Question: Why do we rejoice on Lag BaOmer?
[1] (Halacha 1083)
Question: Why do we rejoice on Lag BaOmer?
Answer: [We saw in halacha 1070 the words of the Rishonim regarding the time when the students of Rabbi Akiva died, who died "from Pesach until Atzeres"; but it is known that there are further reasons for rejoicing on this day, as follows]
A. The end of the deaths of the students of Rabbi Akiva
In halacha 1070 we saw the words of the Rishonim, some of whom wrote in the name of a Midrash that the students of Rabbi Akiva died until Lag BaOmer.
And some wrote that they died also after Lag BaOmer, but since they died for 32 days, therefore the day of Lag BaOmer is marked as a day of rejoicing.
As written in the Maharil1: 'Lag BaOmer is made a day of rejoicing, because they died only on the days on which Tachanun is said during the seven weeks of the Omer, and on any day on which Tachanun is not said they did not die. Now, subtract from the 49 days of the count the seven days of the festival, and the three days on which Rosh Chodesh falls — two for Iyar and one for Sivan — and seven Shabbosos: 32 remain. It turns out that they died only 32 days; therefore, when those 32 days on which they died were completed, on the next day we make a rejoicing in remembrance'.
And so writes the Rema2: 'And the minhag is widespread to take a haircut on the 33rd day, and to increase somewhat in feasting and rejoicing on it; and so write the Maharil and the Minhogim, that one may take a haircut on the 33rd day, and he wrote reasons for this'.
B. Rejoicing over the students who were added
The Pri Chadash3 writes: 'However, one must examine why there is this rejoicing. If it is because they stopped dying — what of it? Not one of them remained; they all died; so what is the nature of this rejoicing? And possibly the rejoicing is over those students whom Rabbi Akiva added afterwards, who did not die like these'.
C. The descent of the mann
In Shu"t Chasam Sofer4 he writes: 'And according to what is stated in the Midrash, that from the day the cakes they had taken out of Mitzrayim were finished, they went three days without bread, and afterwards the mann descended — if so, the descent of the mann was on Lag BaOmer, and it is fitting to make a good remembrance of this. However, this is against the Shas, Perek Rabbi Akiva, and there I elaborated'.
D. Thanksgiving for the miracle of Rashbi
In Shu"t Shem Aryeh5 he writes: 'For it is stated in Maseches Shabbos, daf 33, that it was decreed by the government that Rashbi be killed, and therefore he fled and sat in the cave twelve years, until the Caesar died and the decree was annulled .. and see there that he said, "Since a miracle occurred" .. thus a miracle was performed for him, that he was saved from the sword of the government .. Therefore, in remembrance of this miracle, that Rashbi was saved from an evil sword and was not killed by human hands, they established the day of his death as a day of rejoicing, for he died a death by the hands of Heaven and not by human hands. Therefore they chose this day, the day of his death, when he died in the way of all the earth and was not killed by human hands, and made this day a day of feasting and rejoicing over the miracle performed for him, that Hashem, may He be blessed, saved him from the sword of the government and he lived long days and years after the decree, until he died by the hands of Heaven .. Therefore one who merits to be at his grave on this day certainly should rejoice in remembrance of the miracle performed for him; and his grave proves regarding him that he was saved from the sword of the government, for those executed by the government were not given over to burial ..'.
E. Bar Kochba
The Rebbe writes in Igros Kodesh6: 'His explanation of Lag BaOmer, that it is connected with the war of Bar Kochba etc. — this is contrary to the Shas, even though it is found in the books of the maskilim'.
F. The Hilula of Rashbi
In the Pri Etz Chaim7 it is written: 'R"A HaLevi testified to me that he was accustomed to say "Nachem" in the bracha of "Tishkon", and when he finished, after the tefillah, my teacher z"l said thus in the name of Rashbi, who is buried there, who said to me: "Say to this man: why does he say 'Nachem' on the day of my rejoicing?" ... And the reason is that Rashbi died on Lag BaOmer'8.
And so writes Rabbi Yonasan Eybeschutz in his sefer Ya'aros Devash9: 'And Lag BaOmer is the Hilula of Rashbi, for he died then'.
And so writes the Chida10: 'On Lag BaOmer one should increase in rejoicing in honor of Rashbi zy"a, for it is the day of his Hilula'. And in the Birkei Yosef11 he writes: that Lag BaOmer is the day of the rejoicing of Rashbi, and so it is implied there in Sefer HaKavanos arranged by Mahar"sh Vital; and they also wrote that the passing of Rashbi was on Lag BaOmer, and it is the day of his Hilula'.
