Insights and Inspiration
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
"Your friend in Karmiel"
May 21st 2011 -Volume I, Issue 30–17th of Iyar 5771Parshat Bechokosai/ Lag Ba'OmerGreat Blazes
One of the most memorable experiences that any student spending a year of study in Israel has is the thrilling and unique celebration of that lesser known mystical holiday Lag B’Omer. First, however a little background. The holiday is the 33rd day of the Omer count between Passover and Shavuot (Lag being the numerological/gematriah value of Lamed =30 and Gimel =3). It is significanct in that it brings to a halt the mourning period of the Omer for the death of the 24,000 students of the Talmudic sage Rabbi Akiva who died during this period. Their deaths, the Talmud tells us, came as a result of them not treating one another with the respect and love their Rebbe had so much personified in his famous dictum
“And you shall love your neighbor as yourself - this is a fundamental principal of the Torah."
The day of Lag B’Omer, Rabbi Akiva traveled to the South and started instructing five of his remaining students and her ordained them and charged them with the mission that would restore the light of Torah that had been so diminished with the passing of his
students. One of those students was the great sage Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Many years later on the/ Lag B’omer day that he passed away, our tradition has it that a great light was revealed to the world. On that day he uncovered many of the hidden secrets of the Torah which were later written down in the Holy mystical book of the Zohar literally “Shining”.
students. One of those students was the great sage Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Many years later on the/ Lag B’omer day that he passed away, our tradition has it that a great light was revealed to the world. On that day he uncovered many of the hidden secrets of the Torah which were later written down in the Holy mystical book of the Zohar literally “Shining”.
Now for the memorable Israeli experience that will take place only about 20 minutes form my house this Saturday night and Sunday. For the past three weks or so before Lag B’Omer through out Israel you begin to feel something strange is going on. There are these huge pyres of wood slowly growing in empty lots around the neighborhood. Sticks, logs, beds, trees, houses are all being hauled, creating these immense edifices for something that can only resemble something out of an ancient Greek funeral ritual. Even stranger yet, these soon to be towering structures are being shlepped together and constructed by children, most under the age of ten. Then the evening of Lag B’omer comes. You know something is up when everyone begins to take in all their hanging laundry and shutters are closing tightly around the neighborhood. The “Night of Fire- Burning Children” has begun. Huge torches are lit and WOOOSHHH- the skies are lit with bonfires, as the festivities which include singing, barbecuing animals, dancing and three year old children’s haircuts (that’s another email) begin.
As an American who has attended many campfires in his youth where there were lectures on the finer details of fire safety for an hour beforehand. My memories of campfires consist of being ordered to stand about at least thirty feet away, as the supervising adult would allow us to peek at the flames from a distance. This was always done of course under the protection of three fire extinguishers and five park wardens. From that rather overly cautious perspective, the Israeli carefree attitude was definitely one that raises (razes?) hairs on ones head. As a religious person who looks to our time honored ancient traditions for the spiritual inspiration that its timely symbolic rituals bring however, one can find some enlightening ones in the flames of Lag B’Omer.
As one looks and gazes into the fire there is an incredible sense of awe. The unbelievable power contained in its brilliant flames. The light it provides, the warmth it gives, and the stirring it brings forth. The Jewish soul is compared to a flame and reflects the heat of the passion that drives it. We live in a world too often where that flame isn’t felt. Where the spirit has become cold. From the times of the death of Rabbi Akivas’s students when the brilliant life giving force of the Torah seemed vanquished, through every dark era of our long and painful exile that our embers burned low, we were challenged to relight the fires of our souls. And miraculously we have. For our loving Father in heaven has assured us that in the darkness there will always be that brilliant flame that will never be extinguished, that will reach forth and burst out in blazing glory.
