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According to some sources, we celebrate on Lag Baomer because it is the day when Rabbi Akiva’s students stopped dying. However, there is a major question that one could ask about this.
Is it really appropriate to make a joyous celebration just because a tragic period ended? Granted we are relieved that the difficult period is over, but that does not mean we are suddenly happy.
The Chida (a great Spehardic Rabbi of the 18th century) writes that there was actually another important event that took place on Lag Baomer. After the death of Rabbi Akiva’s 24,000 students, the Gemara tells us that Rabbi Akiva taught five new students. It was these five students who ultimately transmitted the Torah to the next generation. It was on Lag Baomer that Rabbi Akiva began to teach these new students and it became clear to them that Torah was returning, and therefore we rejoice.
However, the earliest mentions of Lag Baomer being a day of celebration are only found several centuries after the death of Rabbi Akiva’s students. Why did they decide to make a new holiday about something that had happened a few hundred years prior and that had not been celebrated at that time?
I once heard the following answer: At the time when Lag Baomer was instituted as a day of celebration, the Jewish community was in the process of recovering from a period that included multiple crusades and pogroms which had wiped out or dispersed much of the Torah world. Many doubted whether they could ever recover and whether the Torah would be able to survive.
It was at this time that they recalled the story of Rabbi Akiva. After the death of his 24,00 students, the gemara says that “the world was desolate (of Torah)”. However, Rabbi Akiva rose from the ashes and started over with a new group of students (on Lag Baomer) who were able to keep the Torah alive. Hundreds of years laters, the Rabbis used this story as proof that they too could rebuild from the ashes and continue the transmission of Torah.
This message is especially meaningful as we try to recover from the difficult events of the last eight months, and we too can draw inspiration from the story of Rabbi Akiva and his students. The lesson of Lag Baomer, is that no matter how much we endure and no matter how bleak the situation appears, we always have the ability to rebuild and to continue transmitting the Torah to a new generation.
Shabbat Shalom
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