Lag BaOmer
9. It is similar to how one counts the days toward the coming Shabbos,24 and as the Ramban says on the verse "זכור את יום השבת לקדשו" ("Remember the Shabbos day to sanctify it"),25 that by counting the days toward the coming Shabbos one fulfills the mitzvah of "Remember the Shabbos day to sanctify it."
For this reason it is also stated26 that the prayers of all six days of the week ascend on Shabbos.
This does not contradict what the Gemara says — that only the last days of the week, from Wednesday on, are connected to the coming Shabbos, while the first days of the week are connected to the preceding Shabbos — which is why one may still make Havdalah if he forgot, etc., and may complete the weekly portion "שנים מקרא ואחד תרגום" ("twice the Scripture and once the Targum") until Tuesday of the following week.27 For these are separate matters; as is explained elsewhere, there are extensions of Shabbos that reach only up to three days (before Shabbos and after Shabbos).28 But as regards what must ascend and be included in Shabbos, all six weekdays before Shabbos are a preparation, and they ascend into the Shabbos that comes after them.
Accordingly, this Shabbos is the ascent and inclusion of Lag BaOmer — the day of the hilula and the day of rejoicing of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (Rashbi).
10. Concerning the matter of the passing (histalkus), it is stated29 that on the day of the passing, all the service and toil that a person labored at throughout his entire life becomes included. For at the time of the passing comes the culmination of the service that the soul had to accomplish with the body. — That is, even if the soul must descend again in a reincarnation, this is nevertheless the culmination of the service it had to accomplish with this body. —
Because of this, the day of the passing has an advantage over the service of the entire life, since at the time of the passing all the acts of service gather together.
Moreover: when all the acts of service gather together, there is added also a light that is higher than all of them.
For example, when several letters come together — each letter has its own meaning and significance30 — and one puts several letters together, a word is formed. A new thing is thus added: the power that combines the letters,31 the content of the word, the "אור העולה על כולנה" ("light that surpasses them all").
And so it is, too, when ten Jews join together, each of whom has a G‑dly soul: a new element is added — the resting of the Shechinah that is present upon ten of Israel.
11. Accordingly, one will also understand the matter of Lag BaOmer, the day of the passing of Rashbi: As great as was the quality of Rashbi's service during his lifetime — of which he said,32 "בחד קטירא אתקטירנא ביה, אחידא ביה, להוטא" ("With one bond I am bound to Him, attached to Him, aflame for Him") — even greater is the quality that was achieved on the day of his passing, by virtue of the advantage of the sum total and the "light that surpasses them all."
This is also what is stated33 concerning Moshe Rabbeinu: "חמשים שערי בינה נבראו בעולם וכולן ניתנו למשה חסר אחד" ("Fifty gates of understanding were created in the world, and all were given to Moshe except one"); yet at the time of his passing he merited also the fiftieth gate — Har Nevo, read as "Nun bo" ("the fifty is in it").
12. With this one will understand what is stated in the Midrash34 on the verse35 "כי לא יראני האדם וחי" ("For no man can see Me and live"): that even the holy Chayos do not see, since they are beneath the firmament. The Midrash also says there concerning tzaddikim: "בחייהם אינם רואים אבל במיתתם רואים" ("In their lifetime they do not see, but in their death they see").
Seemingly, since even the holy Chayos — a very lofty level among the angels — do not see, how is it that tzaddikim see in their death? If it is because of the superiority of souls over angels, then souls should have seen in their lifetime as well!
According to the above, however, it is understood: at the time of the passing there is the advantage of the sum total and the "light that surpasses them all" — an advantage that one can attain at the culmination of the service.
13. With this one will understand what is related in the writings of the Arizal,36 that R. Avraham HaLevi used to say the prayer "Nachem" every day, because he grieved very intensely over the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash and yearned for the building of the House that will be in the future. And when he said "Nachem" also on Lag BaOmer in Meron, Rashbi took offense, and it harmed him.
The explanation of the matter is as is cited37 in the name of the Alter Rebbe: there are souls of select individuals for whom the entire matter of the destruction did not exist, and one of them is Rashbi.
