Turning the Page on Lag B'Omer

Happy Lag B’Omer!

What is Lag B’Omer?

Lag B’Omer, the 33^rd day of the Omer, is a festive day on the Jewish calendar. For many, it marks the end of the subdued behavior and no haircuts or shaving of the Omer period. It is celebrated with outings on which children play outdoors – traditionally with bows and arrows, bonfires, parades and other joyous events. Many people travel to visit the resting place in Meron in northern Israel of the great sage and mystic Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. (See HERE for details and images of last night’s festivities.)

Say what???

Where does all this come from? Why the joy? Why the bonfires? Why anything on a day which is not mentioned ANYWHERE in the Talmud or early Jewish sources?

One reason for the holiday is that there is a tradition that Rabbi Akiva’s students, who died during the Omer period, stopped dying on the 33^rd day of the Omer. If we are sad during the Omer period due to our continuing grief over the loss of all the Torah of Rabbi Akiva’s students, then the cessation of their dying is a reprieve from that grief. The day became memorialized as a day of relief and celebration.

A second source for Lag B’Omer being a happier day is based on a number of Kabbalistic explanations that find spiritual significance in the 33^rd day of the Omer. Since the day is spiritually elevated, it deserves to be celebrated. The most well-known of these spiritual reasons is the tradition that Lag B’Omer is the yahrzeit of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, whose teachings form the basis for the Zohar, the primary book of Jewish mysticism. On this yahrzeit, we celebrate the “light” of the Torah that Rabbi Shimon revealed.

This is all very nice, and I enjoy a bonfire just as much as the next person, but do these reasons rate a holiday? I am not alone in my skepticism. Not everyone is so enthusiastic about Lag B’Omer.

Rabbi Moshe Sofer (1762-1835, Hungary) questions whether it is permissible to establish a new holiday that is not based on any type of miracle. Rabbi Yosef Shaul Nathanson (1808-1875, Poland) also objects to the celebration on similar grounds. He notes that the traditional way to commemorate a yahrtzeit is to fast and not to celebrate. He also questions the practice of making bonfires which burn clothing as it seems like a violation of bal tashchit, it’s wasteful.

So where does that leave us? What is the message of Lag B’Omer?

The two major sources for celebrating Lag B’Omer are the end of Rabbi Akiva’s students dying and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s passing. Both episodes teach an important lesson of continuity. 

How did the passing of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai impact his students? They rededicated themselves to spreading his teaching. What did Rabbi Akiva do after losing his students? He immediately taught new ones. 

Lag B’Omer is the holiday of moving forward.

This may be why the day revolves around children. The children have outings, and the young children get their first haircuts. On Lag B’Omer, we look forward to tomorrow.

There has been a lot of hoping for tomorrow during the past 18 months.

We often speak or hear about moving from the horrors of October 7 to the hope, resilience, and strength of October 8. There are so many heroes and so much inspiration. For those of us outside Israel or not directly impacted, it may sometimes seem abstract. But these are real people with real pain who are able to pivot to what comes next – and inspire us to do the same.

This week, Tzeela Gez, a 30-year-old pregnant mother of three children, was murdered while driving with her husband to give birth to their fourth child. Her husband, Hananel, was lightly wounded. The baby was delivered and is, thank God, recovering. Hananel wrote a message on Thursday that was widely disseminated:

“Today is a sad day. Last night, my wife was murdered. We were on our way to the hospital to give birth to our fourth child. Obviously, I am broken. This is natural. But I thank God that I am alive, and I will be strong in order to continue to be a light to the world. Because we will never let them break us. I am very, very sad. But I will continue to fight for the welfare of our people… we will survive, succeed, and prosper.”

Today is Lag B’Omer, the holiday of tomorrows.

This may not fully answer the question of why we have Lag B’Omer, but it should give us all hope and a reason to celebrate.