However, in his sefer Mar'is HaAyin12 he writes: 'And what is written in the Birkei Yosef in this siman, that someone wrote that the passing of Rashbi a"h zy"a was on Lag BaOmer — so it is written in Pri Etz Chaim; but it is already known that in the versions of the writings of the Arizal there was confusion and scribal error'.
However, so writes the Alter Rebbe13: 'Rejoice and be glad in Hashem with all heart and soul, and make a day of feasting and rejoicing on the 18th of Iyar, which comes upon us for good, the day of the Hilula of Rashbi'.
And in the Ma'amarei Admur HaZaken14: 'To understand well the matter of the Hilula of Rashbi ... on Lag BaOmer, when Rashbi a"h passed away'.
[As explained in the Zohar, regarding the passing of Rashbi, in the Idra Zuta15: 'I see that all are rejoicing in this Hilula of mine, and all are invited in that world to my Hilula'. And further there16: 'They heard a voice: Come in, and come, and gather to the Hilula of Rabbi Shimon; "יבא שלום ינוחו על משכבותם" ("He shall come in peace; they shall rest on their beds")'].
And in the Divrei Nechemiah17 he writes: 'That the matter of the Hilula of Rashbi on Lag BaOmer has already been publicized for several generations throughout the world (and presumably there is a source for this in the Zohar or in the writings of the Arizal); and a discourse was already said about this from the mouth of the holy one of Hashem, my master and father-in-law, our Rabbi z"l, regarding the reason that the day of the passing of Rashbi is a Hilula, while for other tzaddikim it is a fast day. And in the discourse in the Siddur, Sha'ar Lag BaOmer, the matter of the connection of this passing and Hilula specifically to Lag BaOmer is mentioned'.
The Rebbe writes18: 'And its reason: "the rejoicing of Rashbi" (see Zohar III 287b; 291a, end). And from this there is an answer to the discussion of this in Shu"t Chasam Sofer, Yoreh De'ah, siman 233; Shu"t Shem Aryeh, Orach Chaim, siman 14; and elsewhere. And see also the commentators on the Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, siman 493. And as for the question raised — that on the contrary, on the passing of tzaddikim one fasts19 — one can say, according to nigleh, that Lag BaOmer is different, for Rashbi commanded to rejoice on it (see Pri Etz Chaim there), and according to what is written in the Mahariv (brought in the Shach, Yoreh De'ah, siman 344, se'if katan 9), the law is that we listen to him. And this is not the place to elaborate'.
> Thus we have seen the two main reasons for rejoicing on Lag BaOmer: a) on it the students of Rabbi Akiva stopped dying; b) it is the day of the Hilula of Rashbi20.
Notes:
1 Dinei HaYamim SheBein Pesach LeShavuos ↩
2 Darkei Moshe, Orach Chaim, siman 493, se'if katan 1 ↩
3 Orach Chaim, siman 493, se'if 2 ↩
4 Yoreh De'ah, siman 233 ↩
5 Orach Chaim, siman 14 ↩
6 Vol. 9, p. 64 ↩
7 5545 edition, Sha'ar 22, ch. 7 ↩
8 Some have noted (Haoros U'Biurim, issue 860, p. 82) the Chemdas HaYamim, vol. 3, Sefiras HaOmer, ch. 2, the night of Lag BaOmer: 'And it is found written in the book of the early ones that Lag BaOmer is the day on which Rashbi a"h departed from the world, and the custom on this night is to study the secrets of its wisdom and the Idra Zuta, and to be joyful and glad in his Hilula' ↩
9 Vol. 2, Drush 11 ↩
10 Moreh BeEtzba, siman 223 ↩
11 Siman 493, se'if katan 4 ↩
12 In the Likutim at its end, siman 7, on siman 493 ↩
13 His Igros Kodesh, letter 86 ↩
14 5562 (vol. 2, p. 430) ↩
15 Zohar III 291a, end ↩
16 296b ↩
17 Shu"t Orach Chaim, siman 34, se'if 7 ↩
18 Igros Kodesh, vol. 26, letter 9,893 ↩
19 Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe, Orach Chaim, siman 249, se'ifim 12–13 ↩
20 And see Likkutei Sichos, vol. 22, p. 138, the explanation of the Rebbe, who explains what is common to these two reasons, even though seemingly their nature is opposite, for Rashbi is among the students of Rabbi Akiva who did not die in the plague ↩
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