Friends!

Friends! Today Jews celebrate Lag B'Omer. This unusual holiday combines several events. On the one hand, it has a mystical side - a day of memory of the great Kabbalist Rabbi Shimon Bar Joha, author of "Zofar" that reveals the mystical secrets of Torah.

Traditionally, on this day people kindle fires. For each tree is a fire inside, that we cannot see right away, but it is hidden in the middle of the wood and can be released when we arson it. Similarly, the Torah - at first glance seems to contain transferred stories that happened to our ancestors, and the laws that should be followed. But inside it also has own fireplace.

Also, this day has historical tradition. Today, children go into the woods to shoot a bow to honor the memory of the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Romans, which occurred in 135 BC

The mystical and historical aspects are related by third aspect of the holiday - Rabbi Akiva. Lag B'Omer is celebrated on the day when deadly epidemic that raged among Rabbi Akiva students was over. It took lives of 24 thousand people. Shimon Bar Joha was one of the few students who survived the epidemy. Years later on the same day Rabbi Shimon Bar Joha died. So today the believers visit his grave on Mount Meron. In addition, Rabbi Akiva was a great fighter for the independence of the Jews, he did not only support the Bar Kokhba revolt, he considered him "a potential Messiah."

Lag B'Omer is celebrated between Israel Independence Day and Jerusalem Day. It is also very symbolic. This day combines wisdom and spirituality, with the desire to revive the nation. I think that such holidays - deep and ambiguous - are extremely important. I welcome the Israelis, who are now remembering their history and are burning fires in the search of personal meanings.