Secrets of Lag BaOmer - Talkline With Zev Brenner

this Torah class is brought to you by Torah anytime.com you're listening to talk line with Zev brener America's Premier Jewish broadcast on the air since 1981 and now here's your host welcome back to the program I'm Z brener we appreciate you being here with us now we got a great show for you coming up right now we have Rabbi Daniel J gladin he is a prolific writer uh he is morash of kilas feris Mor founder of m m in Cur New York he's one of the Contemporary Jewish Ro most popular speakers respect them our Tor has more than 10,000 recorded sh and you can catch him at rabid dg.com or to anytime his latest book just came out is LBA the fire and the soul the mystical power of l b r bar and the Z KES by Daniel glass thank you for joining us good hi good how are you good thank you so tell us first of all L bom is now written the T becoming more and more an important holiday tell us about it yeah so uh this is a day that's definitely picking up tremendous momentum Even in our own times you know back in the day you heard some people would go to Mayon some people would make the pilgrimage and right now it's become the single most attended Jewish ritual in the entire world as of last year there were almost uh a half a million Jews who participated in the ceremony in meron so this is certainly something that's worthy of our attention why why so many people are uh attending meon and why it's picked up so much steam as of late and in general you know the the teachings of rabish are definitely gaining a lot of momentum in our times you know maybe 30 years ago 40 years ago when people would study laba or any subject in general they would study it from a more open and revealed point of view and now it's become much more prevalent to uh study more of the esoteric elements of the Tyra even people who are not uh as even people are not experts shall we say in uh the tud or the uh have begun so to speak uh dabbling a little bit in more esoteric portions of the and there's definitely a significant reason for that based on the idea that as we come to the finish line and as we get closer to uh the Redemption of the Jewish people you know predicts that in the end of days the Jewish people will have a taste of what he calls the tree of life and the tree of life is reference to the book of the Zar and that taste will usher in the Final Redemption so it's you have you have a personal connection to log Bomer family connection of I believe it was your grandfather who was saved on log Bomer yeah thanks for bringing that up that uh among all the other various significance of LBA om for me personally my grandfather as we've discussed in the past as a survivor of the Holocaust and he was in daa in 1945 in April he uh and daa was liberated in the end of April 1945 but there were some Jews who who were put on the cattle cars who were going to be taken to death my grandfather included and he he was liated uh shortly after he was liberated shortly after a few days after the liberation of the rest of the camp and that actually turned out to be lar so it's a day of Mercy for uh not only Jewish people but for my family personally now what's fascinating is that R is associated with L you mentioned before but is there any clearance indication that he actually passed away on log Bomer do we have any record of that so you know you bring up a very good point it's almost uh it's commonly accepted and yet we do not have an authoritative source that in fact it is the day of passing it's based on a passage in the writings of that it's the day of his hilula hilula literally means the day of his celebration but the tells us that uh the writings ofal uh there many errors have crept into it and therefore we do not says have an authoritative source that it's yard side it's so to speak something that the Jewish people have accepted to commemorate his his passing on this day why why is been associated with him if he's not sure if he passed away that day so why why is R shiman associated with with this they it's a great mystery you know it's just something that uh the Jewish people took upon themselves you know what's amazing is there are other reasons for the significance of lagba om Associated somewhat for example there's an right I don't hear the go ahead um there's a there's a theam s supplies a number of very interesting discoveries regarding L for instance tells us that the M began to fall for the Jewish people on lagba om this is based on the idea you know they let they leave Egypt on pesak and of course the gar tells us that the the man that the matah that they took out of Egypt lasted for 30 days so that's going to take them to the 14th day of ER and you read the theim simply the M began to fall uh the very next day however brings a very obscure medish that the M did not fall for until three days later so instead of it falling on the 15th day of er it uh fell on the 18th day of er 18th day of ER is lagba so that's one possibility of uh the of the significance of lagba now what's interesting is that in the zoh is referred to as the that fell for the Jewish people so that establishes a connection between om which is the day of the falling of the man and who the teachings he provided for the Jewish people are considered like the man so why why is lagba om called his day of uh celebration his day of yard site there areon that do write that but as mentioned the says that we don't really have an authoritative source that passed away on this day you know one of the one of the biggest mysteries is that uh there's a tradition the students of Raba sto dying on which is also you know where does it say that what's the basis for that the gar doesn't say that the gar in Yas that says the students pass between p and doesn't say they stopped dying on the brings a tradition from the