Lag B'omer min HaTorah Minayin?

§ The Gemara comments: The mishna is not in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehoshua. As it is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Yehoshua says: If a man married a woman in his youth, and she passed away, he should marry another woman in his old age. If he had children in his youth, he should have more children in his old age, as it is stated: “In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand; for you do not know which shall prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both alike shall be good” (Ecclesiastes 11:6). This verse indicates that a man should continue having children even after he has fulfilled the mitzva to be fruitful and multiply.

Rabbi Akiva says that the verse should be understood as follows: If one studied Torah in his youth he should study more Torah in his old age; if he had students in his youth he should have additional students in his old age, as it is stated: “In the morning sow your seed, etc.”

They said by way of example that Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of students in an area of land that stretched from Gevat to Antipatris in Judea, and they all died in one period of time...

(9) Those who died of the plague numbered twenty-four thousand.

...because they did not treat each other with respect.

( (13) Balaam arose in the morning and said to Balak’s dignitaries, “Go back to your own country, for the LORD will not let me go with you.” (14) The Moabite dignitaries left, and they came to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.” (15) Then Balak sent other dignitaries, more numerous and distinguished than the first.

(10) Enraged at Balaam, Balak struck his hands together. “I called you,” Balak said to Balaam, “to damn my enemies, and instead you have blessed them these three times! (11) Back with you at once to your own place! I was going to reward you great honor, but the LORD has denied you the honor.”

And the world was desolate

...until Rabbi Akiva came to our Rabbis in the South and taught his Torah to them. This second group of disciples consisted of Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Yosei, Rabbi Shimon, and Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua. And these are the very ones who upheld the study of Torah at that time.

(6) Come then, put a curse upon this people for me, since they are too numerous for me; perhaps I can thus defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that he whom you bless is blessed indeed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”

(3) Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offerings while I am gone. Perhaps the LORD will grant me a manifestation, and whatever He reveals to me I will tell you.” And he went off alone. (4) God manifested Himself to Balaam, who said to Him, “I have set up the seven altars and offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.” (5) And the LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak and speak thus.” (6) So he returned to him and found him standing beside his offerings, and all the Moabite dignitaries with him. (7) He took up his theme, and said: From Aram has Balak brought me, Moab’s king from the hills of the East: Come, curse me Jacob, Come, tell Israel’s doom! (8) How can I damn whom God has not damned, How doom when the LORD has not doomed?

(13) Then Balak said to him, “Come with me to another place from which you can see them—you will see only a portion of them; you will not see all of them—and damn them for me from there.” (14) With that, he took him to Sedehzophim, on the summit of Pisgah. He built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. (15) And [Balaam] said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offerings, while I seek a manifestation yonder.”

(16) The LORD manifested Himself to Balaam and put a word in his mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and speak thus.” (17) He went to him and found him standing beside his offerings, and the Moabite dignitaries with him. Balak asked him, “What did the LORD say?” (18) And he took up his theme, and said: Up, Balak, attend, Give ear unto me, son of Zippor! (19) God is not man to be capricious, Or mortal to change His mind. Would He speak and not act, Promise and not fulfill? (20) My message was to bless: When He blesses, I cannot reverse it. (21) No harm is in sight for Jacob, No woe in view for Israel. The LORD their God is with them, And their King’s acclaim in their midst. (22) God who freed them from Egypt Is for them like the horns of the wild ox. (23) Lo, there is no augury in Jacob, No divining in Israel: Jacob is told at once, Yea Israel, what God has planned. (24) Lo, a people that rises like a lion, Leaps up like the king of beasts, Rests not till it has feasted on prey And drunk the blood of the slain.

(8) You, O Judah, your brothers shall praise; Your hand shall be on the nape of your foes; Your father’s sons shall bow low to you. (9) Judah is a lion’s whelp; On prey, my son, have you grown. He crouches, lies down like a lion, Like the king of beasts—who dare rouse him?

(22) But God was incensed at his going; so an angel of the LORD placed himself in his way as an adversary. He was riding on his she-ass, with his two servants alongside, (23) when the ass caught sight of the angel of the LORD standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. The ass swerved from the road and went into the fields; and Balaam beat the ass to turn her back onto the road. (24) The angel of the LORD then stationed himself in a lane between the vineyards, with a fence on either side. (25) The ass, seeing the angel of the LORD, pressed herself against the wall and squeezed Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he beat her again.

(26) Once more the angel of the LORD moved forward and stationed himself on a spot so narrow that there was no room to swerve right or left.

