Lag Ba’Omer
What is Lag Ba’Omer? It is the 33rd day of counting the Omer. The word L-a-G is an acronym
representative of Hebrew numbers, Lamed (L) is 30 and Gimmel (G) is three, thirty-three, Ba’Omer is
“of the Omer”. For a little context, the Omer is a 49-day period beginning the second day of Passover
and concluding on Shavuot, two of the three pilgrimage festivals in Judaism that coincide with the
barley and wheat harvests, respectively. It is the period between the release of the physical bondage
at the Exodus from Egypt to the spiritual responsibility attained by our accepting of the Torah at Sinai.
The modern kabbalistic interpretation considers the Omer as an opportunity to pursue
self-refinement, with each of the seven weeks dedicated to undertaking the interrogation of seven
aspects of a personal characteristic (lovingkindness, strength, humility, etc). We refine aspects of our
character, preparing ourselves to receive the Torah, that we might bring ourselves to a place of
reverence for the responsibility we carry to see the image of G-d in everybody, ourselves included.
The cause for celebrating Lag Ba’Omer specifically in Talmudic sources is that the Omer being
a semi-mourning period (a common practice among agrarian societies near harvest time), was a
result of the plague that ended 24,000 of Rabbi Akiva’s students for their dishonorable behavior
toward each other, ended on the 33rd day of the Omer. One of his surviving students, Rabbi Shimon
bar Yochai, Rashbi, was forced to flee with his son into a cave for 12 years for defying Roman rule
after the Bar Kochba rebellion, sustaining themselves on Torah and carob pods. They emerged
contemptuous of a world which offered more than constant Torah study and carob pods, finding fault
with everything.
Legend has it, anything they directed their eyes at would immediately burn. The result of their
insistence upon the world bending to their version of correctness was destructive. As they were going
about destroying a world they refused to understand, a divine voice spoke to them, saying some
version of “Go back to your cave!” G-d, displeased with their rigidity, sentenced them to return to the
cave for another year. Upon re-emerging into the world, they were willing to view the humanity and
the goodness of their fellow human, and offer their hands in service of need.
This is a fairly timely parallel to our modern situation, having just returned from our respective
caves over the last few years, we see no shortage of people who set their eyes to things with the sole
intention of setting them ablaze. Given the opportunity, every variety of hatred, indifference, and
greed is destroying things out of malice for the humanity of other people. On a collective level, we’ve
chosen to hurt each other for not being the same, to accost our neighbors for the sins of the empire.
What this means on an individual level, is that above the din of destruction, we will have to strain to
hear the divine voice demanding decency. That we not find fault in a people eager to survive and
nurture their own souls, not destroy each other in a million little ways, but celebrate the contribution
each of us makes to a world in which we sustain each other through loving, humble, compassionate
acts.
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