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Before I begin, my goal today is to think aloud a little bit through the prism of Torah. I do not believe that rabbis have all of the right solutions to the big problems of the world. But I hope today’s drasha will give us a framework for struggling with important issues.
However, the 33
rd day of the Omer (Lag B’Omer[iii]) is an exception, because the dying stopped on that day[iv]. Lag B’Omer is also said to be the Yahrzeit[v] of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, an illustrious figure in the Talmud. He was one of Rabbi Akiva’s latter set of students, during the penultimate part of his life, who carried on with the mission of upholding[vi] and filling the Land of Israel[vii] with Torah. For these reasons, it is customary to observe Lag B’Omer as a semi-festival[viii].
What, though, was so special about these twenty-for thousand students and what did they do that was so egregiously wrong? There were so many others who died during the period of the Hadrianic persecutions and Bar Kochba rebellion against the oppressive Roman rule over Israel[ix]; why was this group so noteworthy? Indeed, consider, the Ten Martyrs, who included Rabbi Akiva himself, were not accorded a similar annual extended semi-mourning period[x].
Please note that the posts on The Blogs are contributed by third parties. The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither The Times of Israel nor its partners assume any responsibility for them. Please contact us in case of abuse. In case of abuse,
After the nightmare of the sordid and dissolute Sin of the Golden Calf reported in last week’s Torah portion[i], this week’s reading[ii] records a builder’s dream of the details of a complex critical path of construction and the splendid results.
The Torah reports the expert and precision production of sub-components and constituent elements and the climactic assembly by Moses into the glorious Tabernacle, with all of its marvelous accoutrements. Moses issues his seal of approval by resoundingly declaring that everything was constructed precisely in accordance with G-d’s detailed instructions and plans. There’s even a final accounting statement covering the materials used