Lag B’Omer is the 33rd day of the Omer. Lag is Gematria for the number 33—Lamed ל is 30, and Gimel ג is 3. Simple enough. The Omer, though, may not be so simple.
This time between Pesach and Shavuot is known as the 49 days of the Omer. An Omer, literally, is a sheaf of barley. The ancestral reference here is that back in the day, Passover was the barley harvest, always on the first full moon after the spring equinox. The wheat harvest, however, was seven weeks after the barley harvest (which is 49 days), and there was no way to know if the moon was six days into its waxing unless you counted. And what was around to count with? Barley stalks.
This period of counting has changed over time. Instead of an agricultural practice, it has come to symbolize a period of mourning, yearning, and consistent contemplation of the deeper truths of Torah. In other words, for those who observe the count, it’s a heavy time, requiring sustained engagement of the heart and mind towards the often-easy-to-avoid truths of the world. Why, then, is that the character of this time?
A Time of Political Chaos
As the story goes, the Romans were executing their plan to conquer the Kingdom of Judea and murder or exile all of its inhabitants. One of the greatest sages of our people, Rabbi Akiva, was a renowned teacher at this moment in history, and had thousands of disciples. His leadership of Jewish practice went against the edicts of the Romans, he was violently tortured and executed, and his 24,000 students were also persecuted and massacred in a period following Passover. This, and subsequent tragedies of the Jewish people, are mourned during the counting of the Omer.
In the darkness of this period, a light emerged: Shimon Bar Yochai. A pre-eminent student of Rabbi Akiva, he was similarly persecuted and went into hiding. Him and his son lived in a cave for 13 years, waiting for the fall of the current emperor, subsisting off of a date tree and carob tree that grew there in the dark.
In the Cave
Having steeped in the wisdom of Rabbi Akiva and then been put in the darkness of the earth for 13 years, what deep realms of knowledge could Rabbi Shimon have entered? Some pretty profound ones, according to the Jewish mystical tradition. So much so that the Zohar, the foundational text of Jewish mystical thought, is attributed to him. The Zohar, and the deep insight of the mystics, is understood as a source of light and of spiritual flame. So burning steadily in that cave, was a fire that has since lit the Neshama “soul” of the Jewish people.
Rabbi Shimon is said to have died on the 33rd day of the Omer, and so we mark his death by invoking the inner fire that his wisdom wrought with making physical fires. It’s a big yahrzeit candle for a big, bright soul. It is so, then, that sitting around a fire on Lag B’omer is a moment of journeying into the cave, away from the chaos of political upheaval, in a seat next to an elder, and glimpsing for a moment the quiet, flickering glow of the innermost depths of the Torah and the soul.
And this is some of the medicine of Lag B’Omer. This is the day when in the midst of a long process of effort and mourning, we get to instead celebrate. We get to slow down, and sit by a fire. In this time of political chaos, environmental destrcution, horror in the lands of our stories, and endless social media constantly calling our attention, this is perhaps the thing we need most. A break, a celebration, a simple, flickering fire.
How to Ritualize Lag B’Omer:
On Lag B’omer (evening of May 15-May 16) make a fire, invite friends, and tend it in the spirit of celebration, reprieve, and being accompanied by the light of our tradition’s spiritual wisdom.
Join us at Wilderness Torah:
If you know and love a child ages 8-12, bring them to our free DIY Fire-Building workshop on May 15, at Urban Adamah. Give them the gift of that slow wisdom of the fire.
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About the Author:
Alex Voynow, Youth Programs Manager at Wilderness Torah, is an educator, facilitator, and wilderness guide raised in the forested suburbs of Philadelphia and based in West Sonoma County, in the Russian River watershed. Through community building, earth connection, and a commitment to accountability and regeneration, Alex supports others through processes of liberation and collective healing. As a rites of passage guide, nature connection mentor, community historian, and community organizer, Alex gets to live his passion of practicing village building via inner and outer ecological healing.
In addition to his role as Youth Programs Manager, Alex is also a mentor for the Shomrim Teen Leadership program. Previously, Alex was a guide for Rite of Passage Journeys, a JOFEE Fellow and program manager at the Jewish Farm School, wilderness director at Eden Village West summer camp, outdoor educator at the Teva education center, and mentor for Wilderness Torah’s B’naiture and B’hootz programs. Besides creating beautiful, earthen jewish worlds for our future generations, Alex loves to cook, free dive, sit by the fire, and revel in the beauty of coastal California’s human and beyond-human ecosystems.