(3) Thus Israel attached itself to Baal-peor, and the LORD was incensed with Israel. (4) The LORD said to Moses, “Take all the ringleaders and have them publicly impaled before the LORD, so that the LORD’s wrath may turn away from Israel.” (5) So Moses said to Israel’s officials, “Each of you slay those of his men who attached themselves to Baal-peor.” (6) Just then one of the Israelites came and brought a Midianite woman over to his companions, in the sight of Moses and of the whole Israelite community who were weeping at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

(7) When Phinehas, son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, saw this, he left the assembly and, taking a spear in his hand, (8) he followed the Israelite into the chamber and stabbed both of them, the Israelite and the woman, through the belly. Then the plague against the Israelites was checked. (9) Those who died of the plague numbered twenty-four thousand. (10) The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, (11) “Phinehas, son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the Israelites by displaying among them his passion for Me, so that I did not wipe out the Israelite people in My passion. (12) Say, therefore, ‘I grant him My pact of friendship. (13) It shall be for him and his descendants after him a pact of priesthood for all time, because he took impassioned action for his God, thus making expiation for the Israelites.’” (14) The name of the Israelite who was killed, the one who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri son of Salu, chieftain of a Simeonite ancestral house. (15) The name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi daughter of Zur; he was the tribal head of an ancestral house in Midian.

( (7) They took the field against Midian, as the LORD had commanded Moses, and slew every male. (8) Along with their other victims, they slew the kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also put Balaam son of Beor to the sword. (9) The Israelites took the women and children of the Midianites captive, and seized as booty all their beasts, all their herds, and all their wealth. (10) And they destroyed by fire all the towns in which they were settled, and their encampments. (11) They gathered all the spoil and all the booty, man and beast, (12) and they brought the captives, the booty, and the spoil to Moses, Elazar the priest, and the whole Israelite community, at the camp in the steppes of Moab, at the Jordan near Jericho. (13) Moses, Elazar the priest, and all the chieftains of the community came out to meet them outside the camp. (14) Moses became angry with the commanders of the army, the officers of thousands and the officers of hundreds, who had come back from the military campaign. (15) Moses said to them, “You have spared every female! (16) Yet they are the very ones who, at the bidding of Balaam, induced the Israelites to trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, so that the LORD’s community was struck by the plague. (17) Now, therefore, slay every male among the children, and slay also every woman who has known a man carnally; (18) but spare every young woman who has not had carnal relations with a man. (19) “You shall then stay outside the camp seven days; every one among you or among your captives who has slain a person or touched a corpse shall cleanse himself on the third and seventh days. (20) You shall also cleanse every cloth, every article of skin, everything made of goats’ hair, and every object of wood.”

(21) Elazar the priest said to the troops who had taken part in the fighting, “This is the ritual law that the LORD has enjoined upon Moses: (22) Gold and silver, copper, iron, tin, and lead— (23) any article that can withstand fire—these you shall pass through fire and they shall be clean, except that they must be cleansed with water of lustration; and anything that cannot withstand fire you must pass through water. (24) On the seventh day you shall wash your clothes and be clean, and after that you may enter the camp.”

With regard to the twelve thousand pairs of Rabbi Akiva’s students, the Gemara adds: It is taught that all of them died in the period from Passover until Shavuot.

(1) The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: (2) Command the Israelite people and say to them: Be punctilious in presenting to Me at stated times the offerings of food due Me, as offerings by fire of pleasing odor to Me. (3) Say to them: These are the offerings by fire that you are to present to the LORD: As a regular burnt offering every day, two yearling lambs without blemish. (4) You shall offer one lamb in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight. (5) And as a meal offering, there shall be a tenth of an ephah of choice flour with a quarter of a hin of beaten oil mixed in— (6) the regular burnt offering instituted at Mount Sinai—an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the LORD.

Rav Ḥama bar Abba said, and some say it was Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Avin: They all died a bad death. The Gemara inquires: What is it that is called a bad death? Rav Naḥman said: The plague of Diphtheria. (Other versions: The Sword).

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai said: My teacher, Rabbi Akiva, would expound on the verse "A Star has risen from Jacob." When Rabbi Akiva would see Bar Kusba (Bar Kochba) he would say, 'that is the King the Messiah.' Rabbi Yochanan ben Torta said to him: Akiva! Grass will grow on your cheeks and the son of David will not yet have come!

(10) Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, All you who love her! Join in her jubilation, All you who mourned over her— (11) That you may suck from her breast Consolation to the full, That you may draw from her bosom Glory to your delight. (12) For thus said the LORD: I will extend to her Prosperity like a stream, The wealth of nations Like a wadi in flood; And you shall drink of it. You shall be carried on shoulders And dandled upon knees. (13) As a mother comforts her son So I will comfort you; You shall find comfort in Jerusalem. (14) You shall see and your heart shall rejoice, Your limbs shall flourish like grass. The power of the LORD shall be revealed In behalf of His servants; But He shall rage against His foes. (15) See, the LORD is coming with fire— His chariots are like a whirlwind— To vent His anger in fury, His rebuke in flaming fire. (16) For with fire will the LORD contend, With His sword, against all flesh; And many shall be the slain of the LORD.