Today [Friday 16 May] has been Lag ba’Omer, the 33rd day of the Omer, a joyful break in the Jewish calendar during the solemn period between Passover and Shavuot. This year, Lag ba’Omer began at sunset yesterday [Thursday 15 May 2025] and it ends at nightfall tonight.
Lag ba’Omer is a minor holiday commemorates the end of a plague that affected Rabbi Akiva’s students and honours the mystical teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Traditionally, it is marked with bonfires, outdoor fun, music, and unity. Lag B’Omer is seen as the perfect opportunity to bring families together for a meaningful, light-hearted celebration. Traditionally, it is also the only day between Pesach and Shavuot when weddings can take place and men and boys can have haircuts.
For many, Lag ba’Omer – the 33rd day of counting the 49 days between Passover and Shavuot – is a mystical occasion. They believe that worshipers who pray at the grave of Rashbi, the second-century sage and disciple of Rabbi Akiva considered to be the father of Kabbalism, will have their prayers answered.
The holiday is marked by the hillula (celebration) of Rashbi’s revelation in the form of the Zohar (Splendour), his classic book of Jewish mysticism. According to tradition, Lag Ba’omer was also the day on which the plague that killed Rabbi Akiva’s 24,000 disciples ended, thereby representing the conclusion of the mourning period during the counting of the Omer.
It is customary to observe the period of mourning for those who died by refraining from pleasures such as music, cutting hair and celebrating weddings until Lag ba’Omer is over. The holiday is meant to represent the move from sorrow to joy.
Traditionally, children go out to play with bows and arrows, reflecting the Midrashic idea that the rainbow, the sign of God’s promise to never again destroy the earth with a flood (Genesis 9:11–13) was not seen during Shimon Bar Yochai’s lifetime, as his merit protected the world.
Rabbi Rachel Barenblat, on her blog Velveteen Rabbi, posted this poem to mark Lag ba’Omer ten years ago (2015):
33: GOOD
The thirty-third word in the Torah
is ‘good.’ After each act
of speaking the universe into being
God paused and saw the good.
Light is good. Darkness: good.
Also the balance between the two.
Every geological feature.
Every seed and spore and fern.
The dinosaurs were good, until
they weren’t. The Great Auk,
the Atlas Bear … God must spend
eternity reciting I love
what comes and I love what goes.
That every story has an ending
must also be good, at least
from God’s vantage where each drop
rejoining the river at the base
of the waterfall is coming home.
Meanwhile, The newly-formed Movement for Progressive Judaism is encouraging Reform and Liberal communities across Britain to get together for Shavuot outings on Sunday (18 May 2025). The Progressive movement has produced a list of Shavuot challenges, activities and games, with lots for children to do, including the inner child too.
Shabbat Shalom, שבת שלום
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