Today is one of those days that I wish  my kids still lived at home.  I really miss my kids.  Especially today, because it would be the day we’d take off and have a picnic.  On the National Mall. At Mount Vernon.  At McIntyre Park.  Because today is Lag B’Omer.

Way back when, when the Great Temple was around, we Jews used to bring daily offerings of barley to the Temple today.  (Barley was the daily offering for each of the 50 days after Passover, as a gift- and a means of counting- because we are waiting to receive the 10 Commandments and the Tora.  That is what happens on Sh’vuot, the 50th day.)

These days between Passover and Shvuot (two of the three biblical festivals; the other one that occurs right after Rosh Hashana and Yom Kipur is called Sukot) have restrictions similar to those that apply to mourners. No weddings, no celebrations, no cutting of one’s hair. Not surprisingly, these apply because we Jews are in mourning.

In the days of Rabbi Akiva (a leading scholar who lived around the turning of the calendar between BCE and CE), a great plague affected Jewish students. The (24,000) deaths ceased on the 33rd day of the Omer, as the 50 days between Passover and Shvuot are known. Given that the number 33 in Hebrew has a shorthand of Lamed Gimel (two letters of the alphabet), the day became known as Lag B’Omer.

Rabbi Akiva was enamored of Shimon Bar Kochva, a Jewish rebel, fighting the Romans. Akiva even thought Bar Kochva could be the long-awaited Mashiach. (It wasn’t just the Christians of the era who believed the messiah’s arrival was imminent.)

To celebrate this day,  we have picnics. And, when I was younger, my fellow students and I had outings at the Hempstead Lake State Park. Children, like we were, those who celebrate Lag B’Omer with picnics, games, and hikes, also participate in what the secular world calls “Color Wars”. As a means to remember the battles that engaged the Jewish people during the time of Rabbi Akiva.

Lag B’Omer is a celebration that I made sure my kids enjoyed as well. A day to just relax, celebrate, learn, and enjoy  with fantastic food. I have been celebrating this special occasion (it’s not really a holiday) since I was 5 years old. (Maybe earlier, but that is the first time I remember doing so.)

Why do we count the 50 days? Not just to remember that we brought barley as thanks for Hashem, but because Shvuot is the bookend to Pesach. After all, what is freedom (Pesach/Passover is the holiday that celebrates the granting of our freedom from slavery) without a code of law to which citizens should adhere?

Complete lawlessness would not afford one freedom- because a lawless society involves tyranny over the weak and less strong.
The basic tenet is to balance freedom and the law, human rights and order. Freedom is what the Passover holiday commemorates. Leading a life with purpose, leaving the world a better place each and every day (tikun olam)- that’s Sh’vuot.

Many of our scholars surmised that this plague, this series of deaths that prevailed during the first part of the Omer period, resulted because while the Romans were oppressing us, while they were trying to annihilate us, we did not treat one other with respect;  instead we harassed one another.  This intolerance – of one of us for another- was unacceptable.  (Do you see the parallels in the American political discourse?   Baltimore?  Ferguson? Trump?)

And, the 33rd day between these two Festivals affords us a celebration of life. A time to remember that we are all humans and must respect one another and treat each properly.  Which is why it has become a celebration of fun and family frolic. A day to stop mourning the dying and celebrating the living- with full and utter respect.

So, come on, join me on this glorious day. Let’s all have a picnic! Oh, yeah. I’m also getting my hair cut!

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