The Haircut Holiday: Lag BaOmer

Lag BaOmer "one one foot":

There is a Jewish holiday in late spring called "Lag BaOmer". This source sheet looks at the many threads that make up the story and customs behind Lag BaOmer.

Is there really a holiday that we celebrate with haircuts?

Context: The Shulchan Aruch was published by Rabbi Joseph Caro in 1563 as a “Code of Jewish Law”, explaining what to do in every situation that it could think of. In general it gives Sephardic practice, so the Rema (Rabbi Moses Isserles) wrote a gloss giving the Ashkenazic practice when it was different. There are 4 sections to the Shulchan Aruch:

Orach Chayim - the laws about Jewish time (prayer time and holidays)

Yoreh De’ah - the laws about Jewish living (kashrut, conversion, mourning, Israel)

Even Ha’ezer - the laws about getting married and divorced

Choshen Mishpat - the laws about business, money, and courts

This is in the part of Orach Chayim about Pesach.

What questions does this raise for you?

Days of the Omer?

Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Leviticus, right after the part where it talks about offering some of the wheat harvest on Passover and right before the part where it talks about offering some of the barley harvest on Shavuot. It is clear from the context that you start counting during Passover. An Omer is a measure of grain, here translated as a “sheaf”.

So when exactly do we start counting?

If the Omer period is about the harvest, how might Jewish farmers be feeling in this time leading up to the harvest?

So how do we count these days?

Context: This blessing comes from the Evening Service in the siddur. It contains “Asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu” because it’s about something we’re commanded to do in the Torah. Also noteworthy about this period is that traditionally we don’t listen to live music (and we do study a chapter of Pirkei Avot each Shabbat), in addition to not having weddings and haircuts. This semi-mourning is partly because of the Rabbi Akiba “plague”, partly because of the uncertainty around the harvest, and partly because of the massacres by the Crusaders during this time.

When we count the days to Shavuot, why are we counting up instead of counting down?

So why is it called “Lag” BaOmer?

Context: Pirkei Avot is a collection of quotes from the rabbis of the Mishnah. They lived from the years 300 BCE to 200 CE, and their sayings form a tractate of the Talmud. It’s one of the few tractates of the Mishnah which has no Gemara commenting on it, and it’s the only tractate of the Talmud which is about ethical/moral ways of living but not about Jewish law. Pirkei Avot is traditionally studied after Shabbat Mincha in the summer months (Passover to Shavuot), so it’s printed in its entirety at that spot in most siddurim.

Gematria is an alpha-numeric code. The word itself is Greek gematria (gamma - tri - a > gamma = 3). Aleph = 1, bet = 2, gimmel = 3, kaf = 20, kuf = 100, resh = 200.

How would you say 10 in gematria?

How would you say 11 in gematria?

How would you say 22 in gematria?

How would you say 33 in gematria?

Back to Rabbi Akiba - what happened with his students?

Context: This is from the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Yevamot, which is about the custom of "yibbum", where a widow marries her brother-in-law in order to have a kid accorded to her husband's name. This text is commenting on a mishnah that says you no longer have to fulfill the commandment of "be fruitful and multiply" if you already have a kid (or possibly a boy and a girl). In this sugya (section), it says that a baraita (text that didn't make it into the Mishnah) says that according to Rabbi Joshua actually you need to keep having kids even after you've had some, and if your wife dies you should marry again and have more into your old age. He supports this with a verse about sowing seeds in the morning and in the evening because you don't know how each of them will turn out. Rabbi Akiba doesn't think that Rabbi Joshua is right (nor does the Gemara); since in the Gemara people have to deal with the evidence presented by those they disagree with, this text expounds Rabbi Akiba's interpretation of the verse Rabbi Joshua cites.

What happens in this text?

Context: This is from the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat, which is about Shabbat. This Gemara is commenting on a mishnah which says that failure to light Shabbat candles leads to death in childbirth. The gemara starts off talking about other things which lead to dying while giving birth, then goes on to talk about things that cause children to die (always because the parents did something wrong), and then goes on to talk about other punishments and the things that cause them.

If you were in charge of the world, what punishment would you put in place for spreading stories (lashon Hara)?

