Lag B’Omer! This minor holiday occurs on the 33rd day of the Omer, the seven week period
Lag B’Omer!
This minor holiday occurs on the 33rd day of the Omer, the seven week period between Passover and Shavuot. The Omer is a somber time because it’s when 24,000 students of the great sage Rabbi Akiva died of a plague. It is customary during this period to refrain from weddings and other celebrations.
The plague ended on Lag B’Omer, so the day is a joyful break from the sadness of the Omer period, and it’s a popular time for weddings. There’s another explanation for the festive feeling: it’s the yahrtzeit - anniversary of death - of the great Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who defied the Roman rulers in the second century CE, and had to hide in a cave with his son Eleazer for 12 years. The two holy men spent the years in study and prayer, and Rabbi Shimon is credited with writing the Zohar, the foundational work of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism.
It is customary on this day to sing and dance around a bonfire, representing the light Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai brought to the world. Let us remember Rabbi Shimon by igniting and sharing the light of Torah, as he did!
