Counting from the Inside Out

"Lag B'Omer" means the 33^rd day of the Counting of the Omer. The Omer is the 49-day-countdown of anticipation between Passover and Shavuot, when we received the Torah. Lag B'Omer is a special day for several reasons. First, it is the anniversary of the death ("Hillulah" or "yartzeit") of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (known by the acronym, the "Rashbi"), one of the five most famous students of Rabbi Akiva. In addition to being a great Talmudic scholar, the Rashbi was also the author of the foundation text of Kabbalah, the Zohar, the dictation of which was completed on Lag B'Omer.

The Zohar says that during the three days prior to the Rashbi's passing, he taught his students the secrets of the Torah, which were later to be edited into the Zohar; "Day was night and night was day, as the secrets of heaven were being revealed on earth."

The days of the Omer are considered a mourning period, because during this time 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva from an earlier period died in a plague. On Lag B'Omer they stopped dying.

What is the connection between Lag B'Omer and Shavuot? Rabbi Dovber, the Mittler Rebbe of Chabad writes that we have to understand the connection between Shabbat and a wedding. On Shabbat we make two main meals, the night meal and the day meal. The night meal is called the meal of the "Holy Apple Orchard", while the day meal is called the meal of the "Holy Ancient One" and is much higher spiritually. Interestingly, while it is a common for the night meal to feel more special, it is really the day meal that has most of the spiritual power.

This is likened to a king who marries a girl from the provinces. To honor the king and queen-to-be, all the ministers come with the king in all of their finery to make a meal in her small village. None of the locals has ever seen such a spectacle in their lives! Only afterwards does everyone go back to the capital city for the real wedding party in the palace. While the real magnificence is in the palace, none of wedding guests are affected by all of the finery because to them it is commonplace. Similarly, we are very aware of Shabbat at the night meal because of its contrast with the mundane week, while it is really the morning meal, the "Holy Ancient One", that is more spiritually potent and when we are on a higher spiritual level.

This is the connection between Shavuot and Lag B'Omer. The Torah explains that just as Shabbat is a weekly wedding between G‑d and the Jewish people, so too, Shavuot is also called a wedding between the Jewish people and the Torah. And even though on Shavuot we feel all of the excitement of the giving of the Torah (i.e. the thunder and the lightning and hearing G‑d say the Ten Commandments), this is more like the Shabbat night meal when there is more excitement, but the spiritual power is less.

When is the real power? The real power, the real connection to the infinite, happens on Lag B'Omer when Kabbala's inner dimensions of the Torah are revealed. So too, we can understand why Mt. Sinai happened before the Rashbi's passing, just as the meal of the king and his ministers in the village precedes the real wedding feast in the capitol. We also can understand why Lag B'Omer precedes Shavuot in the annual calendar, to teach that it is only through the inner desire of the Almighty to create the world so that the Torah could be revealed. Celebrate Lag B'Omer Jewishly! Learn Zohar to connect with the Rashbi! Begin in earnest your preparation for Shavuot!

Chag Sameach, Shaul

Copyright 2003 by KabbalaOnline.org. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this work or portions thereof, in any form, unless with permission, in writing, from Kabbala Online.