![]() At some stage, Lag Ba’omer began to be celebrated as “Scholars’ Day,” with Jewish students getting the day off and going hiking and the like. In the 18th century it began to be practiced among Sephardi communities and later that century among Hasidic Jews in Eastern Europe. This Meronite mode of celebrating Lag Ba’omer slowly spread from Safed to the rest of the Holy Land during the 17th century. Thus, since the Hebrew word for rainbow and bow are one and the same – keshet – playing with bow and arrows is seen as a way of celebrating the life of the great sage. This is likely due to influence of non-Jewish neighbors, but is explained by a midrash, which claims that, during the lifetime of Rabbi Simeon bar Yochai, no rainbows appeared. Why the bonfire? It isn’t about cooking it’s that fire symbolizes the light that is wisdom, spread by the great rabbi bar Yochai.Ĭhildren were and still are given bows and arrows to play with. The Meronite celebration includes giving 3-year-old boys their first haircuts, lighting bonfires, singing and dancing. From that time, Lag Ba’omer has been marked specially at Mount Meron, where bar Yochai is believed to be buried. In the 16th century, Rabbi Isaac Luria (“Ha’Ari”) decided that Rabbi Simeon bar Yochai, who according to (a false) tradition wrote the Kabbalistic book the Zohar, died on Lag Ba’omer, and on his deathbed he revealed to his disciples mystical traditions. We first hear of celebrations marking that 33rd day of the count in the 15th century, in the writings of the important German rabbi Yaakov ben Moshe Levi Moelin, though it is not exactly clear in what way the day was marked. That, therefore, was reason to mark the day with a celebration. (When the Jewish communities in the Rhine Valley were decimated in 10 during the days of the Omer, these slaughters were added to the mourning observance.)īack to the plague: In 13th-century Spain, the Talmudist Menachem Meiri wrote in a commentary on the Tractate Yevamot that according to a Gaonic tradition, the plague ended on Lag Ba’omer. Thus, during the Omer, traditional Jews observed mourning rituals, which included a ban on shaving, getting haircuts or getting married. ![]() However, since the 9th century, these 49 days became days of mourning over the deaths of the 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva, who, according to the Talmud (Yevamot 62b), died between Passover and Shavuot of a plague. ![]() Lag Ba’omer is simply the 33rd day of this count, with “Lag” – lamed gimel – being the way Jews write the number 33.īack then, the 33rd day of the Omer had no special significance. This was called Sefirat Ha’omer (“The counting of the Omer”). Though the holiday is relatively new, this story starts in biblical times, when Jews were commanded to count the 49 harvest days from Passover to Shavuot. Few may realize it, but what we’re celebrating is the cessation of a vicious plague that carried off tens of thousands of yeshiva students more than 1,000 years ago – maybe. Marked on the 18th day of the Jewish month of Iyar, the modern festivities include making a bonfire and roasting potatoes, franks, marshmallows and other fire-friendly foods on the flames. Lag Ba’omer is a minor Jewish holiday that traces back not to antiquity, but to the Middle Ages. It breaks down Lag B’Omer, its supposed origins and how it’s been co-opted over the centuries to suit the needs of various groups. Is it a holiday of scholars? A chance to practice your archery skills? What’s up with all the bonfires? The following article was written by Elon Gilad, Ha’aretz contributor and posted on the Ha’aretz website in 2018. Sundown, May 11, marks the minor and “much misunderstood” Jewish holiday of Lag B’Omer.
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