What's really behind Lag LaOmer

What is Lag LaOmer all about? (Sephardim call it Lag LaOmer and Ashkenazim call it Lag BaOmer.)

As a child growing up in Manchester my Elementary School always took us out on hikes on Lag LaOmer. In other times in my life we would have bonfires and barbecues. But I didn't realize the significance behind these activities till I was older.

Lag LaOmer is most commonly connected to three personalities Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and Bar Kochba. Rabbi Akiva was Rabbi Shimon's teacher for many years and their are several stories in the Talmud and Kabbalah about their relationship. These personalities lived 60 years afters the destruction of the Second Temple.

The Talmud (Yevamot 62b) tells us that Rabbi Akiva had 12,000 pairs of students and all of them died in one period of time because they did not conduct themselves with respect towards one another. They all died between Pesach and Shavuot. The main rabbinic tradition has been to use this time period as a time to work on our relationships. According to the Rabbis of the Geonic Period the day when Rabbi Akiva's students stopped dying was on the 33rd day of the omer what we call Lag LaOmer. 

Rabbi Akiva went on to teach 5 more students one of whom was Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. The two great scholars would teach and learn Torah in secret against the ruling of harsh Roman decrees. Rabbi Akiva was the leading rabbi against the Romans and started a rebellion against the Romans which was led militarily by Bar Kochba.

At first there was great success and the Jews established their own sovereignty over the land of Israel and even minted their own coins. But for a number of reasons the revolt failled and the Romans came to put down the rebellion. 

According to some commentators and historians Rabbi Akiva's 24000 students actually died fighting in this revolt against the Romans. It actually makes a lot of sense to say this because after the Romans put the revolt down around 135 CE, there was no major Jewish presence in the land of Israel until the late 19th Century. So the sad part of the Omer is really a mourning of the end of Jewish sovereignty in Israel. 

Rabbi Akiva was also tortured by the Romans and killed. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai as the leading disciple of Rabbi Akiva went into hiding with his son. The two of them spent 13 years in a cave learning Torah. It was during this time that Rabbi Shimon learned the mystical secrets to the Torah - the Kabbalah. 

On the day of his death Rabbi Shimon revealed the Kabbalah to his students. That day was Lag LaOmer. The Bonfires we light symbolize the light of the Kabbalah being revealed to the world. The Bows and Arrows remind us of the great revolt led by Bar Kochba. Although the rebellion failed and we mourn that failure with the first half of the Omer, we still celebrate the positive aspects on Lag LaOmer and the revealing of the Kabbalah.

Happy Lag LaOmer!

Why so much Kabbalah in Halakha

Apologies for those looking for Madonna.

In my last blog I mentioned that the custom of Turkish Jews was to wear Talet and Tefillin on a fast day even when the fast falls out on a Friday. Subsequently there has been much debate whether that minhag is a correct custom or not. I would like to state that this blog is not here to make halakhic rulings on particular minhagim or practices. It is here for the process of debate, discussion and food for thought. As such please feel free to comment on the blog or to send me a private email.

Let's start with an introduction. Levantine Sephardim and Sephardim from Western Europe have the custom of wearing Talet and Tefillin on the afternoon of all fast days (except for Yom Kippur of course). Some people have the custom to wear Talet and Tefillin every mincha.

The Be'er Hetev in his commentary to the Shulkhan Arukh (O.C. 37:3) writes that one does not wear Talet and Tefillin on Friday afternoons because of the sanctity of Shabbat. However Rabbi Mordechai Margoliot in his commentary to the Shulkhan Arukh called Sha'arei Teshuva (O.C. 37:3) writes that from a purely halakhic position there is absolutely no problem with wearing Tefillin erev Shabbat and one should not protest if someone wears tefillin on Friday afternoon. However, he adds that he asked many great Rabbis in Israel and they said not to wear Tefillin erev Shabbat. The Kaf HaChaim on the Shulkan Arukh (O.C. 25:100 and 37:11) first writes that there are those who do wear Talet and Tefillin Erev Shabbat but that the minhag in Beit El synagogue was not to wear Talet and Tefillin Erev Shabbat.

The reason given for not wearing Talet and Tefillin Erev Shabbat was Kabbalistic in nature that the holiness of Shabbat already starts from Friday afternoon and already permeates the feel of Friday afternoon especially late on Friday afternoon. This Kabbalistic teaching is held as law by the majority of great Sephardic Rabbis such as the Hida, Kaf HaChaim and Rav Palachi.

The Moroccan Poskim are in debate whether the Talet and Tefillin problem is all Friday afternoon or just late Friday afternoon. The consensus of the Moroccan authorities is that if Mincha Gedola is done on Friday there is no problem of Shabbat's holiness already taking hold. 

Nevertheless according to Maran if a person wishes to wear tefillin all day or even just Shacharit and Minha there is no problem with a person doing this on Friday afternoon from a halakhic perspective. The only issue is kabbalistic. 

My question which I don't really have an answer to is why does Kabbalah play such a central role in halacha? Maran was also a great kabbalist. But he took great pains not to bring too much Kabbalah into halakha. However, the Arizal, the Hida, the Kaf Hachaim, Rav Palachi and others saw Kabbalah and Halakha so intertwined that they always based their halachic rulings in Kabbalistic sources.

For example in my class last Wednesday night we were discussing whether it was permissible to wake up early before the fast started and eat breakfast if one made a declaration before going to bed? From Maran it was clear that this was acceptable to do but Rav Ben Zion Abba Shaul brings the Kabbalah that says even with a declaration once a person goes to bed they cannot get up to eat as the halakha. Now I'm not knocking Kabbalah I just find it strange that Maran would try and keep it away from halakha but in the last few hundred years it has been brought to the forefront.

As a postscript for future years: The next time that Asara Be'Tevet falls on Friday is Dec 25th 2020. There would be no problem having an early mincha on that Friday and that may resolve the problem a little. But there are many who hold even an early mincha is problematic.