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May 19, 2000/14 Iyar 5760, Vol. 52, No.37
Day honors balance of spiritual, physical
Torah Study
RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN
Behar / Lag b'Omer/Leviticus: 25:1-26:2
One of the most puzzling of the festivals of the Jewish calendar is Lag b'Omer, the 33rd day of the counting of the Omer, which signifies a respite from the mourning period between Passover and Shavuot. Wedding celebrations abound, and the heavens are ablaze all night with bonfires throughout Israel, for which youngsters have been collecting wood since the conclusion of Passover.
Although the festival's origin is shrouded in mystery, and the true reason for its having turned into a day of weddings and bonfires unknown, the cave experiences of Rav Shimon Bar Yohai may shed light on the meaning of the holiday.
A chilling episode is recorded in the Tractate Shabbat (33b). Rav Yehuda, Rav Yose and Rav Shimon Bar Yohai were discussing the Roman Empire. Rav Yehuda declared, "How magnificent are the accomplishments of that nation. They established marketplaces, bridges and bathhouses." Rav Yose remained silent. Rav Shimon Bar Yohai was critical: "They established marketplaces to make room for the prostitutes, bathhouses to spoil themselves with pleasures and bridges in order to collect taxes and tolls."
When the Roman authorities learned of the conversation, they rewarded Rav Yehuda for his praise by giving him an official appointment, castigated Rav Yose for his silence by sending him into exile and punished Rav Shimon for his indictment by sentencing him to death.
Rav Shimon escaped with his son and went into hiding in a cave, where the two miraculously subsisted on carobs and water and spent 12 years studying the secrets of the Torah.
When the Roman leader died and the death decree was cancelled, father and son left the cave. They soon encountered a Jewish farmer plowing and planting and cried out in disbelief: "How can you forsake the eternal world and occupy yourself in momentary pursuits?" They heard a voice from heaven, thundering, "Did you leave the cave to destroy my world?" They returned to the cave.
A year later, late on a Friday afternoon, they left the cave again. They came across an elderly Jew running. He carried two myrtle twigs to adorn his Sabbath table - one symbolizing the command to "observe the Sabbath to keep it holy," the other the command to "remember the Sabbath and keep it holy." They then felt comforted about reentering society.
What truth did Rav Shimon Bar Yohai learn from the elderly Jew? The initial cave experience of total immersion in sanctity and Torah study likely intensified Rav Shimon's neo-platonic division of the world into two divergent planes, the holy and the secular, the spiritual and the material, and his denigration of everything that was physical. That may explain his negative attitude toward Rome and his disgust at the farmer's planting and plowing. He certainly would have championed a kollel way of life - cloistering oneself in the house of study and shutting out the world at large.
The elderly Jew taught Rav Shimon that the sanctity of the Sabbath is meant to express the possibility of endowing the secular with the imprint of the holy, of transforming physical matter into the higher form of the spirit. The Sabbath meal, replete with religious songs, words of Torah and family harmony, is a truly religious experience; the sanctity of the Sabbath demonstrates the need for the spiritual in penetrating, refining and uplifting the physical.
Plowing and planting to produce myrtle twigs for the Sabbath table, when conducted in a humane manner, respectful of the balance of nature, by a farmer who sets aside a portion of his land to be worked on by the poor and gives tithes to those who have no means of earning a livelihood, is itself a spiritual act.
I suggest that Lag b'Omer is the day when Rav Shimon Bar Yohai left the cave for the second time, and that the holiday is a perfect way to honor the memory of this great Jewish sage, with weddings of sanctity and bonfires of warmth, friendships and songs dedicated to Israel, Torah and God.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is the spiritual leader of Efrat, Israel.
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