Context: Kohelet Rabbah is a book of midrashic interpretation on the Biblical Book of Ecclesiastes (a.k.a. Kohelet). It was written around 800 CE, give or take 100 years. It takes the verse in Kohelet about sowing seeds in the morning (11:6), talks about the Gemara's interpretations of this (Yevamot 62b), and then shares more about the Rabbi Akiba story in the Gemara.

What might it mean when it says "their eyes were narrow in the Torah they shared with each other"?

Context: This is from the Etz Yosef on the Ein Yaakov. The Ein Yaakov is a collection of all the "aggadah" (stories) in the Talmud. It was put together by Jacob ibn Habib in the 1500s. The Etz Yosef is a commentary on the parts of the Ein Yaakov which also appear in Midrash Rabba (Midrashic collections on the 5 books of the Torah and the 5 Megillot), focusing on the "p'shat", or surface-level interpretations of the text. It was written by Enoch Zundel ben Joseph in 1845. Because the story of Rabbi Akiba's students is both in the Talmud (Yevamot 62b) and Kohelet Rabba (11:6:1), it is included in the Etz Yosef.

How is this selection of text relevant to our lives today?

Is that what really happened to Rabbi Akiba's students?

Context: This is from the Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Ta'anit, which is about fasting. The mishnah that it is commenting on (Ta'anit 4:6) is a classic Tisha B'Av and Seventeenth of Tammuz text about calamities on those days and therefore the reasons why we fast on those days. One of the things that happened on the 9th of Av is the fall of Beitar, which effectively ended the Bar-Kochba Revolt in 135 CE. This text is part of Rabbi Akiba's thoughts on that subject. Incidentally, the “Seder” in B’nai Brak that we read about in the Haggadah was probably more revolutionary than it seems from a surface read. The part in parentheses and brackets are 2 different versions of the text.

Given how Rabbi Akiba felt about Bar-Kochba, and given that the Talmud sometimes speaks cryptically, how might his students have died?

Context: This is from a responsa written by Rav Sherira Gaon, the head of a Babylonian academy, to a query from a Tunisian community in 986. The question was about how the Mishnah and Babylonian Talmud came to be. The response is the first use of a historical lens on the Talmud.

What does Rav Sherira Gaon’s explanation for the demise of Rabbi Akiba’s students support in our understanding of why they might have died?

Context: The Meiri, Rabbi Menahem Meiri, was a Spanish rabbi who lived from 1249-1315. He wrote a commentary on the Talmud. The Geonim were the heads of the Babylonian academies from the 500s to the 1000s. They were the first ones to start interpreting the Babylonian Talmud. Apparently the Geonim had a tradition that the “plague” stopped at “Atzeret”, which they took to mean “16 days before Shavuot”.

Other possible explanations for why Lag BaOmer became a day of celebration include that there was a lull in the fighting during the Bar-Kochba rebellion, or that possibly they captured Jerusalem on this day in 132 CE, or that Rabbi Akiba “ordained” the 5 rabbis on Lag BaOmer, thus ensuring that Jewish tradition would continue to be taught. Additionally, the Byzantine Emperor Julian tried to rebuild the Third Temple, but an earthquake in 363 CE stopped him and that supposedly happened on this day.

Which explanation resonates with you the most?

Isn’t there something about playing with bows and arrows?

Context: This is from the same Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat, text that we saw earlier. It is still discussing about punishments for things that you do wrong. Right before this sugya (section), there’s a baraita (teaching that didn’t make it into the Mishnah) about the topic they were discussing, and Rabbi Yehudah was called “the head of speakers”. The Talmud now pauses its discussion to explain why he was called that.

The story concerns Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. He’s one of the 5 students that Rabbi Akiba ordained after his 24,000 students died.

What do you think it was like for Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai to leave the social isolation of the cave after so long and go back to the world?

Why do Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his son get sent back to the cave?

Tell me more about Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai!

Context: This is from the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Brachot, which is about blessings. This Gemara is commenting on a mishnah which lays out the different blessings for types of food. In the Gemara, Rav Hanina bar Papa says that if you eat without saying a blessing, it’s like you stole from G-d. He then cites a verse to prove that. The Gemara then talks about other verses that this rabbi explained, and that’s how we end up here.

Lag BaOmer has a tension to it. On the one hand, it’s about the Omer, for which you have to work the land. You also can “do Jewish” when you’re in the world. On the other hand, it’s (in some way) about Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who was all about not working the land and just studying Torah. How do you grapple with these two models in your life?

