There are 50 days between Passover and Shavuot – the festival of the first fruits. We keep track of these days by “counting the Omer” (in Hebrew, Sefirat HaOmer). An omer is a bundle of grain which, in Temple times, would be offered each day between the two holidays. Every night, until Shavuot, we announce the day of the Omer during Ma’ariv, the evening prayers.
On 18th of Iyar, the 33rd day, there is a minor holiday called Lag Ba’omer. Its source originates in a heroic period in Jewish history, 18 centuries ago. Sixty years after the Temple was destroyed by the Romans, the Land of Israel was in ruins. Thousands had been killed, exiled, or sold into slavery.
In an effort to free themselves, the Jews revolted under the leadership of an outstanding general Bar Kochba, and a great scholar, Rabbi Akiva. At first they were successful, but Rome was too mighty. Battering rams eventually broke down the walls of Betar, Bar Kochba’s last stronghold.
The Romans followed up their victory on the battlefield in 131 CE with cruel persecutions, attempting to wipe out all Jewish religion and culture. Rabbi Akiva and nine more leading scholars died by torture. But nothing could force the Jews to give up their Torah, despite the perils they underwent.
Lag Ba’omer has come to us out of this heroic period in our history.
During Bar Kochba’s revolt, a terrible epidemic struck Rabbi Akiva’s students, and 24,000 men lost their lives. The epidemic suddenly stopped on Lag Ba’omer (the 33rd day of the Omer). That is the reason that although the Omer period is one of mourning, when no celebrations are allowed, an exception is made on this day.
Shimon Bar Yochai
Another tradition links this day with the great teacher Shimon 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 he continued to teach 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 on the fruit of the carob tree. Every year on Lag Ba’omer, his students visited him, disguising themselves as hunters with bows and arrows.
Bar Yochai is believed to have died on Lag Ba’omer. His last request to his students was for the day of his death to be celebrated and not mourned. To this day, his burial place in Meron, a village near Safed, is the scene of very joyous celebrations.
Pious hassidim from all parts of Israel converge on Meron to honor the great teacher and the ideas for which he stood. They chant psalms, sing hassidic songs, and study the Zohar, the mystical book ascribed to Bar Yochai.
Bonfires at midnight
The real festivities begin when a huge bonfire is lit at midnight.
Women throw silk scarves into the flames. The men sing and dance around the fire until dawn. Some fall asleep from exhaustion until they are awakened with the cry “Shachar ba” (“Dawn has come”). The hues of crimson sunrise illuminate the mountains and valleys as praying begins anew.
Then, three-year-old boys receive their first haircuts, and the hair is thrown into the flames with much singing and dancing.
As a result of the Meron celebrations, the bonfire idea has spread to every part of Israel, with every city and village having a kumzitz, with singing around the bonfire, roasting potatoes, retelling the ancient stories.
An interesting claim for Lag Ba’omer is that it marks the day when manna first began to fall in the wilderness after the exodus from Egypt.
The fact that this is the most popular date for Jewish weddings adds a festive note to this semi-holiday, and Lag Ba’omer’s customs enhance our lives as Jews with joy and beauty.
Sadly, in 2021 there was a disaster at Meron. On April 30, a deadly crush occurred during the pilgrimage to the tomb of the Tannaitic sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, where it was estimated that 100,000 people were in attendance.
Forty-five men and boys were killed and 150 injured when celebrants poured out of one section, down a passage with a sloping metal floor wet with spilled beverages.
Those behind, unaware of the blockage ahead, continued, trampling on and crushing those below. On May 10, police arrested the safety engineer and his assistant.
Emergency Law
This year, the Knesset passed an emergency law that closes the shrine on Mount Meron on Lag Ba’omer for all but a few approved attendees.
The site was also declared a closed military zone by the IDF Home Front Command chief Rafi Milo, blocking it through May 27, a day after the holiday. The new law limits the presence at Meron to 30 people at any given time.
Today, Israel is a free nation – not under the domination of Rome or any other tyrant – yet we still recall Lag Ba’omer, a heroic chapter in Jewish history.
The writer is the author of 14 books. She can be contacted at dwaysman@gmail.com.