Lag B'Omer
Why is it called “Lag Baomer”?
The name represents the counting of the Omer, LAG being Lamed-Gimel (two Hebrew letters) representing the number 33. So it is the 33rd day of the counting of the Omer.
What is Omer?
- An Omer is a measure of barley. In Biblical times, on the second day of Passover, it was a mitzvah to bring barley the size of an Omer to the Temple in Jerusalem as an offering. Then fifty days later, on Shavuot, it was a mitzvah to bring the first offering of the new wheat harvest.
Why do we count the Omer and how?
- There are seven weeks (49 days) between the second day of Passover (when the Omer was offered in the Temple) and Shavuot (the wheat harvest). The period of these seven weeks is called the Counting of the Omer (Sefirat HaOmer).
What happened in the special day of Lag Baomer?
Few different things have happened according to the tradition.
- During the Bar-KoKhba rebellion of the Jews against the Romans, this day was remembered as one when the Jews defeated the Romans.
- According to the Talmud, and other traditions, Rabbi Akiva was the spiritual leader of the Bar Kochva rebellion, that took place in Eretz ysrael, 132-135 AD. On the 33rd day of the Omer, Rabbi Akiva's students, who might be the soldiers of the rebellion, stopped dying. And Rabbi Akiva started to reveal the light of the Torah to new students, including Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.
- Also on the 33rd day of the Omer, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, maybe the author of the central work of Kabala (Jewish mysticism) called the Zohar, died. His death is a celebration because on the day of his death he revealed the light of the Torah to his students.
- And many other things happened same day different year: the flood started this day, the manna started to fall down on Israel, the first day of the first rebellion against the Romans (66 AD), and more.
What are the different customs?
- As was said before, the 33rd day of the Omer was a day when Jews stopped the mourning (Due to the fall of 24,000 students/soldiers and the failure of Bar-Kokhva rebellion) for only one day. So it is a costume not only to shave during the day but also to have weddings and other festivals or celebrations on the eve of Lag Baomer.
- Because it is believed to be the day where the Zohar and Kabala were wrote by Shimon Bar yochai, tens of thousands are heading up north to mount Miron in Israel, where they have a huge celebration around his grave.
- It is also known to be a day where boys by the age of 3 are having a haircut (chalaka).
- Many are spending the day out and lighting big fire camps to remember both the rebellion and the fact that there is still a need to bring light and salvation to this world.
A different way of understanding and giving modern and humanistic meaning to the festival
- According to many, Bar Kokhba was not more then a “False Messiah”. This is to say; him and Rabbi Akiva (who believed Bar-Kokhba was the King Messiah) got it all wrong. Not only for them, but Rabbi Akiva has his 24,000 students died for nothing, while during the 3 years of rebellion almost 600,000 Jews according to one scholar, were killed. The outcome of the rebellion where horrific: some say this is where the real Diaspora life started for Jews. For almost 2000 years after Bar-Kokhba Jews didn’t have any political power or any form of regional authority in the land of Israel. So were the Rabbi and the leader true freedom fighters or just fanatics? (read more: http://www.hagshama.org.il/en/resources/view.asp?id=1392 )
- According to secular scholars, the origins of the mourning during the Omer, as well as the whole system of counting, are agricultural. In early days, after Pesach the wheat and other crops had come to a crucial point in the process of growing them: this is the time where the temperature, the wind, the rain and weather in general can make it a good or a bad year for crops. So the farmers where very edgy during those 50 crucial days and they did not want to celebrate to early, and they were very busy too.
- Lag Baomer was in the modern times used as a symbol to the new Jewish society, one that can fight back and rebel against its enemies. As matter of fact in 1885 “love of Zion” movement was founded on Lag Baomer (later to build Hadera!). On 1916 the Jewish youth movements in Europe decided to celebrate their youth day in Lag ~Baomer. In 1941 the Palmach was established as a possible reaction to the Nazis if they would storm Palestine. And many more.
- One very interesting story is the one regarding Lag Baomer in the Ghettos during the Holocaust. That day, for example in Warsaw, was not only against all odds remembered, but was also celebrated among the youth movement and was dedicated to the need to keep fighting against the evils and prepare to the final upraise (in the Ghetto).
Sources:
http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Jewish+Education/Compelling+Content/Jewish+Time/Festivals+and+Memorial+
Days/Lag+BaOmer.htm
http://www.ou.org/chagim/lagbaomer/default.htm
http://www.bjeny.org/erc_LagBaomer.asp?dept=Educational%20Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lag_Ba'omer
http://judaism.about.com/od/omer/Counting_the_Omer_Lag_BOmer.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_Kokhba's_revolt
http://www.kabbalah.com/11.php
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005188
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005188
http://www.hagshama.org.il/en/resources/view.asp?id=1392
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