(1) Lag Baomer, like all other Jewish holidays, has many facets to it, it is interwoven with many historic events, numerous sacred traditions and a host of colorful observances. (2) But the one that is usually overlooked in Lag Baomer has specifically to do with the Kabbalah, with Jewish Mysticism, which to the average Jew remains the most thoroughly misunderstood stream of creative Jewish Thought. Today, when scholars of all shades of opinion have begun to take a second look and appreciate the sweep and the grandeur of Kabbalah, the laity – by and large – still think of it as something terribly mysterious or a magical abracadabra. Whatever may be the case, Kabbalah is a part of our Jewish lives, whether we know it or not. It has been incorporated into our traditions, into many expressions and above all into our prayers, and hence it shapes our thinking as Jews in many untold ways. And Lag Baomer is the day of the calendar devoted to Kabbalah. 3.The source book of all the great Kabbalistic teachings is the Zohar –”Book of Splendor” – which tradition ascribes to R. Shimon Bar Yochai and which contains his teachings. And in the Zohar, we read that on the day R. Shimon Bar Yochai died, he called his students in and imparted to them the great secrets and traditions of the Kabbalah. The manner in which he imparted those teachings is indicative of the character of the Kabbalah, the personality of our sages, and is, as well, a message of terrific import for us here today. And that day, when he died and taught, was the 33rd day of the Omer – Lag Baomer. So that Tomorrow is the “Yahrzeit” of R. Shimon Bar Yochai as well as the anniversary of his teaching. 4.In the Zohar ח”ג רפ”ז ע”ב, we read (using Hebrew transl.) B’oso yom she’rabba shimon amad le’histalek min ha’olam, בההיא יומא דר”ש  בעא לאסתלקא עלמא. On the Day R. Shimon was to die, he was preparing himself for the event, and his many colleagues and disciples came in to see him – ve’habayis haya malei, והוה מילא ביתא an…

Lag Ba’Omer, the minor holiday we celebrate tomorrow, is a happy day in Jewish life. Especially in the Holy Land, Lag Ba’Omer is celebrated in a colorful manner. Perhaps the most outstanding aspect of this day is its intimate relationship with that stream of the Jewish tradition known as the Kabbalah, the mystical tradition of Judaism. On this 33rd day of the omer, the Zohar, the source book of all the Kabbalah, is said to have been revealed to the world some eighteen hundred years ago. The dominating figure in the Kabbalah, the reputed author of the Zohar, is Rabbi Simeon b. Yochai, who died on this very day of Lag Ba’Omer. So that tomorrow is the yahrzeit of the great Rabbi Simeon and the single most important day in the Jewish calendar, which represents and reminds us of the Kaballah. It is appropriate on this Sabbath preceding Lag Ba’Omer, therefore, to read again the last words of Rabbi Simeon. For his last remarks, as the Zohar relates them, are of utmost significance to all of us moderns. In a particularly dramatic and beautiful passage, we are told:בההוא יומא דרבי שמעון בעא לאסתלקא מן עלמא והוה מסדר מלוי. אתכנשו חבריא לבי רבי שמעון… והוה מליא ביתא. זקיף עינוי רבי שמעון וחמא דאתמלי ביתא. בכה רבי שמעון ואמר: בזמנא אחרא כד הוינא בבי מרעי, הוה רבי פנחס בן יאיר קמאי… אסחר אשא מקמאי ומעלמין לא אתפסק... והשתא חמינא דאתפסק והא אתמלי ביתא.On the day that Rabbi Simeon was to depart from this world, he prepared himself for the end. The friends and disciples of Rabbi Simeon came to his home to bid him farewell. Rabbi Simeon lifted his head, opened his eyes, and saw that itmalei beta – that the house was full, the room was packed with tearful disciples and students. At this sight, bakhah Rabbi Shimon – Rabbi Simeon began to weep, and said, “Once before, when I was ill and thought I was going to die, only one person came to visit me – and that was Rabbi Pinchas b. Yair. And when he came to see me, is’char isha – a great fire enveloped him right in front of me, and that f…

The semi-holiday of Lag Ba-Omer, which we celebrate tomorrow, is traditionally associated with one of the most luminous figures in Jewish history: R. Simeon bar Yohai, distinguished disciple of R. Akiva. The reason for this connection is threefold: Lag Ba-Omer is the day on which R. Simeon was married. Furthermore, it is the day on which he risked his life, defying the tyrannical edicts of Rome, and accepted semikhah (his ordination). Finally, R. Simeon bar Yohai died on Lag Ba-Omer. Another opinion adds a fourth reason for the relationship between this Tanna and the festival of Lag Ba-Omer: this is the day that R. Simeon emerged from his cave.It is in reference to this fourth reason that I propose to emphasize the marvelous tale told in the Talmud concerning R. Simeon’s famous sojourn in the cave. This story, if properly understood, contains within itself a judgment on our lives in 1966 that is so incisive, so powerful, so relevant, that we cannot and dare not ignore it. For the essence of the story of R. Simeon bar Yohai is the question of how loyal, observant, and God-fearing Jews ought to orient themselves to the rest of the world.Let us first analyze our own predicament and then see what insights we can derive from the incident of the cave and R. Simeon.Ever since the Emancipation, religious Jewry has suffered a constant attrition. This deterioration in numbers and intensity has been most noticeable the past ten or twenty years. How ought we act to it? Several tendencies are noticeable.The first is the way of despair. One contemplates the unfavorable circumstances of our lives, and merely posts an obituary notice. But nothing is done: one goes about the old ways without any change. Thus, this past week, the head of one of the most influential agencies in the American Jewish community declared that in his view, Judaism will probably not survive in this country. He concluded that we are in deep trouble, and that the crisis is bound to be resolved in the wrong wa…