Consequently, when Lag BaOmer came, all the service of Rashbi gathered together at that time, together with the "light that surpasses them all." So on such a day he — R. Avraham HaLevi — should not have felt the whole matter of the destruction. Being a disciple of the Arizal, he surely knew that the passing is the culmination of the service, as explained above, and he also knew the significance and the greatness of Rashbi; consequently, on Lag BaOmer he should not have felt the destruction.
14. The explanation of this is: The service of Rashbi was to draw down the inner dimension of the Torah (pnimiyus haTorah) and the "סתים דאורייתא" ("the concealed part of the Torah") into the revealed part of the Torah, and through this also into the revealed realm of the world. There were a number of Tannaim who occupied themselves with pnimiyus haTorah; Rashbi's achievement, however, was that he drew it down openly into the world.
Since he drew down pnimiyus haTorah, the "אילנא דחייא" ("Tree of Life"), openly into the world (the mode of conduct of the future), the whole matter of exile consequently does not apply.
15. With this one will also understand what is stated in the Midrash,38 that one of Rashbi's disciples traveled away to another place and became wealthy. When that disciple came back, the other disciples became disheartened. Rashbi then led them out to a valley — according to the version in Tanchuma39 it was the valley near Meron, Rashbi's "Har Nevo" — and said, "בקעה בקעה התמלאי דינרי זהב" ("Valley, valley, fill up with gold dinars"). When the valley had filled with gold dinars, he told the disciples that each one could take from it as much as he needs, but they should know that this is their portion of the World to Come. — "ותשחק ליום אחרון" ("And she laughs at the last day")40 — and the disciples did not take.
The Midrash then relates another story: R. Shimon ben Chalafta — he lived later than Rashbi; he was, after all, an Amora41 — was a very poor man and did not have enough for the expenses of Shabbos and Yom Tov. He prayed about it, and he was given from Above a precious stone; he sold it and spent the money on the expenses of Shabbos and Yom Tov. When his wife saw this, she asked him about it, and he told her the whole story. She said that she did not agree to it, because in the future "your table will be lacking while your friend's table is full." So R. Shimon ben Chalafta went out to the field and prayed, and it was taken back from him.
And the Midrash concludes: "Our Sages said" that the second miracle was greater than the first, because "משמיא מיהב יהבי משקל לא שקלי" ("From Heaven they give; they do not take back").42
This needs to be understood: Why was "the latter miracle is greater, etc." said about the later story of R. Shimon ben Chalafta, and not about the earlier story of Rashbi? For in the story with Rashbi as well, when the disciples said that they did not want to take, the gold dinars were surely taken back from Above.
— Since Rashbi's disciples did not take them, and in later generations, too, no gold dinars were found in the valley of Meron, they were presumably taken back. —
It is also not understood: In the Midrash on Parshas Noach, where it enumerates the qualities of Rashbi, it says there that "בימיו לא נראתה הקשת" ("in his days the rainbow was not seen"), and it also relates there the story that he said, "Valley, valley, fill up with gold dinars." Now, if the taking back is a greater quality, the Midrash should have mentioned that quality of Rashbi — that he brought about that the gold dinars be taken back!
However, in light of what was discussed — that Rashbi's mission was to draw down pnimiyus haTorah openly into the world, so that even now, in the time of exile, the order should be as in the time of the Beis HaMikdash and at the coming of Moshiach — one will understand it simply:
16. Through Torah, all the flows of blessing are drawn down also in physical matters, as it is written,43 "עץ חיים היא למחזיקים בה ותומכיה מאושר" ("It is a tree of life to those who grasp it, and those who support it are fortunate"), etc.; "בשמאלה עושר וכבוד" ("In its left hand are wealth and honor"),44 and all the more so in its right hand, as our Sages expound.45 In today's Torah portion, too, it is written, "אם בחוקותי תלכו... ונתתי גשמיכם בעתם" ("If you walk in My statutes… I will give your rains in their season"), etc., and as the Gemara46 says, "חטים ככליות" ("wheat kernels as large as kidneys") — which is the order of conduct as it was in the time of the Beis HaMikdash and as it will be in the future.