The Zohar, that sacred mystical work of Kabbalah which contains the secrets of the Torah, is premised on the principal of the love and kindness in which Hashem created the world. Rav Tzadok of Lublin writes that when one truly loves someone then all their secrets are shared. For a secret is but the inner depths of the recesses of the soul. On Lag B’Omer the Almighty shared with mankind those loving secrets that his presence will continue to illuminate our lives. We need merely to scoop ourselves up from the mourning and celebrate the eternal flame we possess.
Have a superior Shabbos,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
RABBI SCHWARTZ COOL PLACES IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK-
HAR BENTALHIGH UP IN THE GOLAN HAR BENTAL 1700 METERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL. MT BENTAL STANDS OUT AS A BEAUTIFUL AND HISTORIC PLACE IN ISRAEL. IT HAS INCREDIBLE OVERLOOKS OF SYRIA THE GOLAN AND THE HERMON AND WHAT HAS BEEN CALLED THE "VALLEY OF TEARS-EMEK HABACHA" UNDERNEATH IT. THE VALLEY IS CALLED THAT AFTER A FIERCE BATTLE IN THE YOM KIPPUR WAR WHEN WE WERE OUTNUMBERED BY ATTACKING SYRIANS 10 TO 1. YET HEROICALLY OUR SOLDIERS STAYED THEIR GROUND FIGHTING BLINDLY IN THE NIGHT, JUMPING FROM BURNING TANK TO BURNING TANK, IN WHAT CAN ONLY BE REFERRED TO AS A MIRACULOUS BATTLE UNTIL WE REGAINED THIS HIGHLY STRATEGIC SITE.
THE MOUNTAIN IS CALLED BENTAL WHICH IS TRANSLATED AS THE SON OF DEW BECAUSE IT IS SMALLER THEN ITS COUNTERPART IN THE NEGEV CALLED AVITAL- FATHER OF DEW. "DEW" TO THE 60 MM OF DEW THAT FALLS A YEAR THERE. THERE IS A NICE CAFE AT THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN HUMOUROUSLY CALLED COFFEE ANAN AFTER THE FORMER UN GENERAL. THERE ARE ALL TYPES OF BUNKERS THAT YOU CAN WALK THROUGH AS YOU GET A FEEL FOR WHAT THE EXPERIENCE MUST HAVE BEEN.
HAR BENTALHIGH UP IN THE GOLAN HAR BENTAL 1700 METERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL. MT BENTAL STANDS OUT AS A BEAUTIFUL AND HISTORIC PLACE IN ISRAEL. IT HAS INCREDIBLE OVERLOOKS OF SYRIA THE GOLAN AND THE HERMON AND WHAT HAS BEEN CALLED THE "VALLEY OF TEARS-EMEK HABACHA" UNDERNEATH IT. THE VALLEY IS CALLED THAT AFTER A FIERCE BATTLE IN THE YOM KIPPUR WAR WHEN WE WERE OUTNUMBERED BY ATTACKING SYRIANS 10 TO 1. YET HEROICALLY OUR SOLDIERS STAYED THEIR GROUND FIGHTING BLINDLY IN THE NIGHT, JUMPING FROM BURNING TANK TO BURNING TANK, IN WHAT CAN ONLY BE REFERRED TO AS A MIRACULOUS BATTLE UNTIL WE REGAINED THIS HIGHLY STRATEGIC SITE.
THE MOUNTAIN IS CALLED BENTAL WHICH IS TRANSLATED AS THE SON OF DEW BECAUSE IT IS SMALLER THEN ITS COUNTERPART IN THE NEGEV CALLED AVITAL- FATHER OF DEW. "DEW" TO THE 60 MM OF DEW THAT FALLS A YEAR THERE. THERE IS A NICE CAFE AT THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN HUMOUROUSLY CALLED COFFEE ANAN AFTER THE FORMER UN GENERAL. THERE ARE ALL TYPES OF BUNKERS THAT YOU CAN WALK THROUGH AS YOU GET A FEEL FOR WHAT THE EXPERIENCE MUST HAVE BEEN.
RABBI SCHWARTZ LAG BA'OMER IN MIRON VIDEO OF THE WEEK- COOL!
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