a value of 33. You with me so far? (You
know this isn't easy on me either; I had
to learn this stuffto write about it.)
Lag means this is the 33rd day of the
counting of the Omer.
The Omer? Yes, the Omer. In Liv-
erpool, they might say that Cecil. Field-
er just hit an "Omer." Not the same
_thing. Bear with me.
In biblical times, on the day after the
first Passover seder in Israel, it was
customary to take the first ripened bar-
ley of spring, cut it and take it to the
Temple. It was harvested in a joyous
ceremony. Beginning that night, 49
days were counted, and on the 50th
day, the festival of Shavuot, or the giv-
ing of the Ten Commandments by God
to the Jewish people, is celebrated.
Shavuot, which also is called the Fes-
tival of Weeks, marked the beginning
of the wheat harvest. Counting of the
Omer links the early spring barley har-
vest with the wheat harvest, but it also
is a time that links our freedom to the
time we received our code of life.
Okay, let's take a break. Go
grab a pop, watch an inning of the
Tigers game. Relax, because it
gets even more interesting.
Okay, are you ready?
Throughout Jewish biblical his-
tory, some significant events have
happened during the days of the
Omer. In the Hebrew year 3826,
a Jewish rebellion against the Ro-
mans occurred. The beginning of
that rebellion is traced to the 33rd
day of the counting of the Omer.
Seventy years after that, Bar Kochba
and his followers temporarily con-
quered Jerusalem from the Romans.
Again, the event was on the 33rd day
of the Omer. It was the same 33rd day
that was chronicled as the time when
Rabbi Akiva's students stopped dying
of the plague, but not before some
24,000 had perished. Our sages teach
that they died because they were not
true in their observance of
midot
(manners) and
mitzvot.
Then there is the remark-
able story of Rabbi Shimeon
Bar Yohai, the author of the
mystical Zohar, the source of
Kabbalah, who is said to have
died on (everybody together!)
the 33rd day of the counting
of the Omer. Rabbi Bar Yohai
and his son, Rabbi Eleazar,
hid from the Romans for 13
years in a cave. It is said that
the rabbi taught his students

to rejoice instead of mourning his
death.
Now here's where the modern stuff
comes in. Rabbi Bar Yohai died in the
16th century. There are those among
us here in Detroit who have fond mem-
ories of taking trips to a small town in
Israel called Meron, a village in the
Galilee, where the rabbi is buried. Each
year, thousands of Israelis and others
from the world over visit this town not
far from Safed. The hilly terrain is cov-
ered with people in tents, families hav-
ing picnics. Near the rabbi's tomb,
Jews, usually Chasidim, are dancing.
Some people say prayers near the
tomb, some light candles. Some feel
that by touching the gravesite it will
help bring about a pregnancy, cure an
illness.
The symbols. First, there's the bon-
fire. Two different interpretations here.
During the time of the Bar Kochba re-
bellion, to notify other Jews that a re-
volt was happening, fires were started
all over Israel. This is done today in ob-

Above: A father rejoices during his son's haircut.

Right: Children play sports in Oak Park during Lag
B'Omer.

Below: Bonfires burn in honor of the holiday.

servance of Lag B'Omer. Some Jews
believe it proper to light fires as a
yahrtzeit to Rabbi Bar Yohai.
Because of the mourning associated
with the death of Rabbi Akiva's stu-
dents, tradition holds that Jews don't
marry from the first day of the Omer
until the 33rd day. Also, men refrain
from haircuts or shaving beards in the
same way they would during the year
of mourning after the death of a loved
one. On Lag B'Omer, though, it's OK
to have a shave and a haircut.
There's also another unique cele-
bration at this time: 3-year-old boys re-
ceive their first haircuts. Many Israeli
parents bring their children to Meron
because they believe a haircut there
will bring good luck. The cut hair is
thrown into a bonfire.
Another symbol is the bow and ar-
row. Children play with toy bows and
arrows to commemorate the rebellion
during Roman rule. Many Detroit area
religious schools have days of sports as
a Lag B'Omer celebration, implying
that we should be in good physi-
cal condition for such a "rebellion."
Nacha and Avraham Leaf of
Oak Park have personal memo-
ries of Meron. The Leafs had three
of their four sons, Yaacov Dovber,
Yosef Yitzchak and Ahron Moshe,
get their first haircuts there. Most
of all, though, they remember the
high level of spirituality they felt.
'There's this other-worldly glow
of Chasidism," Mrs. Leaf said. "It's

kind of a Jewish Woodstock. People
from all walks of life come together for
a yom hillula (a day of rejoicing)."
Hazan Sasson Natan, spiritual
leader of Detroit's Sephardic commu-
nity, also has fond memories of trav-
eling to Meron with his family for Lag
B'Omer.
"Every time you go, it's like the first
time," Mr. Natan said. "You cannot see
the ground. There are so many tents
and so much is going on. You would al-
most think that it was Yom Ha'Atz-
ma'ut (Independence Day)."
Rabbi Avraham Jacobovitz, director
of Machon L'Torah in Oak Park, said
the day has a "very mystical meaning
to it.
"As a child growing up in Israel, it
was an unbelievable experience. I'll
never forget it.
"The holiday isn't celebrated in the
sense of a full-fledged holiday," he said.
"It's a day of simcha, of joy. It's not in
the category of a Chanukah or a
Purim. Yet, it is important. In the sec-
ular world, I'm sure most don't have a
due about what it is. What boggles my
mind is that very few know about
Shavuot, when we received the Torah."
"I guess the holiday and its obser-
vance is real problematic," added Har-
lene Appelman, director of education
services for the Agency for Jewish Ed-
ucation. "The time I felt closest to it
is when I lived in Israel, because it's
there. It's difficult to display that kind
of excitement anywhere else." ❑

