![\"Lag-BaOmer\"](\"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/LAg-BaOmerl.jpg\")
<\/a>Lag-BaOmer<\/p><\/div>\n
Weddings, parties, and even haircuts are avoided during the Omer, except on the 33rd day, Lag BaOmer.\u00a0 On this one day during the counting, the restrictions of mourning are lifted.\u00a0 As you can imagine, Lag BaOmer is a very popular day in Israel for weddings, bar mitzvahs, and other celebrations.\u00a0 It is also the traditional day when Jewish three year old boys receive their first hair cut.<\/p>\n
Lag BaOmer is a holiday celebrated by the lighting of bonfires.\u00a0 While I received a Jewish upbringing, my first experience with this holiday occurred after moving to Israel.\u00a0 Lag BaOmer is not a holiday frequently observed by the Jewish community of the Diaspora, although it has been gaining more popularity in recent years.\u00a0 I had no idea that tradition required the lighting of bonfires and on the night of Lag BaOmer, as I sat home in my Tel Aviv apartment, I thought the neighborhood was on fire. Clouds of smoke billowed in through my open windows.\u00a0 I tried to call the fire department thinking one of my poor neighbors might be trapped in a blazing inferno.\u00a0 As the smoke began to penetrate from all directions, I prepared to evacuate.\u00a0 Maybe the whole neighborhood was about to go up in flames! But, how peculiar that none of my neighbors seemed concerned.\u00a0 No one was running into the streets with valued possessions on their back and no fire service sirens rang in the distance.\u00a0 Except for the heavy smoke, the night was peaceful and calm. The only sound was that of children\u2019s voices singing folk songs in the distance.<\/p>\n
There is no one prescribed way to observe the holiday of Lag BaOmer, and no one definite explanation for why this day is observed at all.\u00a0 Religious tradition relates that Lag BaOmer marks the death of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, a disciple of the famed Rabbi Akiva in 2nd century AD.\u00a0 Rabbi Bar Yochai is considered one of the greatest teachers of the Torah in his generation and he is believed to be the author of the Zohar, the text of Jewish mysticism.\u00a0 You may know this book from Kabbalah class.\u00a0 Legend states that on the day of his death, Bar Yochai revealed the secrets of Kabbalah.\u00a0 Daylight extended on this day until he was finished with this teaching and died. Thus, Lag BaOmer is the celebration of the great light (wisdom) that Rabbi Bar Yochi brought to the world on this day.\u00a0\u00a0 Religious Jews flock by the hundreds of thousands to the northern Israel town of Meron where they believe Rabbi Bar Yochi to be buried. There they study his teachings throughout the night of Lag BaOmer.<\/p>\n
Another tradition says that 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva died from a plague during the counting of the Omer.\u00a0 The dying ceased on the 33rd day of the Omer, which is why celebration is allowed on this day.<\/p>\n
Secular Jews light bonfires on Lag BaOmer to represent the signal fires Bar Kokhba rebels lit on mountain tops to relay messages during the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Roman Empire from 132-136 AD.\u00a0 This was the second Jewish revolt against Roman rule and occupation, and like the first, ended in bloody defeat.\u00a0 However, the bonfires honor the revolt and symbolize the Jewish fighting spirit, a powerful message in the years after the creation of the modern State of Israel.\u00a0 The Palmach, the fighting branch of the Haganah (the pre-state army of Israel) was established on Lag BaOmer 1941 and the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) was created on Lag BaOmer 1948.<\/p>\n
Today Lag BaOmer is less symbolic but Israeli children throughout the country enjoy gathering sticks, branches and logs for their school, neighborhood, or community bonfire.\u00a0 Construction sites throughout the country begin posting extra security in the weeks leading up to this holiday as young city scavengers try to make off with wooden beams and other construction material that can be used in these bonfires.\u00a0 It\u2019s a fun night to experience in Israel, as long as you have been forewarned of the activities that will take place, and any visitor to Israel on this holiday should venture out to the closest beach, park, or lot that is hosting a local Lag BaOmer bonfire and celebration.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/div><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Nicole Sivan Last weekend in Israel marked the celebration of the holiday of Lag BaOmer. Lag BaOmer literally stands for the 33rd day of the Omer, a counting period between the holidays of Passover and Shavout.\u00a0 The Hebrew letter Lamed (like the L in the English alphabet) has the numerical value of 30 and more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1],"tags":[75,625,631,181,213,214,212,125],"class_list":{"0":"post-1471","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-biblical-spiritual","8":"category-the-feasts","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-israeli-news","11":"tag-israeli-life","12":"tag-jewish-calander","13":"tag-jewish-feasts","14":"tag-jewish-holidays","15":"tag-lag-baomer","16":"tag-news-from-jerusalem","17":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1471"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1476,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1471\/revisions\/1476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}