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LAG B'OMER
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM
SAD AND HAPPY DAYS
Why then are these days sad days?
Through the years the omer period has become identified with sad memories for Jewry. Massacres occurred during the period of the Romans and, later still, during the Crusades. In the days of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, the Jews - led by Bar Kochba - attempted to drive out the foreign oppressors from Judea. The revold was unsuccessful and during fighting thousands of Jews lost their lives.
According to the Talmud (Tractate Yevamot 62b), 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva died in one short period because they did not show proper repsect to one another! And all of them died between Pesach and Shavuot as a result of a mysterious God-sent plague that raged during the days of the Omer counting. For this reason it is customary to observe a period of semi-mourning during the whole month of Iyar (with one exception) and weddings are not held, hair is not cut, and music is not heard. Some do not shave during this entire period.
Then why are we happy on Lag b'Omer?
Because on one day only, Lag b'Omer (the eighteenth of Iyar, the 33rd day of the Omer), Rabbi Akiva's students did not die. It was made into a festival in the middle of the days of mourning which precede and follow it. The ban on weddings and joyful occasions was lifted.
How do we celebrate Lag B'Omer?
Lag b'Omer is characterised by a day of outings. In Eretz Yisrael and throughout the Diaspora, the day is celebrated with picnics, ballgames, and mock bow-and-arrow play-fighting. It is also customary to light bonfires and sing and dance around them.
Tens of thousands of Jews congregate at Meron in Eretz Yisrael, the burial place of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his son, Rabbi Elazar b'Rebbi (son of Rabbi) Shimon, where the day is celebrated with bonfires and songs. This odd celebration of a Yahrzeit (anniversary of someone's death) was a specific request by bar Yochai of his students.
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