More thoughts on L’ag B’omer
So, clear proof that I don’t know anything at all:
We heard that the Rav’s bonfire was going to be today, at 6pm – which sounded kinda weird even at the time, so we double-checked, as best we could, and that’s what we were told.
But, the Rav apparently lit yesterday at 10pm in Jerusalem:
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I didn’t know that was going to be happening, so I went up to my daughter in the Shomron – where it was freezing cold, blowing a gale and even, in some parts, raining.
But my SIL built a magnificent bonfire that was burning for a full three hours, at least.
And as I sat and watched it crackle and smoke, I realised that Jews have been doing this for 2,000 years.
And even if the Evils do their darndest to dampen the celebration of L’ag B’omer – it’s a temporary blip.
The Evils will be gone sooner or later, like all the ‘Evils’ in our long history, and the Jews, and the Torah, and our traditions and customs will continue.
That’s always how it’s been, I realised yesterday, and there is nothing to worry about, really, even though the current persecution of the olam haTorah is very upsetting, on so many levels.
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In the meantime, thousands of people made it to Meron yesterday, as this screenshot from the YWN proves:
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You can’t keep the Am down!
It must be driving them nuts.
And in the meantime, the YWN ‘coverage’ of the event included a short clip of the Rav:
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People keep going on about where are the fearless Torah leaders who are taking a stand on [fill in the issue du jour]?!
If you keep up with the Rav, you already know the answer to that.
So, to recap: I know nothing at all, apparently not even the day of the week.
Rashbi mamash sweetened something yesterday, you can feel it in the air today.
The Jews are an eternal people, the Torah is eternal, and even if there are temporary periods of suppression, the Jews and the Torah and the customs will continue, over the long term.
And last but not least: AM YISRAEL CHAI!!
Hope you have a fantastic rest of the chag.
I was planning to go to Meron, but in the end Hashem gave me the zchut of being with the Rav lat night in Yerushallim.
I have heard we have to pray to leave the internet and in the end we will somehow be saved. This is the erev rav and it works in roundabout ways and the salvation is also in roundabout ways.
Just because a person has a job and so on and he has to use the internet currently it doesn’t mean he can’t leave the internet eventually without doing a sacrifice. Rather for the Master of the World everything is possible. And a salvation from the internet is possible. Even if it looks impossible it is somehow possible.
Praying to leave the internet is not just praying to have a stronger desire to leave it but also to truly leave it completely without losing your parnasa, losing your mind and losing everything else. There is a salvation beyond comprehension.
Please Rivka, post this so that people can be inspired to leave the internet completely. Whoever reads this, please post it in whatsapp groups and so on, because we have to fight the erev rav which is the internet. Don’t give up on this fight.
In the end, my daughter told me they opened the gates of Meron to everyone who travelled up there. Literally, thousands were there. And the police violence was v minimal this year, perhaps there was none, even. Something changed the picture yesterday, I don’t know where the ‘orders’ fell down, but fall down they did. And thousands of people were there, Baruch Hashem.
Thank you Rivka for all your posts….
I couldn’t travel to either place for Lag BeOmer due to my son just back from hospital recuperating from an operation, but 2 zadikot from my kibbutz prepared at their home a fire, that was forbidden by the kibbutz and the moatza….we planned for an hour at 8pm….it was truly a special evening with light food for brachot, stories of rabbi Shimon and reading from the Zohar….it hardly felt like an hour, but we realized it was a bit after 11pm…we were shocked how 3 hours passed….it absolutely was special this year…everyone’s stories gave the larger picture of it all, even though we don’t understand it outside the fact that the Rav cleared the sky’s for us…
I didn’t know they were actively banning bonfires, as well as trying to close Meron. Crazy! I guess it shows us that where there the most ‘resistant’ – that’s also where there is the most kedusha. Thanks for sharing your experience, Leah, and refuah shleima to your son.
Thank you