The 18th day of the Jewish month of Iyar is called Lag BaOmer. What does this name mean? Lag is the Hebrew letters lamed (?) and gimel (?), which together have the numerical value of 33. BaOmer means “of the Omer”. Omer is the name of a special offering that was brought on the second day of Passover and also refers to the counting period that begins on the second day of Passover and culminates with the holiday of Shavuot. Lag BaOmer is the 33rd day of the Omer count, which coincides each year with 18 Iyar (this year – Friday, April 30).
Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, also known as “Rashbi” (the initials of his name) was a 2nd century sage and mystic. He was the first to teach publicly the mystical inner dimension of the Torah, the Kabbalah, and authored its classic text, the Zohar.
In 2019, 600,000 Jews travelled to Meron to celebrate Rabbi Shimon’s hillula – the day of his passing.
It is truly a wonder how one Jew, who lived 1,900 years ago, is still so powerfully treasured by so many Jews!
Even though it is the date of his passing, why is Lag BaOmer known as Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s “day of my joy [hillula]”?
I like to say that Rabbi Shimon accomplished a revival for all the Jewish people from spiritual death.
Seriously!
There was no logic in the continuation of the Jewish people after having been slaughtered, exiled and all our leaders tortured and killed. Our Temple and entire lifestyle that centered on its service had been destroyed and no alternative was yet established. G-d planted in that generation one of the greatest souls in the whole of Jewish history to accomplish the impossible!
The Talmud teaches: ???? ??? ??? ????? ????? ???? ???? ???? -”You can rely on Rebbe Shimon at a time of distress” (Brachot 9a:4). To this day, we can depend on Rabbi Shimon to bring us back to life from any “narrow straits”.
Even his own flight from the Romans and consequent hiding in a cave for thirteen years, he saw as a stepping stone for even more depth and insight to reveal G-dliness and Torah in the mundane world (Talmud Shabbat, 33b).
Rabbi Shimon is mentioned in every one of the 63 tractates of the Mishna, the oral Torah, that teaches us HOW to live a Jewish life. Rabbi Shimon is the main voice of the Zohar that teaches us the depth and meaning of every aspect of the Torah and connects us to our very essence.
Rashbi’s greatness and influence grows each year as evidenced by the increasing numbers of people who come to his gravesite or join virtual international celebrations if they cannot be with Rabbi Shimon in person.
Here is a teaching from the Zohar that left a lasting effect on me and I hope it will be so also for you.
When Yaakov is about to meet up with Eisav who is approaching with 400 soldiers the Zohar asks why he begins his prayer by saying “I’ve become small from all [Your] kindness done til now…” – and only after asks for salvation from his brother Eisav? (Bereishit/Genesis 32:11). Surely he would first ask for help?
The Zohar (the Torah portion of Vayishlach) answers: Yaakov knows that all is from G-d. At that moment, he is totally humbled because he can clearly see that he has been given much, much more than he feels he deserves. This teaches us to praise G-d to such an extent that we are filled and overwhelmed with gratitude so we feel truly humble and small. Only then, from this deep, authentic and humble connection, we can then ask for what we need.
In Yaakov’s moment of fear he showed the way for all his children to first focus on all G-d’s kindnesses and goodness and restore our deepest faith and connection – only then can we humbly pray for more.
May the merit and great soul of Rabbi Shimon reach us all!
Chaya Bracha Leiter
Co-founder of Ascent
[Editor’s note: This is a great suggestion for regular meditation]