Therefore Rashbi, for whom the destruction did not exist, was able through Torah to draw down gold dinars physically. The novelty, though, was that he drew this down not only for himself and those like him, for whom the destruction did not exist, but he brought about the flow also for his disciples, who were still at a level of exile —
— the proof is from the very fact that physical matters affected them, whereas in the future this will not be relevant at all, as stated in the Rambam47 that the longing for the Days of Moshiach is not for the sake of physical things, for then one will be content with little, as it says in the verse,48 "והיה ביום ההוא יחיה איש עגלת בקר ושתי צאן" ("And it shall come to pass on that day, that a man shall rear a young cow and two sheep"). —
Nevertheless, Rashbi brought about the flow for them too. Since the flow came by virtue of the revelation of pnimiyus haTorah, a foretaste of the future, then just as he drew down pnimiyus haTorah openly in the world for everyone, so too he drew down the flows that come through it.
And this is the precise wording of the story — "valley": even in a valley, a low place, a "בקעה מצא" ("he found a valley"), he drew down the mode of conduct of the World to Come.
17. Accordingly, one will understand why the story told about Rashbi is the story of his drawing down gold dinars, and not the story of their being taken back — because that is not Rashbi's concern. The wonder of their being taken back lies in the fact that "From Heaven they give; they do not take back," so that the order in Heaven was changed; but that is not Rashbi's concern. His concern is to draw down here below, through pnimiyus haTorah, the mode of conduct of the future.
And this is also why Rashbi said49 that he would protect all the generations from his own until the coming of Moshiach: because Rashbi and pnimiyus haTorah have a connection to Moshiach,50 and this is his concern, as explained above.
18. It is known51 that every year the matters that took place on that day the first time repeat themselves. Just as every 15 Nissan illuminates the Exodus from Egypt, and every Shavuos — the Giving of the Torah, so too every Lag BaOmer illuminates the matter of Rashbi and the mode of conduct of the World to Come,
which Rashbi transmitted to his disciples and to the generations after him, and which he placed into pnimiyus haTorah, which has been revealed in understanding and comprehension through the teachings of Chabad Chassidus,
especially in the last generation, the generation of Moshiach, which will then be like the generation of Rashbi;52
through pnimiyus haTorah, all the flows of blessing will be drawn down also in physical matters, with visible and revealed good.
(From the sichos of Shabbos Parshas Behar-Bechukosai, 5716)
Notes
24) See also Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer 126:3.
25) Shemos 20:8.
26) See Torah Ohr 10a.
27) Pesachim 106a. Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe 288:5; ibid. 299:8.
28) "From it [Shabbos] all the days are blessed" — this means the entire week that follows it, as is understood. This is not the place to elaborate.
29) The discourses for Lag BaOmer in the Siddur of the Alter Rebbe. See also Iggeres HaKodesh, ch. 27.
30) Tanya, Part II, ch. 11.
31) Ibid., ch. 12. See also the discourse beginning "Zos Chukas HaTorah," 5672.
32) See Zohar III, 284a; 292a.
33) Rosh Hashanah 21b.
34) End of Parshas Naso.
35) Shemos 33:20.
36) Pri Etz Chaim, Shaar Sefiras HaOmer, ch. 7.
37) Pelach HaRimon, Shemos, p. 7.
38) Shemos Rabbah 52:3. Shocher Tov, Psalm 92.
39) Pekudei, sec. 7 (Buber edition).
40) Mishlei 31:25.
41) Rashi (in Ein Yaakov), Moed Katan 9b. See also the commentaries on the Mishnah, end of Uktzin.
42) See Taanis 25a.
43) Mishlei 3:18.
44) Ibid. 3:16.
45) Shabbos 63a.
46) Taanis 23a.
47) Hilchos Teshuvah 9:2, and Hilchos Melachim 12:4.
48) Yeshayahu 7:21.
49) Bereishis Rabbah, beginning of ch. 35.
50) See Zohar III, 124b, in Raaya Mehemna: "יפקון ביה מן גלותא" ("through it they will go out of exile").
51) See Sefer HaMaamarim 5704, p. 12.
52) See Zohar II, 147a; III, 159a.
Key Lesson
At the culmination of a tzaddik's life all his service gathers together and a light higher than all of it is revealed, which is why Lag BaOmer, the day of Rashbi's passing, shines even beyond his lifetime. Rashbi's mission was to bring pnimiyus haTorah openly into the world, drawing the blessings of the future down even into a low "valley" and into physical life; each Lag BaOmer renews this, and through the teachings of Chassidus it brings those blessings, visible and revealed, to our generation.