Emor

Now that we’re in the middle of sefira when we read the parsha of the moadim, the posuk of וספרתם לכם ממחרת השבת, you shall count for yourselves from the morrow of the rest day, has special meaning to us. A few questions need to be explored. First, asks the כתב סופר, what is the meaning behind the Torah’s writing the word לכם, for yourself; it would have sufficed to say וספרתם, you shall count? He answers that the word לכם teaches us that the counting of the seven weeks is not merely to accomplish the count, but rather for us to refine our character & better ourselves a little more each day.

Additionally, asks the ילקוט יצחק, why, after we count sefira, do we say הרחמן הוא יחזיר לנו עבודת בית המקדש למקומה במהרה בימינו , the merciful one who will return the worship in the Bais Hamikdash to its rightful place speedily in our day. Why is this prayer said specifically after this mitzva & no other?

He answers that since the mitzva nowadays is only מדרבנן, as a remembrance to when we had the Bais Hamikdash & the Omer, therefore we say a prayer that we should be able to do this mitzva when we have an actual Bais Hamikdash to fulfill it to the fullest extent.
How do we get back the Bais Hamikdash? What character traits should we be perfecting?

Chazal tell us that we keep many laws of availus during the days of sefira because twenty four thousand  students of Rebbi Akiva died since they did not honor each other properly. We know that the Bais Hamikdash was destroyed because of baseless hatred, so perhaps the midda we should be working on to regain it is to rectify the sin of Rebbi Akiva's talmidim by honoring each other & eradicating any hatred so that the Bais Hamikdash can be rebuilt.

There's a story told about the חתם סופר that exemplifies this point. When הגאון רבי ישראל יצחק אהרן לנדסברג came to learn in the Chasam Sofer's yeshiva, he told the other boys that he would write down all of the Chasam Sofer's chidushim word for word. The other boys even offered to pay him to do so, he would write & then he would say over everything the Chasam Sofer said in shiur. One day, the Chasam Sofer had a feeling that something was up with this boy & asked one of the other talmidim what was going on. This boy said that איציק אהרן was writing the shiur & then giving it over again to the boys just as the Rav gave it over. The Chasam Sofer was outraged & closed his gemmara & walked out of the yeshiva. איציק אהרן was mortified that he had caused the Rosh Yeshiva such anguish. The next day, the Chasam Sofer sent out an edict that everyone must come to his shiur today. Whoever didn’t come would have to leave the yeshiva. Even איציק אהרן had to come. If he refused, they were to bring him by force. The poor boy was shaking with fear; he had no strength. After what happened the day before, he couldn't even walk by himself requiring his friends to bring him to what he was sure would be his public humiliation & expulsion from the yeshiva.

After everyone was seated, the Chasam Sofer began to talk. He said, “my beloved children, yesterday at the shiur I did not act properly. Instead of praising איציק אהרן for his uncanny abilities,I stumbled in the sin of embarrassing someone in public".
He then started crying bitterly shaking up everyone who heard him. He continued by saying, “being that one who embarrasses his friend has no portion in the world to come, I don't feel that I am worthy to still teach here. However I want to appease you, so I am asking forgiveness first from Hashem & from you איציק אהרן. Please forgive me.” It wasn't until he was certain that there were no hard feelings, did he continue to teach in the yeshiva.

This, says the אוצרות התורה, teaches us how careful we have to be with someone else's feelings. Look how far the rosh hayeshiva, the gadol hador, went to rectify a slight that he made to someone's feelings. He made a public apology in front of close to four hundred students! Imagine how careful we must be to merit the rebuilding of the Bais Hamikdash !