Lag B’Omer — The Hillula of Rashbi
Hebrew: ל״ג בעומר | When: 18 Iyar (33rd day of the Omer)
The Day
Lag B’Omer — the 33rd day of the Sefirat HaOmer count — is the hillula (day of rejoicing/yahrzeit) of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the Tanna whose greatest teaching is the Zohar HaKadosh. He passed on this day in Meron (Galilee) and requested that his yahrzeit be celebrated, not mourned — for on this day the deepest hidden light of his soul was revealed. As the Idra Zuta (the final section of the Zohar) records, it was on this day that he revealed the highest mysteries he had carried all his life.
Why the Mourning of the Omer Lifts
The forty-nine days of the Omer are shadowed by the deaths of 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva, who died in a plague between Pesach and Shavuot. The Talmud (Yevamos 62b) records that they died because they did not treat each other with kavod (respect). On Lag B’Omer the deaths ceased — and the mourning practices (no haircuts, no music, no weddings) are lifted.
The inner connection: Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was himself one of Rabbi Akiva’s five surviving students — the one who carried the flame forward. He represents the rectification of what his colleagues had failed to achieve: genuine love among Torah scholars, achieved through the bittul (self-nullification) that comes from pnimiyut haTorah.
The Revelation of Inner Torah
In Chassidus, Lag B’Omer is yom hahillula — a day when the soul of Rashbi shines with particular intensity. The Zohar, which Rashbi taught, is the foundational text of pnimiyut haTorah — the inner dimension of Torah. The Baal Shem Tov taught that the widespread study of Chassidus (which draws from the Zohar’s wellsprings) is itself the fulfillment of the promise associated with this day.
The Rebbe emphasized repeatedly: Lag B’Omer is not merely about one great sage. It is about the principle he represents — that the inner Torah can and must be revealed, that it cannot remain hidden forever, that its dissemination is the path to redemption.
Bonfires and Unity
The bonfires lit on Lag B’Omer (a custom widespread in Israel and Chabad communities worldwide) represent the ohr — the light — of Torah that Rashbi brought into the world. Fire illuminates and warms without being diminished when it shares itself. This is the model of Torah: one who teaches does not lose their Torah, and the student’s flame burns independently.
The Rebbe instituted the great Lag B’Omer parades — gatherings of thousands of Jewish children marching together — as an expression of achdus (unity) and of the limud that such visible Jewish pride instills. In cities worldwide, these parades bring Jewish children together in a declaration: we are proud, we are joyful, we are one.
In the Corpus
The Rebbe spoke extensively about Lag B’Omer in Likkutei Sichos, often drawing the line from Rashbi to the Baal Shem Tov to the spread of Chassidus in our generation. The Rebbe’s sichos on Rashbi frequently explore the Idra texts and the concept of gilui pnimiyut — the revelation of what was hidden.