Today we count the 33rd day of the Omer with “Hod Shebe Hod” (Humility within Humility). Today we also celebrate Lag BaOmer, a holiday that falls on the 18th day of Iyar and 33rd day of the Omer.
This day is an island in the days of the Counting of the Omer. Since Pesach we have been in a state of mourning for the loss of the 24,000 students that died from a plague, which came to a stop on this day. We don’t listen to music, we don’t cut our hair, we don’t make weddings, and in general it’s a time of introspection and refinement. These students died because they didn’t treat each other with the proper respect. How can it be that such Tzadikim, holy people fell into this trap. The answer lies in that there was a lack of humility amongst them. Each one of them thought they had the right approach of Torah and they couldn’t accept that the other saw things differently. When people grow spiritually their yetzer hara (evil inclination grows too), the challenges become bigger and what this day teaches is that we have to work very hard to always stay humble and to be able to look at the beauty in others.
Today we celebrate the end of this plague and the Yutzeid of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai, one of Rabbi Akiva’s surviving students,who asked that the day of his death be a day of joy because when a person passes this world completing his mission and purpose is a cause for a celebration. The Rashbi as he is known brought the light of the Zohar (mystical teachings of the Torah) illuminating the path for many generations to come which we still benefit from today.
Today is a day of bonfires,music,haircuts,weddings and in general much joy.
#countingoftheomer #chagsameach #lagbaomer
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