go that they stopped on lagba om but if you think about it really is that really a reason to celebrate that they stopped dying you know you know why they stopped dying because they're all dead so that seems to be an unusual reason to celebrate I wonder if you would want to com Rob henen writes that the students of bar of of rabaka the reason why they died during this purge is they were actually fighting the Romans in the Barak Revolt okay so that's that's a very interesting point and that could help help us understand the following you know we know that this time of the year is is a time of public mning for the Jewish people it's communal mning and isn't that unusual the students of reab AA their departure their death creates public mourning where they the greatest sages who ever lived that we have public mourning for their death why don't we mourn the death of many righteous who are died or killed uh throughout Jewish history we don't have any shortage of sadim who died in Jewish history what the studentsa were the were the most righteous the greatest scholars in history that we commemorate their death more than anybody else so actually in light of what you said let's think about that they were they were uh soldiers for Bara who was Bara Reb AKA thought he was Messiah he was the Redeemer was Rea wrong was he totally in error Wasa mistaken if Raba thought was MIA that that must mean he had the legitimate potential to bring Redemption for the Jewish people and what would have happened if Bara would have been the Redeemer he would have built the third Bas mikdash so the fact that the students OFA died that is not just mourning the loss of Torah Scholars that means that Bar's attempt to be the Redeemer for the Jewish people was frustrated and it didn't come to fruition and the third B mikdash that would have been built was not built and the msah That was supposed to come didn't come so in a way this time of the year is worse than Tish Tish is mourning the destruction of the second temple SP then in light of the idea that the students OFA were associated by and he never came to verish this time of the year is really mourning the loss of the third bdash and that's a lot more painful than the loss of the first and the second but there is some consolation and correct me if I'm wrong is we add a fourth blessing to benching which is for theug betar those that were killed in betar the last stronghold of bar and you would think that when they Buri the bodies it didn't stink and we we made a br Bening a to based on this shouldn't we do a lamentation for it but the mere fact that they died solely and as good Jews their actions didn't sting that's why we celebrated so there is a cause of Celebration if you want to look at that concept of why we added to benching to the Barak Revol yeah look there there's a a some some lining that's uh that's uh Redemptive yes our guest is Rabbi Daniel J glassi his fascinating new book is called the mystical power of L bom it's ler the fire and the soul the mystical power of ler and the zodes we're going to be right back don't go away stay tuned coming up little while Rabbi alhan Poco will be looking at the closing of the fine other guests will be joining us later on during the course of the show don't go away stay tuned you're listening to the talk line Network sasans have been in the jewelry wholesale business for 40 years and open their first store location in Crown Heights 12 years ago they've gained a following well beyond Crown Heights and now open their second location in the heart of Surfside Florida on Harding Avenue they specialize in Bridal special occasion custom and everyday F jewelry visit either of their two locations on Instagram or via their website tj.com that's tj.com join de's momentous gathering at the credential Center in New Jersey on Sunday June 9th during the schoes you may aala at a once in a-lifetime experience to repair for cabal Torah with a commitment to learning the gar of chabas and the laws of shabus celebrate with dearu at this pivotal moment in history as a da hayomi begin thereby revolutionizing the Torah World 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sponsors who participated in the networking event our newspaper is distributed all over Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Long Island and you can get a copy and you're welcome to advertise with us to the vast audience that we have and just call 917 549 6145 91754 n 6145 for any information concerning the newspaper advertising thank you so much Yakov s here every you're listening to talk line with Zev brener America's Premier Jewish broadcast on the air since 1981 and now here's your host welcome back to the program I'm Z Bren guas Rabbi Daniel J glassing just with us for a little while longer as fascinating new book is called L BMA the fire and the soul the mystical power of L Bim and The zor KES you mention rig glassing that the S perod is a day of mourning and sadness however you also write and what I learned is that you know just like atas you knowas we have a holiday attached to the end of sukus follows the end of sukus but really the there is a similar kind of situation with PES where theer the end of PES is really sh so really the weeks of are in a sense are like there are for suus there are for PES and so it's time to Celebration yeah excellent point and uh the ran teach us that the days in between p are liken to which would explain why we just read the shabas and of not only R but also the days of are mentioned in which is the if was just days of morning why would they be mentioned in parar but that that indicates that fundamentally the days of are days are days of holiday but they've so to speak been uprooted and changed transformed into morning because of students the death of the students of Rea so actually then on lagba om which