Today is celebrated the festival of Lag Ba’omer, which is the thirty-third day within the period beginning on the second day of Passover and ending with the feast of Pentecost. Legend claims that among other reasons for celebrating this day is the fact that it is the anniversary of the first fall of manna upon the Israelites in the desert after their flight from Egypt.
The omer is the sheaf of the first-fruits which the Israelites were commanded to bring to the priests as an offering to be continued for 49 days. The word Lag stands for the numeral 33.
Lag Ba’omer is celebrated as a semi-festival, but there is no special ritual for this day. Lag Ba’omer is, however, the only day within the 49-day period when marriages may be performed, swimming indulged in and hair cut. There are other relaxations in the rigid holiday code.
“SCHOLARS’ FESTIVAL”
Various reasons have been given for this celebration, the origin of which has not been definitely established. The most common reason is that the plague, which raged among the disciples of Rabbi Akiba during the 49-day period, ceased on that day, the thirty-third, for which reason it is also known as the “Scholars’ Festival.”
Cabalists attach peculiar importance to Lag Ba’omer. It is a tradition with them that Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai, the alleged author of the mystic work of the Zohar, died on that day and that before his death he revealed many secrets to his pupils. The day is therefore also called “Hillula de-Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai.” The term “hillula” (wedding) points to the harmonious union of all the world, believed to have been consummated at the death of that great Rabbi. The day is celebrated with illuminations because, according to this belief, at the death of Rabbi Simeon the world was filled with light.
School children are given bows and arrows to play with on that day in accordance with the saying in the Zohar that a bow of many colors will appear in the sky immediately before the coming of the Messiah. The bow with which the children play on that day thus symbolizes the prayer of the Jews that the bow of redemption shall appear.
CELEBRATION AT MERON
The Palestinian Jews, especially those living in Safed, on this day visit the traditional grave of Rabbi Simeon near the village of Meron (at which the accompanying wash drawing by Lionel Reiss was made), after which they go to the woods near-by and celebrate the event with great rejoicing.
The Zohar is a mystic work which pretends to be a revelation from God communicated through Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai to the latter’s select disciples. In the form of a commentary on the Pentateuch, written partly in Aramaic and partly in Hebrew, it contains a complete cabalistic theosophy, treating of the nature of God, the cosmogony and cosmology of the universe, the soul, sin, redemption, good, evil, etc.
It first appeared in Spain in the thirteenth century, being made known through the agency of the cabalistic writer Moses ben Shem-Tob de Leon, who ascribed it to the miracle-working Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai.
The Zohar repeatedly endeavors to impress upon the mind of the reader that the Biblical narratives and ordinances contain higher truths beyond the literal meaning.
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