Follow ChabadInfo & Never Miss an Update!

Follow us on Instagram Subscribe to our WhatsApp status and broadcast Follow us on Tiktok Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on Google News Subscribe on YouTube

This week’s reading contains sixty-three commandments most of which deal with the Jewish holidays. One of these is ‘Counting the Omer’.

The ‘Omer’ was a bundle of barley brought to the Holy Temple in a special service on the second day of Passover and it is a commandment to count the 49 days from this Omer till the holiday of ‘Shavuot’. That is ‘Counting the Omer’ and Jews have been doing it for some 3,300 years.

Then, about 1,900 years ago, when a very special Rabbi by the name of Shimon bar Yochai (aka Rashb’i) passed away on the 33rd of these 49 days (In the Northern Israeli city of Meron) we began commemorating that day as well. It’s called ‘Lag B’Omer’ (The Hebrew letters LG stand for 33) which this year comes out this Thursday night-Friday.

Rashb’i wrote a book called the “Zohar” containing Torah mysteries that are essential in bringing Moshiach. And this is so important that Rabbi Shimon commanded that on this day, Lag B’Omer, when he revealed his deepest mysteries just before passing away, all Israel should rejoice.

So on that date every year in Meron, the site of his grave, almost a half-million Jews visit, sing, dance and pray and Jewish children throughout the world rejoice (in Israel; around thousands of bonfires spread across the country).

But, interestingly, we don’t commemorate Rabbi Shimon’s passing on a calendar date like every other Jewish holiday only on a day of the ‘Omer’ counting.

There is a deep lesson here; nothing in Torah is accidental.

Here are two very strange stories about Rabbi Shimon that will help explain.

Around 400 years ago lived a holy Torah genius by the name of Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, or as he is best known, Ar’i Zal (Zal means ‘of blessed memory’).  He was arguably the greatest Kabbalist (master of mystical Torah secrets) of all time, and every year he would take all his pupils to Meron to rejoice at Rashbi’s grave on Lag B’Omer.

But one of his greatest pupils, Rabbi Avraham HaLevi, had a hard time rejoicing.

Rabbi Avraham  was a holy and sensitive man who felt the suffering of the Jewish people in exile and mourned the destruction of the Temple constantly. As much as he tried, he couldn’t put his pain aside and this time, while hundreds of Jews were rejoicing around him, he said a prayer of mourning for the Temple.

Shortly after he finished his prayer, he felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned to see the Ar’i with a serious look on his face  that spelled bad news.

The Ar’i told him that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai just appeared to him and informed him that because one of his pupils mourned on his day of rejoicing, that pupil will soon have an additional cause to mourn.

Keeping in mind that Rashb’i had passed away well over a thousand years earlier it is strange that he still cared what happened in this world. Also strange that being happy on Lag B’omer was so important. It seems that on Lag b’Omer is a revelation of Moshiach; world peace and blessing and the job of the Ari’s pupils was to rejoice and advertise this – not ignore it.

Now the second story:

On another Lag B’Omer the Ar’i had brought his pupils to Meron and was watching them dance along with the hundreds of other Jews there when out of the crowd a very impressive, impeccably dressed old man appeared, grabbed the hand of one of the Ari’s most simple pupils; Elazar the caretaker of the Ari’s synagogue, and began dancing enthusiastically with him.

It caught everyone’s attention. There was something so intense, genuine and unique about how these two were rejoicing that everyone else stood in a circle around them; enthusiastically clapping their hands and singing.

But then the unexpected occurred; the Ar’i, usually deeply spiritual broke from his holy nature and joined them in their dancing; linking arms with the old man and then with the janitor then both of them dancing fervently, seemingly with boundless energy.

The pupils were truly amazed. They had never seen him like this. Everything the Ari did was according to the deepest heavenly secrets and certainly the reason for this dancing was something very special! And who was the Jew they were dancing with? At the first opportunity they would ask for an explanation.

Sure enough a few hours later they found time to ask and the Ar’i replied with a smile. “Do you know who that old man was? Have any of you ever seen him?”

When no one answered he continued. “Well, that old man was ….. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai himself! He personally came to join the festivities. I certainly had to dance with him.  And if danced with Reb Elazar …. it must be that our janitor is not as simple as he seems.

Later it was revealed that the ‘simple’ janitor was Rabbi Elazar Azkari who authored the book ‘Sefer HaCharidim’.

This answers our questions about Rabbi Shimon’s passing and counting the Omer.

In both of the above stories Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai appeared physically over a thousand years after his passing in the first story only to the Ar’i and in the second, to hundreds of other Jews as well.

The Mishna (Sanhedrin 10:1) teaches that all righteous people live eternally.

But the uniqueness of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is that he taught others to also be eternal! His book the Zohar reveals the true, unique eternal message of Judaism to all mankind.

In fact his holiness was so great that it was said of him “Who is the face of G-d? Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai” “One who leaves Rabbi Shimon leaves life” and he said of himself the undeniable truth: “If there is one truly great person in this generation it is ME.”

And regarding the Zohar G-d said;  “With this treatise of yours, the Zohar, the Jewish people will go out of the exile in mercy.”

Indeed, the ideas in the Zohar are so essential to Judaism that ONLY they can bring about the purpose for which the Jews were chosen and the world was created: the arrival of Moshiach, universal harmony and peace and the raising of the dead. As Rashb’i did in our stories.

Let us take an excerpt from this week’s section (The Zohar is a running commentary on each Torah portion) regarding the commandment of Counting the OMER and see how the Zohar does it.

“Come and see! When the Jews were in Egypt, they were in another domain clinging to impurity like a woman when she is in her impure days. After they were circumcised [before leaving Egypt all the Jews had to circumcise themselves] they entered the holy portion called ‘The Covenant’ and began to leave their impurity. Then, just as a woman counts seven days until she can be with her husband so G-d told the Jews to count seven times seven days in order to be purified by the spiritual level called “Holy Supernal Waters’ (Chachma) and then be united to the King when they receive the Torah. Why seven weeks? So that they be worthy to be cleansed by the waters of that stream called Mayam Chiam “Living Waters” (Bina) and from which issue Seven Sabbaths. That is why when the Manna fell it was covered with dew (the dew that will enliven the dead). But when Israel stood by Mount Sinai that dew (Keter) descended in its completion and then all death truly ceased from them. Then they united in the Holy King in His aspect of Kingship (Malchut) to receive the Torah. And (so it will be in the future) at that time certainly all the rivers will unite with the sea to immerse all being in purity then the life force of the world (Shechina) will become holy an unify with the Holy KING!”

So we see that the Zohar, RASHBI’s masterpiece explains that the purpose of this Counting the Omer was to prepare the Jews emotionally and spiritually to receive the Torah and ‘See’ G-d (Ex. 24:10,11) at Mount Sinai where death was also erased.

And it is also a preparation to us today, now, for Moshiach who will rejuvenate the Torah and the entire creation again eliminate death and even raise those who have departed …. Completing the work of the Rashb’i!

Today we have the hundreds of volumes of Chabad Chassidut (ask in your local Chabad House) that will enable every Jew, and even gentile, to put meaning and blessing in the world and achieve the goal of all creation. As the Rashb’i of our time; the Lubavitcher Rebbe said that it depends on us to make it happen even one moment sooner. We are standing on the merits of thousands of years of Jewish hopes, prayers and suffering.   Now it could be that just one more good deed, word or even thought can bring ….

Moshiach NOW!!

Rabbi Tuvia Bolton
Yeshiva Ohr Tmimim
Kfar Chabad, Israel

3