A Lag B’Omer Secret

The Mystery Behind Why We Celebrate.


Why Do We Celebrate The Plague Ending, If It Already Killed ALL 24,000 of Rebbe Akiva’s Students ?

April, 2015

Lag ‘Bomer always falls on the same day of the week as that year’s Purim.

Perhaps this is not simply by chance.

After all, if there are two days during the year when the focus is on children, and that our children look forward to the most, it is these two days.

We may find an even deeper connection between these two days. The Shulchan Aruch points out the above Purim-Lag B’omer day connection (siman 428:1), also providing us with a siman to remember this rule: the Hebrew word peleg (pe’lg= purim/lag b’omer).

Perhaps this word alludes to the very heart of the potential breech that can take place between these two days each and every year.

On Purim we provide each other with mishaloach manos, in large part to foster closeness, friendship and camaraderie between Jews. However, and as the word peleg (sect, or faction) alludes, too often that closeness can quickly dissipate.

After all, at the heart of Lag B’omer is the history of Jews not showing each other proper respect. So, whereas on Purim we had an enemy from without, on Lag’B’omer we recall the lurking enemy from within.

For, although chazal make no mention of this period of mourning that precedes Lag B’omer (it was a minhag that became solidified as law in the days of the geonim), they do often recall the death of the students of Rebbe Akiva during these days, and the reason for their demise –their lack of kavod for one another.

However, even this is somewhat murky. When chazal share with us the story of Rebbe Akiva’s students’ death, not always are the same terms used.

In the gemara (Yevamus 62b) the story is told as follows: “Rebbe Akiva had 12,000 pairs of students…who all died in the same period because they did not show each other proper respect”. Later, the gemara will inform us that this ‘same period’ was in fact during the days between Pesach and Shavuos.

However, in the midrash (Bereishis Rabba 61:3) when these same events are taught, there are some slight discrepancies: “Rebbe Akiva had 12,000 students…who all died in the same period. Why did they die? Because they looked at each other begrudgingly (ayin tzara)”

The first difference between these two sources is the number of talmidim we are told that died –the gemara teaches a total of 24,000 (12,000 pairs), while the midrash gives us their number as 12,000 total. Even more difficult is the Tanchuma (Chayay Sara, 6) that teaches us that the total number of Rebbe Akiva’s students, as well as the total of those that perished, was 300.

To answer this first discrepancy, we could suggest a simple solution. Chavrusa’s are supposed to be symbiotic and united as one. For this very reason does the gemara describe them as 12,000 pairs instead of simply saying 24,000. The midrash was only furthering this same idea by actually counting each pair as one entity. As for the 300 figure, see Shekalim 21b as well as many other gemaras where the number ‘300’ is often used as a descriptive for any large number (see Gra ad loc.).

However, the greater difficulty – at least as it relates to our own personal growth – is how on the one hand the gemara describes their bad behavior as a general lack of respect for each other, while the midrash designates a specific flaw of jealousy and contempt for each others’ personal and Torah growth.

The Sifsei Chaim quotes from the Ponivitcher Rav who explained that there is in fact no discrepancy at all. Chazal are informing us how even a small putrid midda can sometimes metastasize and destroy so much more. The midda they failed in was,as the midrash accurately teaches, ayin tzara. However, that seemingly small failing colored so much else, to the point of each student becoming so fearful of the other’s growth as to not show proper respect to one another. This then caused all of their learning to be for the sake of their own personal benefit – to be better than the other – and not l’shmah. (Sifsei Chaim, 3).

The Maharsha echoes this idea by asserting that due to their jealousy they likely spoke lashon hara about each other. In fact, he points out that the disease that killed them –asakrah- is taught to be related to the sin of lashon hara (Shabbos 33a).

As to why they died specifically during this period of the year, the Beis Yosef brings from the Tashbetz a stunning explanation: the chillul Hashem caused when talmidei chachamim do not act properly leads people to say, “Woe to those who study Torah!” R’l. For this reason, they perished during our countdown to Shavuos and the giving of the Torah!

The Maharsha suggests the reason this time of the year was chosen for their demise was for a more technical reason. Hakodosh Barush Hu wanted it to be clear that this was a Divine punishment. Chazal teach (Shabbos 147a) that the period between Pesach and Shavuos is set aside with the special power to heal. Their death during that same period would suggest to the homan am that this was clearly a punishment from Above.

On the point that this time of year contains the power to heal, the Chasam Sofer to that gemara suggests that it refers specifically to the month of Iyar, and is alluded to in the pasuk ‘Ki Ani Hashem Rofecha’ (I am you Gd, your Healer), the first letters of the last words spelling out ‘Iyar’.

There is so much more that lays beneath the surface of these days, but let me end with one more hidden message contained in the many chazals that discuss this story.

Both in the midrash and the gemara, always, the discussion that leads chazal to mention the students of Rebbe Akiva was a lesson derived from Koheles 11:6 “Do not be idle in the evening”.

From here chazal derive the lesson that if you study Torah in your youth, make sure to also study in your old age. Whenever this lesson is taught, invariably, it causes chazal to teach us the story of Rebbe Akiva’s students. This is because the greatest lesson we can draw from it is how Rebbe Akiva never gave up. Even when he lost everything, he rebuilt his yeshiva again in the ‘evening’ of his life.

This may also explain the significance of Lag B’omer as a day of celebration – a famous debate (as, after all, there were no more students left to perish!), and which was the subject of last year’s column.

Lag B’Omer always falls out on the 18^th of Iyar.

In the gemara (Rosh Hashana 11) we learn that according to R’ Yehoshua the first day of the mabul in the days of Noach was the 17 of Iyar.

According to many (see Sefer Hayashar, cf. Ibn Ezra) the waters by the Flood killed everyone on the first day, so that by the 18th of Iyar the deaths ended. The 18^th of Iyar is also the date when we recall how another mageifa ended on this same day –the deaths of Rebbe Akiva’s students.

Perhaps, then, Lag B’omer, or the 18^th of Iyar is set aside as a time of renewal. It reminds us of two people who saw their world lay desolate, having witnessed all they built destroyed by a Divine decree. More saliently, it reminds us that on this date, twice in our history-by Noach and again by Rebbe Akiva- neither surrendered to forlorn, rather they galvanized themselves to start over, again.

As we see the dead trees of winter suddenly revivified by Spring, so too may we take the lessons of these days and work to have those relationships thought to have also withered on the vine have a second chance.