is the one day that they didn't die lagba om then restores the day of lag is restored to its biblical status of a yam so in other words L is not just a rabid but because the sunika didn't die on that day so then it is restored to its original status of of it being a a Biblical holiday so it's it's much more basic than just a a commemoration ofite that's actually a Biblical holiday so it should created as such and by the way you also write about why usually when we have a special day we make a a special prayer blessing why don't we do so the first night when we make the sphere some when we start counting the 49 now day period which leads to l why don't we all yeah that's a very good question uh and Theon him discussed that there various reasons why you know it may be tied to the fact that that sphere is a time of M you know it's very interesting uh shabas before M we say that um however if it's a day that we would ordinarily not say we omit with the exception of the days of during s we always say and the reason is a was composed for the tragedies that happened during this time of the year that what we called gazer Tatu the xerus of 1096 the the massacres of the Crusades so that's another tragedy that happened during this time of the year so this time reason being after Easter when when the mass got all fired up is when they actually went on The Killing Spree against Jews yeah right so um the the days of s are are days of morning not only for RAB AA but for even tragedies that happen closer to our times and why don't we say first of all we the first night of is the second night of PES where there is no morning on that period anyway why don't we make a then yeah so so there are various approaches uh one is that these days are days of den that's the reason why various happened on it um additionally there's an idea that it's incorporated into the of because as you mentioned the days of are first night or the second night of PES is it Incorporated um it would be the first night really in other words when we make the on P that kicks off all of the various mitzah that are upcoming including the upcoming which would be the following night so that also indicates that what you mentioned that are the days of between p and therefore it's subsumed in the we make on P but but then again come the holiday of suas we make aanu at the beginning of the holiday and KES doesn't exempt us from making on the lul or sitting in the Suka right but the the days of but it does exempt us from the Shu on the day in other words the days of we don't make another on the second day or the third day so the days of would then be considered like the as you mentioned between PES and Sh so that question there at least 10 answers found in Theon why we don't make theu on on the Mitzvah of now of course L Bomer is coming up and so here here's a question though if somebody gets up in sh before he actually made the BR before he made the blessing on Counting the Ser he said tonight's L Bomer is he exempt from making a br because he said tonight's log Bomer okay so first of all he he definitely didn't count the weeks right so okay also LBA om is clearer that he didn't mean to say what day of the Omar it is it's just an expression so in other words you know he didn't say it's the 33rd day of the OM he just gave it the uh the days name you know but uh I was discussing on chabas you know they're various custom do you say lag do you say baar or La Omar you know I don't know are you able to do like a a poll of your audience I know you have uh millions of listeners all across the globe if we could you know could you do a poll do you say baar or La Omar I I would say most people say probably say B right I'm just going to speculate because that's how the holiday is known so people say log B right right so for it's nobody says but many when they count s they say many say I've been saying uh the seems to say the says say it seems like the ancient custom of was to say the says most sayar elsewhere he says so it's a little bit uh it's a complex subject you know maybe one day you you'll do a poll being actually we have a pollster that ask different polling questions about Orthodox Jews Mark maybe we'll ask him to include that question one of his surveys I would like to get an answer to that see that see on your uh you know I'll have to speak to him but he's the official poster let me ask you this question if that's the case if I say log Bomer and I don't really mean it I can still make the Braha and say it why do we say last night was 24 or last I was 25 let's just say tonight's 25 what consequen is there now so if you say tonight's the 26th night of the OM and if I say tonight is 25 people say what's tonight so people say last night was 24 right but if I said last night's 25 there's a problem what's the problem if I didn't say 25th day of the I just say tonight's 25 um if you say tonight's 25 it it may be a problem because you're you're you're saying the number of you refer to the in the OM account as opposed to when you say tonight's you're just saying the name of the holiday but that's why you know that there there's a joke they say um you know what's for supper last night we had chicken you know right but I'm just saying in other words if I'm saying it's just 20 I'm not saying the week somebody says what's tonight and you say 26 and you just say the number 26 then you know that that that's not much of an issue so why do we have the whole thing was say last night was 24 bar we going to say it's 26 yeah that's uh you know people have their things that they're very careful about but it's to avoid saying tonight is the 26th night of the OM you mentioned the Remar is there a connection between him and L Bomer oh the good question but first of all you know I'm leading a trip this week we're leaving Wednesday night we're going to cck