Lag B’omer - Celebrating a Yartzeit? 5784

Sunday (18 Iyar, May 26) will be Lag B’omer.  This is a day that is celebrated with great joy.  Traditionally children are allowed a day off school with field trips, parades and entertainment.  Bonfires and barbecues are held, often with music and dancing.  What is the joyous event we are celebrating?  Primarily the death of a great leader, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.  

Which leads us to a few questions.  What is so special about Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai that his day of passing is celebrated more than any other great leader?  There are many great Talmudic scholars, including some who greatly impacted our history, whose date of Yahrzeit we don’t even know.

Also, why are we singing and dancing and celebrating the death of a great Tzaddik?  Typically a yartzeit is not a day of celebration, and many fast, like for example on the seventh of Adar, Moshe’s Yartzeit.  Yet one of the greatest annual celebrations in Israel is held on Lag B’omer in Meron, the resting place of Rabbi Shimon.  (I understand that this year because of the aggression of our enemies in the north, may Hashem remove the threat, there will not be the usual celebration.  Perhaps we can try to compensate in some way by increasing our own celebration.)

There are many ways to approach these questions.  Let me present a few thoughts.  One of the approaches to Torah study is called “Remez” - allusions and hints.  These include Gematria - numerical value of letters and other such hints.  There is a very interesting gematria connection to Lag B’omer, and it starts with a question.  

Why do we call the day Lag B’omer and not Lag L'omer?  There is a debate about whether when we count the days of the Omer, we should say “today is so many days B’omer”, or “L’omer”.  It is a small variation of Hebrew, and both are accurate, but most communities say L’omer.  For example on day one we say Hayom yom echad L’omer - today is one day of the omer, not yom echad B’omer.  Yet we refer to this day as Lag B’omer!  

The Rebbe points out that the Gematria of Lag B’omer - lamed 30, gimel 3, beit 2, ayin 70, mem 40 and reish 200 - 345, is the same Gematria as Moshe.  Mem 40, shin 300, hei 5.  Another connection between Moshe and Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai is that Lag B’omer always falls on the same day of the week as the seventh of Adar - Moshe’s Yartzeit.  And next Sukkot, the fourth day of the holiday will be on the same day of the week.  The fourth of the “Ushpizin” - the mystical guests that the Zohar says visit the Sukkah - is Moshe.

The comparison between Moshe and Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai is not just in the above hints, of course.  It extends to events in their lives.  Moshe escaped Pharaoh’s sword and had to live far away for many years, and Rabbi Shimon escaped the Roman emperor’s death sentence and hid in a cave for 13 years.  Moshe brought us the Torah, and Rabbi Shimon brought us the mystical dimension of Torah - Kabbalah, as written in his book of Zohar.  (Of course everything Rabbi Shimon taught was from Moshe’s Torah, but the mystical dimension was hidden and only taught to one or two in each generation, and Rabbi Shimon was the first to teach it to several students in a class.)

Rabbi Shimon’s effect on Judaism, for all times, similar to Moshe’s, was so powerful that his day of passing has a global impact that spans all generations and all communities.

The question remains, why do we celebrate a seemingly sad day with such joy?  Rabbi Shimon himself, the mystics taught, requested that we celebrate, but why the difference from other Tzaddikim?  

When a soul departs this world, all the Mitzvot and holy acts he or she accomplished come together and rise to the spiritual worlds.  This is especially true of a great Tzaddik.  On the day of his passing an intense light is revealed that permeates our world as well as the upper spiritual worlds.  However, in this world we don’t experience that.  We feel the loss of the great leader and we mourn.  It is in the upper realms where the joy of this intense light created by the Tzaddik’s life is felt.

Rabbi Shimon brought together the mystical and the physical.  He was the one who revealed the deep secrets of what  happens in the upper realms to us humans.  And therefore on the day of his passing, we focus on how it is perceived in the upper worlds, and in this physical world we celebrate the joy of the upper worlds.

I mentioned earlier that Lag B’omer  is a day of great celebration especially for children.  It is a wonderful opportunity to infuse our children with the joy and pride of Judaism.  I encourage you to ensure that your children participate in this special day by attending a Lag B’omer celebration, like the one at Chabad on Sunday afternoon for children and adults (chabadpaloalto.com/lagbaomer).  And if you want to give them a really memorable experience, I highly recommend the Parade and Celebration in S. Francisco (lagbomersf.org).  The spirit of this day permeates our souls and our psyches in a way that no other day can, and has a lasting impact on our children’s connection to Hashem and the Torah.