Between the second day of Passover and the celebration of Shavuot, we are commanded to count the omer, an ancient Hebrew measure of grain. According to Biblical law, offerings were required to be made for these 49 days before any of the new barley crops could be used. This time of counting also links Passover and the Exodus to Shavuot and the giving of the Torah, reminding us that redemption from slavery was not complete until we received the Torah.

Lag BaOmer, which takes place this year on May 16 (the eighteenth of Iyar), falls on the 33rd day of this counting (the word “Lag” represents the number 33; the letters lamed, representing 30 and gimel representing 3). The period of counting has traditionally been a somber period of reflection and mourning. In the First century, thousands of students of Talmudic scholar Rabbi Akiva were killed by a plague during this period as punishment for disrespecting each other. In commemoration, weddings and festivities are not held and we’re not meant to have our hair cut. However, this all changes on Lag BaOmer. The plague is believed to have ended on this 33rd day of counting, thereby causing it to be a source of celebration.

After the end of the plague, Rabbi Akiva took on new students.  One of them was Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, traditionally thought to be the author of the Zohar (“The Shining Light”), the mystical commentary on the Torah. To commemorate this light, bonfires are typically lit to celebrate Lag BaOmer.

Some historians believe that the story of Rabbi Akiva’s students is allegorical and that the story is really a reference to a Jewish revolt against the Romans led by Bar Kochba and that the period of mourning is to honor those who died in the uprising.

Some parents wait until Lag BaOmer to cut their child’s hair for the first time and many in Israel visit Meron, the village believed to contain the grave of Rabbi bar Yochai.

There is also a custom that children play with bows ("keshet" in Hebrew) on Lag BaOmer. Like most things about the holiday, suspected reasons for this vary. One school of thought says that bows and arrows were carried by Rabbi Akiva’s students to hide the fact that they were studying the Torah, while another says that it is in honor of Rabbi bar Yochai in whose life a rainbow (which is also called “keshet” in Hebrew and which is meant to tell humanity that their actions are deserving of another great flood of Noah-like proportions) was never seen due to his influence. 

Ways you can celebrate:

• Host a potluck mean featuring foods related to the two harvests that bracket the period of the Omer, the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. 
• Study texts related to Rabbi Akiva and Bar Kochba. 
• In light of the story about the students who failed to show respect for one another, hold a text study session on interpersonal ethics.