Lag B’Omer—the Point of Transformation
What is the origin of Lag B’Omer? Nobody really knows. The Talmud tells us that thousands of Rabbi Akiva’s students died in a plague between Passover and Shavuot during the 49 days of Sefirat Ha’omer, the counting of the Omer. (Yevamot 62b) Later traditions held that the plague stopped on the 33rd day of the Omer (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim, 491). The number 33 in Hebrew numerology is "Lag" (ל"ג), so the name of the holiday literally means “the 33rd day of the Omer.”
Days 1 through 32 of the Omer are characterized by sadness and mourning: no celebrations are allowed, neither trimming nor cutting of hair (ibid). On the 33rd day there’s a big reversal—bonfires are lit with great joy. The next 16 days are days of relief and excitement, leading to Shavuot, the celebration of the giving of the Torah.
The counting of the Omer is like a pendulum movement. For 32 days it moves towards sadness and loss; the 33rd day is the point of reversal, where the momentum shifts; and for 16 days it moves back towards the ultimate joy. Whereas physical pendulums move with equal energy in both directions, the period signifying sadness is twice as long as the period signifying joy. 32:16; which is 2:1.
The movement from 2 to 1, from duality to unity, echoes the movement from Mitzrayim (Egypt)—which literally means “duality of boundaries” or “bondage in duality”—to Canaan, the promised land of liberation. In Hebrew numerology, the word Mitzrayim (מצרים) has the numerical value of 380; Canaan (כנען) has the value of 190, exactly half. Again, 2:1.
Lag B’Omer is the point where the pendulum reverses direction. It is an other-worldly point of pure potentiality, where the rush towards duality has dissolved and the reverse movement towards unity has not yet started. It resembles the moment of suspension between the incoming breath and the outgoing breath, a brief moment just before the direction is reversed. There’s another such moment, when the outgoing breath reaches its end and the direction is about to be reversed. These are very potent moments. Try this: devote an entire meditation session to gently noticing those points of suspension of your breath, at the end of inhalation and the end of exhalation.
As I write this, the momentum in the world seems to be towards duality and separation. Senseless killing in Eastern Europe has jolted the world into fear and alarm. But Lag B’ Omer holds a promise: the dark movement towards duality and separation reaches an end. Just as the bonfires end the period of mourning, light can appear when darkness has exhausted itself. May the world have its Lag B’Omer moment soon. Amen.