The Talmud states, "U’mi’talmidai Yoter Mi’kulam" – meaning, a Rabbi learns more from his students than from his own Rabbis. I recently experienced this axiom firsthand, when an astute reader noted that a ruling presented in an earlier edition of our Daily Halacha series runs in opposition to an explicit ruling of Hacham Ovadia Yosef.
The issue under discussion is a situation where one counted the Omer and made a mistake in his counting of either the days or the weeks, but not both. For example, on the 15th night of the Omer, he said, "Hayom Arba’a Asar Yom…She’hem Sheneh Shabuot Ve’yom Ehad" ("Today is the 14th day…which is two weeks and one day"), or "Hayom Hamisha Asar Yom…She’hem Sheneh Shabuot" ("Today is the 15th day…which is two weeks"). Meaning, he counted either the days or the weeks correctly, but the other was counted incorrectly. In our previous posting, we concluded that in such a case the individual is considered as though he missed a day of counting, and may thus no longer count the Omer with a Beracha. Unless he counted again, correctly, at some point that night or the following day, we said, he does not recite a Beracha when counting the Omer henceforth.
It was pointed out to me, however, that this is not the ruling of Hacham Ovadia Yosef. In Hazon Ovadia – Sefirat Ha’omer (p. 251), Hacham Ovadia writes that as long as one counted either the days or the weeks correctly, he may continue counting with a Beracha. This is also the ruling of the Mishna Berura (489:38, as Hacham Ovadia mentions in note 36). Therefore, I would like to retract the ruling issued in the previous posting, as the correct conclusion, following the ruling of Hacham Ovadia, is that in such a case one continues counting with a Beracha. Needless to say, one should make an effort to count both the days and weeks correctly, but nevertheless, if one counted either one of them incorrectly, as long as he counted the other correctly, he continues counting with a Beracha.
Summary: If one made a mistake in only part of the Sefirat Ha’omer counting, that is, he counted either the days or the weeks incorrectly, but counted the other part correctly, he continues counting with a Beracha henceforth, and is not considered as having missed a day of counting.
