Dear Kehilá:
Friday, May 27th is Lag Baomer, the 33rd day of the Omer count, which marks the birth of Jewish mysticism.
For many generations, the soul of the Torah, known as Kabbalah, remained hidden. The first to reveal it was Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, who lived in the second century CE. The greatest revelation came to him on the very day of his death, when he explained the deepest aspects of the Torah for several hours. That day was Lag BaOmer.
One way to celebrate Lag BaOmer is to go outside and play with bows and arrows. Hasidic teachings explain that the bow and arrow symbolize the power of introspection to overcome one's darkest and most distant inner adversaries.
The first weapons designed by humans were those used for hand-to-hand combat. These weapons quickly proved insufficient. It became necessary to reach an enemy at a long range.
With a bow and arrow, the tension in a wooden branch is exploited to send a projectile a great distance. The inventor of this device first had to grasp the paradox that the fatal arrow must be drawn toward one's own heart in order to reach the opponent's heart, and that the closer it is drawn, the farther it will travel.
The Torah is our tool for dealing with life's obvious challenges. It teaches us the path to follow to preserve the order of Creation and guide it toward the purpose for which it was created.
However, not all problems are so explicit and clear. There are the ambiguities of intention and motive, love and reverence, ego and commitment, and so on. How can we confront these challenges that are so far removed from human understanding?
This is where the mystical dimension of the Torah comes in. It guides us to introspect into our own essence. It illuminates the spark of God that we all carry within. From there, we can draw the power to deal with even the darkest and most distant adversary.
This is what we celebrate on Lag Baomer.