Rabbi Heller's Blog

We are a more than halfway from Passover to Shavuot. Four weeks ago, we dined on Matzah, and in just over 2 weeks we’ll be up late studying and eating cheesecake to celebrate receiving the Torah. Our Torah portion, Emor, describes these seven weeks as a time of watchful counting. This period became known as the “Omer” named after the distinctive grain offering that marked it. It began with the cutting of very first sheaves of barley, and then excitement grew for 49 days with the ripening and harvesting of the main grain crops, until finally the Israelites thronged to Jerusalem in joyful pilgrimage to bring the best of the crop as an offering of gratitude. This week we observe Lag B’omer, a unique waypoint in the this period. Lag B’omer was unknown in the Bible, but bears an important lesson for us.

In later times, the Omer became known as a mournful period- people avoided shaving, musical performances, and joyful events like weddings.  Why is the Omer a mournful time? Shouldn’t we be excited to look forward to the giving of the Torah? One explanation for this practice is found in the Talmud, tractate Yevamot- Rabbi Akiva had 24,000 students who perished in a plague because “they did not respect each other.” Some modern scholars think that the “plague” was really a euphemism for the death of these students in an ill-fated uprising against Rome from 132-135 CE (Rabbi Akiva himself was martyred during this uprising).  The mournful practices of the Omer would then commemorate these students

However, the 33^rd day of that period, known as Lag B’omer, (observed on Thursday night and Friday) became known as a break in the mournful practices. It has become a day known for weddings, bonfires and haircuts (and this year, for our congregation, our annual meeting and festive BBQ). The Torah does not single out this day. So why is it marked for celebration? Some explain that it was because the plague against Rabbi Akiva’s students literally stopped on this date, or that the plague account was a metaphor for the date of a victory, albeit temporary, in the war against Rome. The mystics suggest that Lag B’omer is the 5^th day of the 5^th week of the Omer, which represents a particularly strong type of spiritual majesty. They also observe this date as the Yahrzeit of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, to whom many important mystical texts are attributed.

What does the Omer mean to us this year, as we count not just 32 days of some ancient plague, but 587 days of war, captivity and suffering? This year Lag B’omer is an important reminder for us. We are enduring a time of national grief, and even times which might otherwise be joyful carry the pall of knowing that our brethren are captive and that there is a death toll which clicks up far too often. Meanwhile, Israeli society, and indeed, our own American Jewish community, are just as divided as Rabbi Akiva’s students once were. Perhaps in this moment Lag B’omer tells us that we must celebrate small victories- the liberation of even a single captive, or even a day on which no deaths are recorded, or a day when the sirens do not sound.

We look ahead to the end of this national counting. Maybe it is too much to ask that in a matter of weeks, the length of the grain harvest, we will see the return of our captives, and at least a pause in the war and the suffering of so many. And, though it seems impossible at this moment, to envision a true and lasting peace, history is long. The revelation at Sinai was 49 days after the Exodus, but it took another 40 years, and the passing of a generation, for its vision to come to fruition.

Lag B’omer also speaks to us on an individual scale. We all go through times of trouble and turmoil in our lives- months of illness and mourning, fear and suffering. Especially those darkest times, we must seize upon the faintest sparks of light to create days of joy.