Lag ba'Omer and Israel means mainly one thing to me: fire.
The custom of lighting bonfires may have mystical roots. Lag ba'Omer is observed as the yahrtzeit (death anniversary) of the second-century sage Rabbi Shimon bar-Yochai. Legend has it that, prior to his death, Bar Yochai revealed all of his mystical secrets. Thus the bonfires: the light of Bar Yochai is not extinguished.
"וַאֲפִילוּ כֻּלָּנוּ חֲכָמִים כֻּלָּנוּ נְבוֹנִים/ כֻּלָּנוּ יוֹדְעִים אֶת הַתּוֹרָה/ מִצְוָה עָלֵינוּ לְסַפֵּר בִּיצִיאַת מִצְרָיִם"
Anyone who has recently visited an Israeli Purim costume store will soon realize that Purim is not just for little kids but rather, a reason or ‘excuse’ for people, of all ages and orientations, to dress up and express their inner-selves in the weirdest and most elaborate ways.
Perhaps the first question should be: “Why is there no Presidents Day in the U.S.?” Despite popular convention, the holiday that we will celebrate in the U.S. this week is officially Washington’s Birthday. In 1968, Robert McClory, a congressman from Illinois, proposed a Bill, which would consolidate Lincoln’s Birthday and Washington’s birthday into one federal holiday. The Bill never passed, but advertisers and some state legislatures have pushed the name “Presidents Day” as both more representative of all of our great presidents, and somehow easier to sell cars and appliances.
Tu b’Shevat has become so synonymous with environmentalism these days that we can forget the origins of the holiday. The Mishnah (Rosh Hashanah 1:1) tells us that there are four “new years:”
There are many challenges faced by those of us who work full time in Jewish education; the lack of family commitment, the limited hours we have with students, and, perhaps toughest of all, convincing Jewish children who live in the Midwest that spring is coming in February! Tu B’shvat may in fact be the harbinger of Spring in the Jewish homeland but for those of us who greet each day with boots and a shovel, hardly.
It is not every day you get to meet six Jewish heroes. I was fortunate enough to have done just that, in an amazing experience last year at the Kotel.
First, a little background:
Here is my story.
When I stepped foot on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus as an incoming freshman, I was there to get away from the life I had been living in Baltimore.
At this season wherever Jews gather the talk eventually turns to Passover. It is, according to the most recent Jewish population study, the most celebrated holiday in American Jewish life, even surpassing Hanukkah.Recently, at just such a gathering, a group of us began sharing our memories of holidays gone by...
“Come and witness an unusual spectacle
The whole city bustling with joy and rejoicing….a trumpet blowing a confusing melody and
the noise is really intolerable….The whole town eating Hamantaschen
What a nice and disorganized holiday…”
-Naomi Shemer
