Talk:Lag Ba'omer

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I have made a minor semantic correction to this article, substituting the following line: "The day is also the Yahrzeit, the anniversary of the death, of the Tanna Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai [1] who is believed by some to have authored the Zohar, the landmark text of Jewish mysticism." The line as it was originally defined bar Yohai as the author of the Zohar, when the exact authorship of said text has been a matter of debate for centuries. See Zohar for more information. --Brasswatchman 20:40, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

it has been speculated by some that lag b'omer shows very strong signs of being of pre-jewish pagan origin. arguments about this have been made of other holidays and practices of many faiths, judaism included.

Being that Lag Ba'Omer has the latest origins of any Jewish holiday (with the exception of those instituted by the modern state of Israel), this seems to be a silly claim to make regarding this holiday. Elyachba

Although I'm unaware of any reason (other than pure speculation) that the date of this holiday is adopted from non-Jewish religions, at the same time I have doubts regarding certain customs of the "holy" day possibly having been adopted from the customs of other religions. Reason's for doubt:

1) the supposed Talmudic reference to Lag b'Omer mentions nothing of the date of this holiday (its name), nor of the customs connected to it. It merely mentions the account of Ribi Aqiva's students dieing.

2) the holiday isn't mentioned in ANY post-Talmudic writings (Geonim, Rishonim, etc...) till after the "revelation" of the Zohar.

3) the practice of lighting bonfires as a Jewish custom is unknown to the ancient Jewish literary sources. The only mention I'm aware of in ancient Jewish literature concerning bonfires was ONLY in the use of bonfires for spreading the message that the new month had arrived.

4) lighting bonfires is a known custom of pagan religions. Earlier this year I learned of a particular pagan practice of lighting bonfires throughout Europe during the 5th month of the Gregorian calendar. Unfortunately, due to moving several times this year, I lost the reference I had saved on it. Fortunately, just a few moments ago I found another reference to an ancient custom of lighting bonfires around the time of Lag ba'Omer in National Geographic. It's a custom of Beltane, a pagan Celtic holiday.

5) lighting candles in honor of the dead is found in MANY pagan religions, and is not mentioned in ancient Jewish texts. The currect practice among some Jews of lighting candles in honor of Shimon bar Yohhai on Lag ba'Omer is relatively recent.

6) erecting structures for people to congregate around, even if such congregating is completely divorced from idolatry, violates one of the 613 commandments of the Torah. One needs not search long to find pictures of MASS congregating around the graves of Shimon Bar Yohhai during Lag ba'Omer. (Same can be said for what goes on in Uman during Rosh haShana). I don't believe the structure around these tombs, around which people gather, was built just to provide habitation for the doves in the area.

7) If these customs of Lag ba'Omer are not found in ancient Jewish literature, and are known to be popular among pagans, is it a stretch to make an educated guess as to from where Jews learned these practices?

There are individuals among the observant Jewish world who would say it is prohibited to take part in these customs. Their reasoning is that there is a klal (principle) in Jewish law: When in doubt regarding an issue concerning a Torah commandment - lehahhmir (be strict). Adopting pagan customs violates one of the 613 commandments of the Torah. If there is reason for such doubt regarding these customs, and clearly there is no basis in Talmudic law for doing them, then the matter is clear -> lehahhmir.

When will we be as careful and joyous in the fulfillment of all the Creator's commandments before we are so extravagant in the observance of human innovations which are contrary to and annexed onto His Torah? 67.33.122.160 16:53, 4 November 2007 (UTC)