May 4, 2018
By Beth Mordecai
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Good Afternoon,
Every day between Passover and Shavuot God commands the Israelites to count the days for seven weeks, or 49 days. The 50th day will be the holiday of Shavuot.
The time of the counting of the omer is also traditionally a period of semi-mourning. Many Jews do not celebrate B’nai Mitzvah, weddings, listen to music, or cut their hair.
The most common explanation for these practices comes from the Talmud, which tells us that during this season a plague killed thousands of Rabbi Akiva‘s students because they did not treat one another respectfully. When the students disagreed with each other in the course of studying they insulted each other instead of listening and disagreeing with kindness. In punishment, God sent a plague that killed many of the students. The mourning behavior is presumably in memory of those students and their severe punishment.
According to tradition, it was on the 33rd day of this counting, the omer, that the students understood the consequences of their poor behavior and changed for the better. Because of this, the plague ceased on the 33rd day of the omer or Lag B’omer. (The Hebrew letters lamed and gimel which make up the acronym “Lag” have the combined numerical value of 33).
Many celebrate the day with weddings, outdoor sports games, and bonfires. Through these celebrations, we must remember the reason for the plague and its cessation. When we treat others solely as an opponent and an opposite, we cannot see that we are both created in the image of God. We may disagree and those conversations are holy when conducted with respect for the other. When we forget that, we are unable to connect to each other and to God. Let us continue to learn from Rabbi Akiva’s students to listen to each other even when we disagree.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Metz
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