The Holiness of Lag BaOmer and the Fire of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai

The Holiness of Lag BaOmer and the Fire of Rashbi

From the tzaddik, foundation of the world, his holiness Rav Eliezer Berland shlit"a

On the day of the hilula of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, fire descends from the heavens. Thirty-three days after the Seder night, after Pesach, we merit a great awe, a revelation of the Shechinah (Divine Presence), and a revelation of fire; all the mountains surrounding the tomb of Rashbi blaze with fire. When the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, even the angels and seraphim would flee, they would be consumed; likewise, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is the aspect of supreme kindness, the aspect of the High Priest of all generations, from whose fire all the angels are consumed. For the moment Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai would begin to speak words of Torah, he was surrounded by flames of fire, all his surroundings blazed with fire. If in his lifetime fire blazed around him, then all the more so after his passing, when the fire blazes around him with even greater intensity and power, for the tzaddikim are greater in their death than in their lifetime.

Lag BaOmer is truly Yom Kippur; it is a day on which all sins are forgiven. It is exactly like "Kol Nidrei"; everything is forgiven, everything is sweetened, and the greatest kindnesses, the most wondrous kindnesses, are revealed. On Lag BaOmer, one can draw down all the intellect, all the healings, and all the salvations for the entire year. It is a day on which one can heal all illnesses; there is no healing in the world that cannot be drawn down on this day. One can heal all cancers, everyone can be blessed with children, and everyone can find their shidduch (marriage match). This day is a day of the annulment of vows; everything is sweetened, everything is erased—all the transgressions a person has committed, millions of transgressions from the day of his birth until this day, transgressions from all his incarnations—everything is forgiven.

A person travels to Meron for three hours, is pushed, and suffers there amidst thousands upon thousands of people; through this, all his transgressions are forgiven, all the blemishes of his covenant, everything he has sinned throughout his life—everything is forgiven him. And this is what is written, "Chadi Rabbi Shimon"—Rabbi Shimon rejoices when he sees hundreds of thousands of people traveling to him, all of the Jewish people traveling to him. Every year, more and more people travel to him, and in truth, no one knows what is happening here; no one can understand this, the matter of this journey. People do not know why they are traveling, what they are celebrating on Lag BaOmer, but "even though he does not see, his mazal sees"—the whole world celebrates, lighting bonfires without knowing exactly why or for what reason.

And in truth, one must know that the tzaddik is the root of all souls; he is the foundation stone, the root of everyone, of every single soul. Every soul is a small spark from the tzaddik. The spark of Rashbi is found in every Jew; the soul of Rashbi is found in every Jew. This is a soul that includes all of the Jewish people, encompasses the entire world, and embraces all the worlds and all the sefirot. Therefore, everyone travels to the tomb of Rashbi to be included in the soul that includes all of the Jewish people.

A person must travel to Rashbi with self-sacrifice. Rashbi calls to us: "Come to me, make a pilgrimage for two or three hours, and you are already with me!" All the abundance in the world, every blessing in the world, prayer, Torah, holiness—everything a person needs, he can receive; just come, travel, you must first of all travel! The tzaddik is alive and existing. You are not traveling to a human being at all! So travel with awe of heaven! You travel by car, by bus for two or three hours; travel with awe of heaven, with books, with prayer, with hitbodedut. Do not laugh, do not joke, do not act foolishly. Travel for the sake of Heaven, to be purified and sanctified, and then Rashbi will be able to draw down for you endless salvations, endless holiness and purity. He can give you a new soul; nothing is limited for him. He has no limitations; he can give you everything. Everything you think of, everything you want, he will give you; just travel with awe of heaven and with seriousness.

The "Beit Aharon" says that the highest level in all the verses in the Book of Psalms is "My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You," where even the body, the flesh, is transformed into a soul, where even the flesh no longer feels any physicality, any desires; it is consumed by the intensity of the love of Hashem. And this level, "my flesh yearns for You," can be received through Rashbi, through the fire of Rashbi, for the fire blazes around him day and night. For Rashbi (R-Sh-B-Y) are the letters of "besari" (my flesh)—a person comes to Rashbi with seriousness, dances all the dances, and then he merits that all his flesh, all his physicality, is consumed, and he reaches the highest level: "my flesh yearns for You."

Everyone who merits on Lag BaOmer, everyone who travels seriously to Rashbi, everyone who cries on Lag BaOmer, everyone who dances truly on Lag BaOmer—not standing like a dreamer or a fool on the side, but dancing truly and believing that Rashbi is alive and existing—will not travel out of social pressure, will not travel because someone else is traveling, but because he believes that Rashbi is alive and existing. He will pray with enthusiasm, dance with enthusiasm, and will not stand on the side during the dancing. As the Rambam says, anyone who sees that people are dancing and stands on the side is a complete simpleton and a complete heretic who does not believe in the powers of the tzaddikim, does not believe in the power of the dances, and does not believe that the tzaddikim can be imbued within him. For at the hilula, Rashbi must descend even lower and be imbued within all those who come to him, and through this, annul all the decrees. So, whoever travels to Rabbi Shimon truly and places his head into a book, into the Psalms, into the Gemaras, into the holy books, and keeps his head and keeps his heart and yearns truly for Rashbi, will merit that Rashbi will be truly imbued within him. Through this, he will merit all the salvations, and in this merit, we will merit the complete Geulah (Redemption) speedily in our days, amen.