Lag B'Omer - Our Youngest Festival,Dvora Waysman

Numbers have always been important in Jewish tradition. Moses spent 40 days on Mt. Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments, and the spies spent 40 days gathering reports for Moses about the Promised Land. Our ancestors wandered for 40 years in the desert until the Jews who had been slaves in Egypt passed away, so that a new generation of free Jews could take up the mantle. Then there's the number13, so important for bar-mitzvah boys; and it's also the number of the Principles of Faith, laid down by Moses Maimonides. Certain numbers keep re-appearing significantly, but the number 33 only once.

Lag B'Omer literally means the 33rd day of counting the Omer, which falls on the Hebrew date of 18 Iyar. "Omer" is the Hebrew word for a measure of grain, and the ancient Israelites celebrated the beginning of the harvest by bringing an omer of barley on the second day of Passover as an offering of thanksgiving. Today we also begin counting on the second night of Passover by reciting a blessing and verbalizing the number of that day at the end of the Ma'ariv service. You stand and recite the blessing, thanking G-d for sanctifying the act of counting - e.g.: "Today is eight days, which is one week and one day of the Omer."

Just as they did, we count seven weeks, celebrating Shavuot on the 50th day. The days between the second night of Passover and Shavuot are known as Omer or Sefirah (counting).

Sixty years after the Romans had burnt down the Temple in Jerusalem, a terrible plague struck Rabbi Akiva's students during the Omer season. Twenty-four thousand young men lost their lives. On Lag B'Omer, the 33rd day, the plague suddenly stopped.

Rabbi Akiva and his students were so highly regarded that the Omer period was declared one of semi-mourning when no weddings or celebrations of any kind were allowed. Only on Lag B'Omer was festivity permitted.

Another tradition links the festival, which is also known as Scholars' Day, with the great teacher Simeon Bar Yochai, who lived in the same period. His life was in danger because he refused to obey the Roman decree against studying Torah and teaching his students. When he was discovered, he escaped to a cave in the mountains of Galilee, where he hid with his son for 13 years, living only on the fruit of the carob tree.

Each year, on Lag B'Omer, his students visited him, disguising themselves as hunters, carrying bows and arrows. It is believed that Bar Yochai died on Lag B'Omer; his last request to his students was that the day of his death be celebrated and not mourned.

To this day, his burial place in Meron, a village near Safed, is the scene of very joyous Lag B'Omer celebrations. Many hundreds of pious Hasidim from all parts of Israel converge on Meron to honor the great teacher and the ideals for which he stood. They chant Psalms, sing Hasidic songs and study the Zohar, the holy Book ascribed to Bar Yochai. Three-year-old boys receive their first haircuts amid great jubilation and there is a great bonfire.

As a result of the Meron celebrations, the bonfire idea has spread to every part of Israel on Lag B'Omer. Children begin collecting firewood weeks in advance, and you see them carting it around to their proposed bonfire site in old carriages, supermarket carts, whatever moves on wheels. They scout out locations in vacant lots, forests and pocket parks and it is probably their favorite holiday. Now, every Israeli city and village has its kumzitz singing around the campfire, roasting potatoes, re-telling ancient stories of bar Kochba, Rabbi Akiva and Bar Yochai.

The festival of Lag B'Omer recalls a heroic chapter in our history. Today, the ancient country for which our forefathers struggled is once again the Jewish homeland and the center of the Jewish way of life. Within our rich heritage, the customs of Lag B'Omer the outings, campfires and bows and arrows, add joy and beauty to our life as Jews.

Dvora Waysman is a Jerusalem writer, and the author of nine books, including: The PomegranatePendant and Ester - a Jerusalem Love Story and Australian-born, she has lived in Israel with her family for 33 years, and can be reached at ways@netvision.net.il You can visit her website at: www.dvorawaysman.com

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Lag B'Omer - Our Youngest Festival , Dvora Waysman