Lag Ba’Omer ignites the fire within us

JORDAN MOSHE

Lag Ba’Omer is observed on the 33rd day of the Omer (which we start counting from Pesach). It is not a religious holiday, but it marks a break from the semi-mourning practices of the 49-day period which is counted between Pesach and Shavuot.

The Talmud offers the most often cited explanation for Lag Ba’Omer in that a plague killed thousands of Rabbi Akiva’s students because they did not treat one another respectfully. So, the custom of being in semi-mourning is believed to be in memory of those students. Hence, the reason for Jews customarily refraining from shaving, cutting hair, and celebration.

Because Lag Ba’Omer is a break in mourning, it means weddings can be held on that day. We can also have haircuts and light bonfires, according to Jewish law.

It is traditional to light bonfires on Lag Ba’Omer eve. This is to commemorate the greatness that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, a scholar who passed away on that day, introduced into the world through his continued learning and passion for his faith.

Jews around the world gather in their thousands to attend the festivities, celebrating around blazing bonfires.

While counting the Omer is a mitzvah, the mourning practice is custom.

“It is important to make a distinction between the counting and the mourning,” says Rabbi Gabi Bookatz. “The mitzvah to count comes from the Torah, while the mourning customs don’t even feature in the Talmud. As a custom, mourning has evolved and come to be expressed differently in various communities, and is observed at different period during the Omer.”

Bookatz explains that four different customs, not one clear-cut one, are observed by various groups.

“The Chassidic community tends to observe the entire 49-day period because of the belief that the students of Rabbi Akiva continued to die from Pesach through to Shavuot. Sephardim mourn until the 33rd day, stopping to celebrate Lag Ba’Omer, but then resuming for the 34th until dawn the next day.”

Two customs exist for Ashkenazim, says Bookatz. “The first is based on a tradition that the students stopped dying on the 33rd day. This means that mourning is observed until Lag Ba’Omer only. The second is that the scholars died only on certain days – on which we recite Tachanun (supplication) – meaning that the month of Nissan has no mourning, but people mourn from Iyar until three days before Shavuot.”

The periods overlap, so you may hear of people who keep the “first-half” or “second-half” of the Omer.

Because the mourning customs developed only after the codification of the Talmud, the way we express them were not established at once.

Bookatz says the period’s initial mourning practice was to refrain from celebrating weddings, dating back to the 8th century. “This was the first practice put into place,” he says. “As time passed, people took on more limitations such as not celebrating, not cutting hair, and, most recently, not listening to music.

“The prohibition is only about 150 years old,” he says. “People didn’t listen to music in private. It was a public activity. With the onset of modern technology, a new custom extended beyond the original one.”

This is particularly true in South Africa, where we have developed the custom of avoiding watching movies. This is the only country where this is practiced.

Whatever one’s custom, Bookatz stresses that one must behave within reason. According to the halacha, it is not music that is prohibited as much as the emotion it inspires. “In ancient times, a band would follow a funeral procession and play music,” he says. “It was contextually appropriate music, and of course it wouldn’t be prohibited.”

Therefore, if one wants to listen to mellow music that doesn’t inspire dancing or the like, it is perfectly acceptable. Moreover, many leniencies exist in cases where a person relies on music for therapeutic purposes, using it to treat depression or other emotional problems.

“If you’re feeling down and need cheering up, all agree that you can listen to anything for therapeutic reasons,” says Bookatz. “This applies even to formal mourning, so it certainly applies to customary mourning practices. They need to be practised within reason.”

Irrespective of one’s custom, however, all the Omer mourning practices are suspended on Lag Ba’Omer.

Many Israelis take their merrymaking to Meron, where by far the largest Lag Ba’Omer celebration takes place in and around Bar Yochai’s tomb. Children are given the opportunity to take part in colourful street parades across the country. The Lubavitche Rebbe encouraged the practice of arranging such parades on Lag Ba’ Omer in celebration of Jewish unity, a major theme of the day.

In South Africa, many shuls like Greenside, Great Park, and Sandton Central Shul hold spectacular bonfire nights, where congregants and others enjoy entertainment, braais, and other festivities beside a roaring fire.

So, whether you’ll be dancing around a fire, attending a concert, cutting your hair, or doing all of them simultaneously, Lag Ba’Omer is the chance to do it.