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RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:LAG B'OMER:BAR YOCHAI
Tonight, Monday, May 11, 2009, at Sunday, begins the 11th of Iyar, the Holiday of the 33rd of the Omer, Log B'Omer. We celebrate two events. The death of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the author of the Zohar, the book of Splendor or Radiance of the Kabbalah, and the day a horrid plague stopped, a few years before, that killed 24,000 Rabbinic followers of Rabbi Akiva, of which Shimon was one of 5 to survive.
The Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Beracoth1:8 teaches: Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai taught: "Had I been standing on
Rabbi Shimon realizes how much we humans sin with our mouths doing lashon ha ra, and realized that by having two mouths, we would sin twice as much. Shimon had witnessed years before how 24,000 of his fellow rabbis, each wanting Kavod Ha Rav, honor for being rabbis, did not afford their fellow rabbis honor. Each mocked the other. Each said their learning wasn't good enough. Some called other rabbis 'no-rabbi.' And God punished them with a plague which killed them, which abated on Log B'Omer.
Here
R. Shimon bar Yochai's life in the cave is symbolic of obsessive dedication to study, divorced from every day life. The Talmud describes:
''They went and hid in a cave. A miracle occurred and a carob-tree and a well of water were created for them. They would strip their garments and sit up to their necks in sand. The whole day they studied; when it was time for prayers, they dressed, covered themselves, prayed, and then took off their garments again, so that they should not wear out. Thus they dwelt twelve years in the cave. Then Eliyahu came and stood at the entrance to the cave and exclaimed, "Who will inform the son of Yochai that the emperor is dead and his decree annulled?" (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 33b)
Both
''So they emerged. Seeing a man plowing and sowing, they exclaimed, "They forsake eternal life and engage in temporal life!" Whatever they cast their eyes upon was immediately burnt up. Thereupon a Heavenly voice was heard, saying, "Have you emerged to destroy My world? Return to your cave!"
Rabbi Shimon and his son were so obsessed with Torah, and Kabbalah, they could not understand their normal fellow humans. They could not understand how one could place spiritual life to the side and deal with physical tasks of the mundane.
So for a year they lived in the cave again. And Shimon learned we humans have only one mouth. We must use that mouth to study Torah but also use it to deal with our fellow humans kindly in this real world.
Rabbi Shimon understood that two mouths would only lead to more lashon ha ra, not more Torah study, for the average man. He also learned that while it may be ideal to study Torah and live in a mystical realm all day, it is not possible, and that balance is needed to be achieved in life. He knew that few men were like him. He realized the world was gray and not black and white.
"Many people acted like
But it may be because Rabbi Shimon as told in Talmud Tractate Sanhedrin 14a was part of five rabbinic students who survived the plague and were due to get semikah-ordination by Rabbi Akiva, but he was martyred by the Romans. Under penalty of death, Rabbi ben Bava took these five to a valley, and give them one-on-one rabbinic semikah, starting this long standing 2000 year old tradition, replacing the need for a beth din of three.
They taught: R. Akiva has twelve thousand pairs of Rabbinic disciples, from Gevat to Antipras, and all died within the same period because they did not treat one another with respect. And the world was left desolate, until R. Akiva came to our Sages in the south and taught it to them:
Rabbi Ben Bava was killed by the Romans with 300 spears for ordained these 5 rabbis, one-on-one. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Sanhedrin 14a)
What Rabbi Shimon learned from the plague is there is not one exclusive way of serving God. There are many teachings, many ways to be taught, and hence many types of rabbis. As we well know, some study best one-on-one. Others do well sitting in a class with 50 other students. Some learn by lectures. Others learn by reading. Others have to be taught by the tell-show-do method.
Once we open our hearts to our fellow man, we allow for everyone to be equal in their search. As Jews, we of all people, should 2000 years later, not be having one sect calling another sect non-rabbis, or that sect saying if one doesn't go to a school with 4 walls for 4 years, he isn't a rabbi. We make a pox upon ourselves.
When our true destination is a path in serving God and our fellows, there most be room for a true wish for everyone to succeed.
