Rabbi Chiya opened his discourse with the verse "And you shall count for yourselves seven complete weeks from the day following the Shabbat ['Shabbat' here referring to the Pesach holiday]"(Lev. 23:15). The Torah emphasizes that you shall count for yourselves [in Hebrew, "lachem"]. This is similar to the commandment requiring a woman who has her period to count seven days: "Then she shall count for herself [in Hebrew, "la"] seven days, and after that she shall be pure." (Lev. 15:28)

Just as she counts for herself [implying for her benefit] so too should you count for your own benefit. What is the benefit? It is to be purified in the higher holy waters and afterwards [on Shavuot] to merit to unite with the King [Zeir Anpin, and to cause the uniting of Zeir Anpin and Malchut] and to receive the Torah [that emerges as a result of this union]. This is the river from which flow seven weeks…

In the verse referring to the woman, it requires that she count for herself seven days but in the other instance it requires seven weeks. What is the reason for seven weeks [forty-nine days instead of seven!]? It is in order to merit to be purified in the river [of bina-consciousness] that is drawn down and flows and is called "Living Waters". This is the river from which flow seven weeks. This is certainly why seven weeks are required in order to purify him.

The seven sefirot of chesed, gevura, tiferet, netzach, hod, yesod and malchut are called seven weeks. Each week is in turn made up of seven days and each day also represents one of these seven sefirot. So the first week represents chesed and the work of the first day of that week is to be aware of chesed that is in chesed. The second day corresponds to the awareness of the gevura that is in chesed and so on for each of the seven weeks until all 49 days have been counted. These are the 49 gates that lead to bina. This consciousness of the sefirot brings the light of bina into all of lower emotional attributes that then become a worthy vehicle to receive the chochma, or higher wisdom, of the Torah on Shavuot.

In the same way as purification of a woman is by emersion in a mikva at night [which purifies her for uniting with her husband], so is it written, "And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it" (Num. 11:9). The text specifies that the dew fell on the camp at night, not just that the dew fell at night.

This is to emphasize that the dew fell from that point [the "inner brain", or "mocha stimaa", of Arich Anpin] on those days, which together are called "the camp" and united with the Holy King [Zeir Anpin].

The sefira of malchut is called "the camp" because it is the resting place for all of the higher sefirot of Zeir Anpin when they are united. This union also took place at night.

And when did this dew fall? [It fell] when Israel were nearing Mount Sinai [on Shavuot]. That is when the dew came down in its completion and in purity, and then the poison of the primordial snake was removed from them and they connected to the King [Zeir Anpin] and to the Community of Israel [Malchut] and received the Torah as we have explained.

Dew falling on the camp represents the revelation of the unification of the divine in the physical world. The poison of the primordial snake is the fall of consciousness associated with eating from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil; this is the source of all sickness and confusion, and it is this poison that is washed off in the falling dew.

Certainly at that time [of unification on the night of Shavuot]"All the rivers [sefirot of Zeir Anpin]run into the sea [the yesod of bina]." (Ecclesiastes 1:7). Israel is purified and washed [from the hold of any external, non holy forces, and then] are connected to and unify with the Holy King [to receive the wisdom of the Torah]. A person should learn the Oral Torah on that night to be purified together from the flowing of the deep river…

Come and see, any person who didn't count this number of seven complete weeks and thereby earn this purity, is not called "pure" and is not included amongst the pure nor is he worthy of receiving his portion in the Torah. Whoever arrives pure on that day [Shavuot] and remained conscious of the Counting of the Omer, upon reaching the night [of Shavuot] ought to learn Torah and unite with it and guard himself in the spiritual purity that dwells on him that night [by staying awake] and be purified in it.