out and we're gonna be uh in COC for chabas at the yard side of the Rama the Rama's yard side is LBA om and uh the was one of what as the of the ash are based on the rulings of the Rama and it's interesting that the Rama and these twoim passed away on the same day like what's the connection between the and one interesting commonality between them is there the twoim that their father's names was were seared on to their name so for instance nobody knows him as he's not his father's name is seared on to his name the same thing with the Rama is is was the father of the Rama so this indicates that both of these G and their respective Fields whether it's cabala or were not innovating new new practice but they were continuing the ancient tradition so drama is a by the way and you're for for hundreds of years people would flock would pilgrimage to the cama especially if they couldn't go to meon and there were many notable Rabon in CA and part of being a rabbi in CA is you'd have to give the annual D the raash in honor of his uh drama's yard side you know a little interesting tidbit about dama if you ever opened up the text of the you know whenever the ramam has a comment he always begins with hag ha ha means footnotes ha and in the beginning of the in middle of his conversation he says ha he says a few words and then he says ha again which is unusual he's still talking why does he use the word ha ha means a note so the the numerical value of the word ha he is 13 and many authors would always begin their works with the name of Hashem 26 so the ra way of beginning his work with the name of Hashem is ha ha 1313 which equals 26 which is the name of the name of fascinating so before we let you go any other thoughts on B that you like to share with our audience yeah uh one interesting thing is that the theer in a way in a Chua criticizes like om he says since when is the the day of the passing of a sadic a festive day a joyous day the day at sadic passes should be a day of mourning and writes he all we know from the poim is that we don't say we don't eulogize and even that I don't know the reason for so in his respons you could look it up in your 233 he says I I don't know the reason for lag I don't know why people celebrate lag and yet nobody more than supplied more interesting reasons for l b he says that the M fell he says that after the Jews left Egypt it took 33 days until their souls acclimated into their bodies the says that begins the final 16 days of that correspond to the Mitzvah ofed which is the one pillar which the world stands that we still have full access to we lost a lot of it with the we lost it entirely was unaffected by the writes many many reasons for so I think it's worthy of note here the writes in his book he doesn't know the reason for but in his and he he supplies so many reasons so it seems a little bit of a contradictory but it shouldn't be contradictory and this is important for every Jew to to have Clarity in and that is in the the realm of is a different realm than the realm of Jewish thought of mysticism of and even though the had great reverence for the world of kabala mysticism that still is not AIC rationale for the celebration of of and therefore it's important writes that anyone who mixes CA and is in violation of clim of like shess these are two distinct Realms you can't utilize and Marshall Caba to supply rationale for for halik practice and that's important uh for a person to have Clarity in not to mix these two Realms the the world of Hal has to be understood with a rational process using the Tam tamic analysis and you can't use mysticism to to explain H basis that's but ler is a mystical holiday certainly it's a mystical holiday and in a realm of mysticism we get it and yeah in the realm of Hal it remains somewhat of a mystery now by the way maybe you know there's a divide between the misn and litx and theid on the Y side for example the litx at least they used to fast I don't know if they still do and theid have like a TK and they have a whole schnaps and Herring Etc maybe that's part of the whole thing we're saying l your question is do we celebrate the art site of really yeah know rakov ketki would say that originally you know yart side is fundamentally a fast day so to get out of it you know they used to make a and this way if it's a sud you could eat so the C they couldn't do anymore but the tikon that that remained no I'm just saying it's similar to the when it comes y I think there's a whole process of ification of Orthodoxy which is a whole different discussion but maybe going back to when L Bomer was instituted um maybe that was part of the rational maybe it was more ofic way of thinking I'm just speculating out loud yeah look uh everybody agrees that uh the says the the the day of the art side is a fast day and yet if you make a CM you could uh sort of circumvent it so uh look Rim teaches us that by uh tasting his his offerings and his his teachings it will help Usher in the Redemption so we hope uh through uh learning the Torah it will bring us all closer to the Redemption and uh we we could use it I want to thank you R by Daniel J Glass his latest book is called log Bomer the fire and the soul the m power of Vlog B the thank you for joining us what's your next sa for your next book going to be about I have safer coming out in in Hebrew on on raising children and then in English I'm working on a translation of the which is a book about yearning for the Redemption and various essays about how to incorporate the yearning for the Redemption as part of our uh daily routine wonderful looking forward today thank you for joining us thank you for having me thank you very much by Daniel J globin here on the talkline network when we come back we'll speak to Rabbi Al you've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by tor anytime.com