The holiday of Lag Ba’Omer falls on day 33 of the Omer Count (the seven week period between the end of Passover and the beginning of Shavuot), and is welcome break from the general mournful period of the Omer.  As these restrictions are lifted on Lag Ba’Omer, the day is often action packed with weddings, parties, and general revelry of all sorts.  There are a number of explanations as to why the 33^rd day of the Omer is celebrated as a special holiday.

The Talmud tells us that during the time of Rabbi Akiva, a divine plague struck and killed 24,000 of his students as punishment for their jealous and unkind behavior.  According to this view, we celebrate the 33^rd day of the Omer as the plague came to an end on this day.  After the death of so many of Rabbi Akiva’s students, he taught only a small pool of five select students, one of whom was the great Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.  Lag Ba’Omer is also considered to be the yahrzeit (anniversary of death) of bar Yochai, who is credited with being the greatest Torah scholar of his generation as well as authoring the landmark Jewish mystical text, the Zohar.

Lag Ba’Omer is often celebrated in the great outdoors, and perhaps the most well known custom of this holiday is the practice of lighting bonfires.  Some say that the reason behind this is to commemorate the spiritual light that Bar Yochai left behind with the revelation of the Zohar, while others believe that the bonfires are meant to remember the miraculous extension of the daylight hours while Rabbi Shimon completed his final teachings. Whatever the reason, it makes for some excellent marshmallow roasting!