(Kippa tip to Sara Wolkenfeld)

Was there any more to the story of the laser-eyed rabbi?

Context: This is the rest of the story that we read a minute ago.

Thoughts?

But what does Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai have to do with Lag BaOmer?

Zohar Idra Zuta Devarim, Haazinu; Death of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai:

On the day that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was to leave this world he arranged his affairs. His friends came to his room and he said to them “now is a time of favour. I can now reveal to you holy things that haven’t been revealed until now”…. All that day the fire never left the room, and there was nobody who was able to approach because it was impossible. The light and the fire were surrounding him.

Context: These are from the Zohar, a mystical book written by Moses de Leon in the 1200s in Spain. He attributed it to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, which according to his widow he did so people would buy more copies. The Zohar has a mystical commentary on each parasha and then a coda that talks about Rabbi Shimon’s death in the town of Meron. Supposedly he revealed the Zohar on the day that he was going to die, and some say that the daylight didn’t end until he was done.

If you wanted to design part of Lag BaOmer around these texts, what would you have people do?

Context: This is Shimon bar Yochai’s grave on Mt. Meron in Northern Israel, where people light bonfires throughout the night on his yahrtzeit (anniversary of his death) - The 18th of Iyar, which is Lag BaOmer. Three-year-old boys sometimes get their first haircut here if they turn three after Passover starts.

But what about the bows and arrows?

Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Genesis, from the story of Noah’s Ark. After the flood, G-d put a rainbow in the sky as a promise not to flood the entire earth again.

Context: Rashi is an acronym for Rabbi Shimon Ben Yitzchak. He was a French winemaker who lived from 1040-1105. When he wasn’t making wine, he wrote a commentary on the Tanach and the Talmud.

Context: This is from the Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Brachot, which is about blessings. Right before this the Gemara is talking about the appropriate blessing to say for things including rainbows, and that leads to our text. The Jerusalem Talmud was finished (around 400 CE) about 250 years after Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai lived. Rashi lived 600ish years after the Jerusalem Talmud was finished, so he was familiar with it’s commentary.

Context: If Rashi provided the most useful commentary on the Babylonian Talmud, the P’nei Moshe, Rabbi Moses ben Simeon Margoliot from the 1700s, provided the most useful commentary on the Jerusalem Talmud.

Context: “B’nai Yissachar” was written by Rabbi Tzvi Elimech Spira around 1830. It’s organized by month of the year, and it talks about mystical aspects of Shabbat and the other Jewish holidays.

Other explanations for shooting bows and arrows on Lag BaOmer include:

1. When the Romans forbade the Jews from teaching Torah (for which Rabbi Akiba was eventually killed, along with at least 9 other rabbis), the Jews would teach Torah in the forest. If soldiers came along, they would hide the books and pretend to be shooting bows and arrows.

2. A reminder of the Bar-Kochba rebellion - the last time Jews had sovereignty in the Land of Israel from 135 CE until 1948 CE.

Which explanation resonates with you the most?

Do you have to get a haircut on Lag BaOmer?

Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Leviticus, where it says that we should not follow the practices of the Egyptians or Canaanites.

What does this have to do with getting a haircut on Lag BaOmer?

Context: This is from the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin, which is about justice. This piece of Gemara is commenting on a mishnah which says that you can kill somebody when they are trying to break the law by killing or raping you, but you can’t kill somebody when they are trying to break the law by breaking Shabbat. Rather, you should tell them not to do it, and if they still break Shabbat then you should punish them. This text is the source for the idea of Pikuach Nefesh, saving a soul, that you can break any rule in Judaism to save a life (except for the three mentioned in the text), and the Talmud goes on to base it on Leviticus 18:5..

What does this have to do with getting a haircut on Lag BaOmer?

With thanks to: Benjamin Adler, Dovid Birk, Rena Ableman, Eliana Willis, Rabbi Claude Vecht-Wolf, Rabbi Andrew Pepperstone, Sara Wolkenfeld, Joseph Ravitsky, David Schlusselberg, Shaul Wertheimer, Sefaria Education, Sarah Zollman, Aaron Klein, Wikipedia, and Rabbi Nate Crane.