The Jewish Home | MAY 19, 2022
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Lag B’Omer: The Beauty in Every Jew by Rebbetzin tzipoRah helleR
ARTwORk BY BROcHA TeIcHMAn THe ART STudIO Of THe fIve TOwnS 516-374-1904
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OctOber 29, 2015 | the Jewish Home
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proach – simply because he is different than oyous! Overwhelmed! Ecstatic! These words are all other people. They were punished with usually reserved for life’s big ones. Like the time choking – a state where a person cannot the human resources department called to tell take in air. Failing to give proper respect to you that you got that dream job. Or when you finally heard another person means ceasing to take in ruthe magic words, “It’s a healthy baby.” ach – spirit. When a person does not honor Lag B’Omer is that kind of day. Close to a quarter of a another Jew, it shows that he has stopped million people are drawn to the tiny northern Israeli village appreciating that person’s unique spirit. of Meron, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s final resting place. It My son-in-law Yisrael was almost 20 is a 24-hour spiritual festival with music, dancing, intense when he joined our family. I will never forprayers, and a teeming street bazaar where the latest ediget an incident that happened on one of the tion of the Zohar (the core text of Jewish mysticism) are very first Shabbats that he shared with us. A raucously hawked alongside pictures of tzaddikim (righfamily friend dropped in. Yisrael noticed my teous rabbis), hand-shaped amulets, and colored scarves. little four-year-old shyly watching the scene. Scores of three-year-olds are there for their first haircut, He had been enjoying getting to know his which will take place in the presence of their family and new big brother-in-law but the entrance of the tens of thousands of Jews of all stripes and colors who another unknown adult caused him to rethrong to Rabbi Shimon. treat. Yisrael smiled, held out his hand and introduced him This all takes place in the midst of Sefirat HaOmer, to the visitor. “This is my friend Yehudah,” he said of his the 50-day count up between Passover and Shavuot. This young brother-in-law. Yehudah beamed. He was a person, time period is accompanied by laws that require a degree worthy of acknowledgment. of mourning. No weddings. No music. The mourning is With this in mind, we can go back to Meron and get a a reminder of the terrible death of Rabbi Akiva’s 24,000 handle on what it’s all about. students who all passed on during this time period. Then comes Lag B’Omer, like a dazzling diamond in a sea of banal grey. What’s it all about? When a person does not honor The famous reason for the joy of Lag B’Omer is that the students another JeW, it shoWs that he of Rabbi Akiva ceased dying on this day. But the reason they stopped dyhas stopped appreciating that ing was because there were no more person’s unique spirit. students left! Is that a reason to celebrate? Why were so many Torah scholars Every Jew destruck down by the plague? The Sages say that they did serves respect, especially a talmid chacham – a Torah sage not treat each other with kavod – respect – and therefore – because his soul is entwined with Torah. Really knowthey were stricken with a disease that caused them to choke ing someone means knowing his thoughts. Learning Torah to death. The Hebrew term kavod shares the same letters means knowing G-d’s thoughts and bonding your mind to as the Hebrew word that means “heavy.” This heaviness G-d’s mind. It means inculcating Divine traits and growing implies recognizing another person as significant. It means close to G-d. So when one gives respect to a Torah scholar, making him feel that you want to listen to him and that he in essence one gives respect to that part of G-d that lives has a worthwhile message that only he can convey. inside every great Jew. What makes a person unique? Externally, we may Why do we celebrate on Lag B’Omer? We rejoice that share similar characteristics, but internally our souls are Rabbi Akiva did not succumb to despair after his monuvastly different. Rabbi Akiva’s students failed to recognize that every Jew has infinite value and has a distinctive apmental loss. We marvel at his exceptional fortitude in gath-
ering five new students and transmitting to them the Oral Tradition we have today. Rabbi Akiva taught, “V’ahavta l’rei’acha kamocha, zeh klal gadol ba’Torah – Love your friend as yourself, this is a prime principle of the Torah.” Torah takes you to a place where you can find G-d. The first place where you can find Him is within the heart of every Jew. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai was one of the five students of Rabbi Akiva. He revealed the secrets of the Torah – how to find the divine spark within oneself and in other people. Rabbi Shimon said to come to his tomb on the anniversary of his death, Lag B’Omer, and to rejoice. The Maharal quotes the Zohar which says it is easier to build a connection with a tzaddik after his death, because then he is no longer constrained by physicality. Some aspect of the tzaddik’s spirit remains at his resting place, and it wishes to give of itself. However, the degree to which you identify with the tzaddik is the degree to which the tzaddik will identify with you. On Lag B’Omer, when we visit Rabbi Shimon’s tomb, we are in essence saying, “Rabbi Shimon, you brought inner meaning and reality into the world; we want to see inner meaning and goodness in ourselves and in other people. Please help us do so.” Wherever you may be this Lag B’Omer, if you take a moment to identify with another’s inner G-dliness, you will absorb the profound message of the day. This article is based on a class, The Beauty of Every Jew, presented by Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller on Naaleh.com.
