Lag Ba'Omer 5/6/07

The counting of the Omer begins the day after Passover, which is the counting of the days from when the Jews exited Egypt until the day Moses received the Torah (aka bible). Each day has a specific energy and character trait that one should try to channel into. In the midst of the counting of the Omer there is another holiday called Lag Ba'Omer = the 33rd day in the Omer. This day is the yartzite (anniversary of a death) of a great Tzaddik (righteous person) Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai.

The broad strokes with this guy is that he was a great Torah scholar, who was taught all Kabbalistic (Jewish mysticism) principles. Before him Kabbalah was only given over orally. He was considered to be at such a high level that he could foresee his own death, and also foresaw the value of transcribing the Kabbalah teachings from oral to text, the text is known as the Zohar. He taught the Kabbalah to his proteges who fervently scribed it into text. As the last word was recorded, Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai died but with a final request that his death be celebrated and not mourned. Also at his passing (this cud be urban legend) fires miraculously arouse all around him.

It is a custom within the Jewish religion (mainly by Hasidim) to pray at a Tzaddiks grave. Part of the idea being that by praying in the merit of this righteous person strengthens your prayers to G-d. If you can be at the grave on the day of the Tzaddiks yartzite all the more intense and heightened your prayers will be.

So Lag Ba'Omer is kind of 2 fold - it is an opportunity to sojourn up to the grave of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai for prayer and partying and it is also a big pyromaniac holiday.

For about 3 weeks before the day, young boys all throughout Israel collect any loose pieces of wood, or anything flammable - including twigs & branches, doors, Adirondack chairs, rubber tires, pizza boxes, etc. You have a chance to see the most industrious young men drag pieces of wood that are 10x bigger than themselves and construct a fire pyre that is equally like 15 feet tall and probably constructed next to a house, woods or simply the sidewalk. Adult supervision is supposed to be present at every fire but its the kids who are running the show. On the night of Lag Ba'Omer I saw an abundance of little tike's tending to their own fires and one mother whose son was whipping around a lit log, creating a very nice firecracker like pinwheel effect for his surrounding buddies- she yelled over to him "Thats enough playing with fire for tonight". I shared an American insight to an Israeli friend of mine - "In the States, we don't let our kids play with matches"



The 2nd component to Lag Ba'Omer is about 250,000 people sojourn up to the grave of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai in Meron (near Safed). Being that the Jewish calender is from sunset to sunset, the moment the sun falls behind the horizon the fires begin. Many campout by his grave site, light the pyres, bar-b-q, play music, dance and celebrate. It is known to be at its peek at night.



I was invited to go up in the day and figured its the sort-of on the list of 'once in a life time' and then probably never again. I mean, I'm here after all, I might as well take any opportunity for spiritual enlightenment, I gotta grab hold to what ever I can get. What probably should have taken us about 3 hours to drive took us about 5 due to all the traffic. Any rest stop we took was an exercise of futility because all the bathrooms were already over used from the other 200,000 people who made there way up before us. Once I had arrived I felt like salmon swimming against the stream with the mass of people already there. Before approaching the actual Kever (tomb, grave sight) there is an actual bazaar, selling of arts and crafts, religious paraphernalia and music, plus people offering free pastries and sweets. As I approached the Kever the more dense it became, (it was like a 100% that day) the more I felt like a sardine, the more beads of sweat dripped from my brow. It was suggested that if one really wants to get themselves into the Kever look for the 4'11" Moroccan woman in the flower dress (there were like 50 of them when I was there) and just grab hold of her, she'll get you there. I didn't exactly get the chance to grab hold of her because she had basically blind sided me in her divine parting of the masses. I then decided that being at the actual Kever was not that important to me and clearly was going to interfere with my spiritual nirvana. I continued to push my way threw the masses to find my spot. I chose a place amongst 200 women and stood firm in my efforts to maintain my 2 inch radius from other people. I had my conversation with G-d, made my reasonable and unreasonable requests in the merit of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai and was done. I people watched for a bit, observed the eclectic mass of people from religious to secular Jews, old and young praying, dancing and eating all in the celebration of the Yartzite of this Tzaddik.

I have to say that despite how hectic the experience was I think it worked! The positive energy, enthusiasm and celebration of the people made being there worthwhile. I think I could actually do it again, maybe even successfully grab hold of that little Moroccan woman in the flowered dress.

Seminary...

For many I probably seem quite cryptic regarding my experiences in Israel but the truth is for the most part I feel like I have nothing really interesting to offer. I don't think we are accustomed to evaluating our day-to-day let alone articulate ourselves in Blog form.

But as I left off last summer that I would be heading off to Jerusalem to learn more about Judaism and can't remember if I mentioned that I would be learning in an all girls seminary. Almost like being in the mountains of Tibet meditating with Buddhist Monks. Instead of monks in orange robes its Rabbi's in Black Hats

When you are a first timer like myself, coming from no religious background it is recommended to learn and experience the 1 year cycle of the Jewish calender, especially here in Israel where they hold by it more than in the States, (or anywhere else for that matter).

The learning can be intense at times but pretty amazing and rewarding. The environment is set up to be a haven for contemplation, processing, manifestation and internalization. However, it is also recognized that its not easy and sometimes we just need a break from philosophical contemplations of G-d, nature, man, life and oneself.

There is a recent phenomena that has taken hold in that Yeshiva students are coming to school with laptops and tapping into their neighborhood wireless internet. Granted the Rabbi's certainly respect the need for escapism but are sort of confused as to whether this is kosher or not. Perhaps their idea of mental escapism is reading Joan Collins books or Mary Higgins Clark instead of students sitting on park benches vegging out to Myspace & Facebook

When internet is not available your handy dandy laptop makes a great DVD player. Top most coveted DVD's in the learning circuit:

• Lost
• 24
• Prison Break
• Greys Anatomy

Anything goes for movies and am taking recommendations for downloads or simple donations

Feel free to forward to
Neve Yerushalym
Jerusalem, Israel :)

or email (new email address) pamelanag@gmail.com :)