceremony, the counting of the omer has begun. The culmination of the counting will close 50 days later at Shavuot or the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost.
https://paulthepoke.com/2016/06/10/pentecost-shavuot-feast-of-weeks-counting-of-the-omer/
On Shavuot, the law requires that two loaves of bread be brought to the Temple. The grain of the loaves is from wheat.
Leviticus 23:17 You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the LORD.
Make no mistake, the Sanhedrin continues to look at completing sacrifices on the Temple Mount. They want to make the Shavuot offering on the Temple Mount in 50 days. The Sanhedrin also wants to make the second Passover offering on the Temple Mount next month.
https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/148522/barley-offering-prepared-despite-coronavirus-limitations
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