They are being hoarded for bonfires that hopefully will burn all night in vacant lots, forests and pocket parks all over Israel on Lag Ba’omer, which this year falls on April 30.
From the second day of Passover, the next 49 days, culminating in Shavuot, are known as the omer period. An omer is a bundle of grain that Jews offered in Temple times on each of the two holidays. In Leviticus 23:15, we are commanded to count the 49 days that pass between the two festivals. This counting is known as sefirat ha’omer.
We count each of the 49 days with a real measure of exactness, every evening at the end of the ma’ariv service. “Today is the first day of the omer….”is the formula, which expands into weeks and days. An Omer calendar makes it easier to remember. The seven-week countdown is comparable to elevation from slavery to the spiritual height of receiving the Torah at Sinai.
The 33rd day has a special significance. Until then it is not permitted during the sefirah to cut the hair, wear new clothes, attend public entertainment or to get married. On Lag Ba’omer, these restrictions are relaxed. The children often call it “Bonfire night” but it is also known as “Scholars’ Day” because of a legend that a terrible epidemic occurred claiming the lives of thousands of young men, students of the great teacher Rabbi Akiva. On Lag Ba’omer the epidemic suddenly stopped.
Counting the omer links us to the words of the Psalms:
“Number your days so that you may acquire a heart of wisdom.”
On Lag Ba’omer we celebrate our steadfast hold to the Torah through the ages, and also honor the lives of great Jewish heroes of the Second Temple period, such as spiritual leaders Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, and military leader Shimon bar Kochba.
The writer is the author of 13 books. Her latest novel is Searching for Sarah.