The Mystical Significance of Lag B’Omer
Tonight is Lag B’Omer, at least here in Australia. I realize that for many of our readers, Lag B’Omer won’t start until tomorrow night, but anyway, it’s a good enough time to start thinking about it.
Lag B’Omer is one of those holidays I’ve enjoyed ever since I discovered it, without even knowing why or understanding the real meaning behind it. And even still, it seems that no matter how much I learn about Lag B’Omer, how many hours I spend researching it or learning or reading up on it, all the things I learn slip right out of my mind as soon as I see that first bonfire of the evening, hear the first child’s excited laugh, smell that first marshmallow roasting.
The truth is, I think in some ways that this is how all Jewish holidays should be. They should be so overwhelmingly full of a sense of joy that we have no space left in us for deep contemplation. Not that we shouldn’t study or learn – of course we should! – but that, at their core, we have to recognize that our holidays are always just a bit beyond our level of true comprehension.
And it’s not just holidays that are like this, but really anything at all that has to do with Judaism. There are so many levels of understanding, so many things that we have to learn (70 explanations for every part of the Torah!), and yet, even learning every single one of them will never bring us to the level of comprehension of their power and meaning that G-d experiences and has. The sages say that if we understood even at the tiniest level what power saying Tehillim (Psalms) has, we would do nothing but sit all day and recite them. On our limited human level of understanding, we are restricted. We have gravity. We can reach only so high. We cannot truly touch the divine.
But our neshamas (our souls) – ah! They are not so restricted. Within each of us is a bit of G-d that has the power to understand infinity. Our souls are forever reaching for that closeness with G-d, that unity. That is why we are drawn to other people – they are also missing pieces of the G-dly puzzle – and why we are drawn to divinity. The G-dly soul within us yearns to be reunited.
I think this is why there are certain times when we can just lose ourselves in a holiday. Especially on a mystical holiday like Lag B’Omer, I feel as if my soul is reaching for spirituality and the divine. ”Down, intellect!” it commands, even though it is usually my intellect through which I most connect. “Down, intellect!” shouts my soul, “This is one thing that is far, far beyond your comprehension!” And so, I forget everything I’ve studied, everything I’ve learned… And, like the flames of the bonfires we will light tonight, my soul leaps and reaches up, and I surrender to the joy of the moment, the joy of the mysticism, the joy of incomprehension, the joy of unity, the joy of being close, in some small way, to Hashem.
