Each week we discuss one familiar halakhic practice and try to show its beauty and meaning. The columns are based on the commentary "Meaning in Mitzvot" on the Kitzur Shulchan Arukh, which is serialized on Yeshivat Har Etzion's "Virtual Beit Midrash", www.vbm-torah.org. Subscribers are currently learning about Shabbat.

BONFIRES on LAG BA'OMER

According to tradition, Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai passed away on Lag baOmer. Even though the death of such a great sage is a sad event, there is also joy in knowing that he attained his final reward, and because he revealed many deep secrets of the Torah to his students on his dying day. One basis for the custom of lighting bonfires on this day is the Zohar's account of a mysterious fire which then surrounded the house of Rebbe Shimon, preventing any but his closest students from approaching. (Zohar Haazinu, Idra Zuta, III:296b.)

This fire seems to recall another fire ignited by Rebbe Shimon's aweseom holiness. When Rebbe Shimon and his son left the cave where they hid for twelve years from the Roman authorities, Rebbe Shimon was so outraged to see people occupying themselves with transient concerns like plowing and sowing that everyplace he gazed was immediately burnt up. Then a Bat Kol rebuked him, "Did you go out to destroy my world?! Go back to your cave!" The two were compelled to return to the cave for twelve months, until another Bat Kol allowed them to emerge. (Shabbat 33b)

Just like the earlier flame of the cave, the fiery gaze which aroused the ire of the Almighty, the fire surrounding the house threatened to consume anyone who was not totally devoted to Torah study, "like Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai and his colleagues, whose Torah was their entire livelihood" (and are therefore exempt from regular prayers - Shabbat 11a, SA OC 106:2). Could it be that Rebbe Shimon repeated his earlier excess of zeal?

A parallel difficulty arises from an interesting dispute: Rebbe Yishmael asserts that the tidings of keriat shema, "and you will gather your grain and wine and oil" is a blessing. But according to Rebbe Shimon, it is at best a mixed blessing. If we were really doing G-d's will, we would not have to disturb our Torah study even to gather in the bounty of the land of Israel! (Berakhot 35b.) The gemara concludes: "Many acted according to Rebbe Yishmael and were successful; many acted according to Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai and were unsuccessful."

Since the approach of exclusive devotion to study seems to be rejected by the gemara, how can the halakha legitimize it by exempting "Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai and his colleagues" from prayer, on the basis that their utter devotion to study places them on a higher level than other scholars?

WHAT DID THE BAT KOL TEACH REBBE SHIMON?

We explained last week that Pesach, the holiday of redemption when the people of Israel were saved in the merit of their lineage, even though their merit was incomplete, and the Pesach offering of the omer of barley, which is brought because it is the first grain to ripen even though it is of inferior quality, represent the "bediavad" aspect of Judaism: the willingness to legitimize aspects of G-d's service which are less than ideal, when that is all that is possible. Whereas Shavuot, the time of Mattan Torah, and its offering of two wheat loaves, represent the "lekhatchila" aspect, the demand that all aspects of G-d's service be perfect. The counting of the omer harmonizes the two aspects: we can reconcile ourselves to life's imperfections, as long as we constantly remind ourselves that this is only a way station to the goal of perfection. Pesach and omer are fine, as long as we immediately begin counting our way to Shavuot and shtei halechem.

When Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai first left his cave, he saw only the Shavuot aspect of Torah. Anything less than total devotion to Torah study was unacceptable, to the extent that even innnocent activities like plowing and sowing seemed a culpable neglect of G-d's service. He was rebuked for this, and went back into the cave.

But Rebbe Shimon did not then make the opposite mistake of seeing only the Pesach aspect, blithely reconciling himself to the need to neglect Torah study for mundane concerns. Rather, he internalized the message of sefirat ha'omer: There is a place for ordinary Jews, engaging in the study and performance of Torah according to their mundane level. But these Jews need the example of the perfect tzaddik, who removes himself completely from earthly concerns.

Therefore, the fire surrounding Rebbe Shimon's house was appropriate: not everybody has to be totally devoted to Torah study, but there is a need for the fire which delineates those chosen few who are able to maintain this level. And the gemara's ruling regarding prayer is appropriate: many acted according to Rebbe Shimon and were unsuccessful, but there need to be a few who act this way, who will achieve great spiritual heights through their utter devotion to Torah. (Maharsha.)

So it is appropriate that the "hilula" of Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai comes during the period of the counting of the omer, the time which symbolizes that our mandate to perform the commandments and to maintain our identity as G-d's special people according to what is possible and practical requires also those stubborn few who are totally uncompromising in their devotion to HaShem and His Torah.

Rabbi Asher Meir is in the process of writing a monumental companion to Kitzur Shulchan Aruch which beautifully presents the meanings in our mitzvot and halacha. Rabbi Meir - who had given a series on Business Halacha at the Center, and has taught a series on the Meaning in Mitzvot. We hope to have him back at the Center some time in the future.

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