BUILDING BONFIRES
issue 6 : updated  13 Iyar 5766 (May 11th, 2006)

Please fee free to comment, suggest, criticize, bash, and/or mock in order to make Karf’s Korner serve you better.

Dear Friends,

This Tuesday, all over Israel, and in Sherwood Park, Toronto, bonfires will be lit as a day of memorial rejoicing for one of greatest leaders, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. It was on this day, the last day of his life, that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai disseminated his Kabbalistic teachings to his disciples which served as the light unto the world. His book, the Zohar, is considered the foundation for all Jewish mystical teachings.

An obvious question comes to mind. Why is only HIS yahrzeit commemorated universally?

In my opinion, the lighting of the bonfire is not only a celebration of the Zohar and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, but it represents something more sublime. It is that the reality that we live in is not Hashem’s reality. Lag B’Omer is a day to celebrate and acknowledge that there is something deeper and greater than what our five senses tell us and that is, the world of the mystical and spiritual. All of our challenges and all of the unpleasantness that we encounter in our lives are nothing more than a test of our spirit from the Divine.

This Tuesday night, when we light the bonfire and give honour to the Zohar and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, we tell Hashem that we really get IT.

Good Shabbos.

Rabbi Elie