This is why we say when we enter our study halls : "… Let me not stumble in a matter of Halakha, and let my fellows rejoice in me… and let my fellows not stumble in a matter of Halakha, and let me rejoice in them" (Talmud Bavli Tractate Beracoth 28b). We never want to be find ourselves pointing out another defects. We as rabbis never want to be calling another rabbi 'no rabbi.' We must remember the lesson of Lag B'omer. We need to support, yes , love our fellows. We need to develop this love and support not only in our individual synagogues, but in all of the synagogues which make up the Jewish community. That is God's will for us.
So when Rabbi Shimon came out of the cave for the second time, he did not bring the cave with him. He wanted to improve the life outside of the cave, in real life. Anyone can study Torah. Using Torah's lessons to bring love, forgiveness, mercy, kindness to all of our fellows, is what being a Jew is all about.
''He said: "Since a miracle occurred, let me go and amend something…" He asked, "Is there something that requires amending?" They said to him: "There is a place concerning which there is some question of impurity, and priests have the trouble of going around it." He asked: "Does anyone know of any presumption of purity here?" (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 33b)
''A certain old man replied, "Here R. Yochanan ben Zakkai cut down lupines of teruma." So he did likewise. Wherever the ground was hard, he [
Then he went out into the street and saw Yehuda, the son of converts [who had been responsible for the Roman government's decree against
Old habits can die hard.
Why did
During the Omer counting time now, sefirat ha-omer, we are to learn to grow in spirituality. "Chesed she-be-chesed" to "Malkhut she-be-malkhut." We are to prepare ourselves for Shavuot, for receiving Torah, as if it were given to us personally. How many of us are living a life like this? How many of our rabbis are? How many of us really would like to live a life being happy, joyous and free?
Lag B'omer is another holiday where our Rabbis teach us a spiritual lesson and ask us to make peace. If we have treated another Jew poorly by calling him less of a Jew, because he may not be as shomar Shabbat as we are, we owe teshuvah. If we have treated a rabbi with disrespect because we were told his 'papers' were not as 'pure' as anothers', we owe him teshuvah. Today, not tomorrow, for 'if not now, when?"
Those five rabbis who were saved and who received one-on-one semikah by Rabbi ben Bava, are the foundation of the entire Oral Law and Judaism. Without their scholarship, Judaism would have died. They were the last of our rabbis and from them spring new generations. We Jews cannot afford to continue living as those 24,000 did who "did not treat one another with respect."
We truly need to cling to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai's idea of 'amending something.' Start with ourselves. Do teshuvah to those we have harmed with our tongues. Ask God to remove lashon ha ra from us, as it arises from our own low self esteem, from lack of community support, consideration, and respect. It comes when we are unable understand that someone else may think differently than we do and are frightened by this.
By devoting ourselves this Lag B'omer to a personal if not communal Jewish Spiritual Renewal, www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org , we will understand : "What is the proper path that a person should choose? One that brings glory to one who performs it and brings glory to him from his fellow man" (Talmud Bavli Tractate Pirkei Avot 2:1).
Happy Lag B'Omer.
Rabbi Arthur Segal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Renewal
Hilton Head Island, SC
Bluffton, SC
Savannah, GA
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 Click to Order | A SPIRITUAL AND ETHICAL COMPENDIUM TO THE TORAH AND TALMUD Rabbi Dr. Arthur Segal dissects each of the Torah's weekly sections (parashot) using the Talmud and other rabbinic texts to show the true Jewish take on what the Torah is trying to teach us. This companion to The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew brings the Torah alive with daily relevance to the Modern Jew. All of the Torah can be summed up in one word: Chesed. It means kindness. The Talmud teaches that the Torah is about loving our fellow man and that we are to go and study. The rest is commentary. This compendium clarifies the commentary and allows one to study Torah and Talmud to learn the Judaic ideals of love, forgiveness, kindness, mercy and peace. A must read for all Jews and deserves a place in every Jewish home. Price: $24.99 494 Pages Published by: Amazon's BookSurge |
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(001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal
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In The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew, Rabbi Dr. Arthur Segal distills millennia of sage advice to reclaim your Judaism and your spirituality.
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(002) A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud
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A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud dissects each of the Torah's weekly sections (parashot) using the Talmud and other rabbinic texts to show the true Jewish take on what the Torah is trying to teach us.
- Price : $24.99
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(003) Tzadakkah Bundle
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The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal and A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud. Purchase both books as a set, and I will donate a portion of the sales price in your name to the tzadakkah of your choice. -- Rabbi Segal
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