* Translated by Janine Muller Sherr
Dedicated in memory of Tzeela Gez who was murdered last night in a terrorist attack on her way to the hospital to give birth, and for a refuah sheleimah to her newborn baby.
1. Tonight until tomorrow evening (before Shabbat), we will celebrate Lag B’Omer, the 33rd day of Sefirat HaOmer (the Counting of the Omer), which began on Pesach and will end on Shavuot.
2. During this period, 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva died in a plague because they failed to treat one another with respect. This plague ceased on Lag Ba’Omer. Therefore, today we end the mourning customs associated with this tragedy, including refraining from holding weddings other joyous occasions. The wedding season is about to begin! Mazal tov to all those who are getting married soon.
3. It is the yahrzeit of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the great teacher of Jewish mysticism. Tonight, hundreds of thousands of people will travel to Meron, Rabbi Shimon’s gravesite, but wherever you are, in Israel or throughout the world, you can light a candle, pray, and study his teachings. On this day, Chabad organizes its annual Lag Ba’Omer parade for children, where they will also pray for our hostages, our soldiers, our wounded, and the entire Jewish people.
4. What is the essence of today? To remember that there is an esoteric dimension of Judaism. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was the author of the Zohar, the book of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism. Even if we ourselves aren’t able to understand this facet of the Torah—we recognize that it exists. The Torah is far deeper than we could ever imagine and the people around us also have, deep inside them, a layer that is secret and holy, as we do—there is much more inside us that we will ever know. Rabbi Shimon taught that if we study the hidden Torah and discover more about ourselves and the treasures within us, we will be redeemed from exile and released from all our suffering. May we merit to be among those who strive to grasp the deep meaning of the world and of our lives.
