Torah Wellsprings A4.Indd

Emor - Lag B'omer diritto d'autore 20ϮϬ di Mechon Beer Emunah [email protected] Traduzione a cura del team VedibartaBam Table of Contents Torah Wellsprings - Emor - Lag B'omer Sefiras HaOmer .................................................................................................................4 Chol Ha'Moed ...................................................................................................................5 Desire ..................................................................................................................................6 Pesach Sheini and Desire ...............................................................................................7 Longing and Sefiras HaOmer ........................................................................................8 Lag b’Omer ........................................................................................................................9 The Joy of Lag b'Omer ..................................................................................................10 Lag b’Omer Everywhere ...............................................................................................12 Even for the Lowly People ...........................................................................................13 Coming to Reb Shimon's Grave via Torah ...............................................................14 Bonfires/Hadlakah .........................................................................................................16 Salvations ........................................................................................................................18 Tefillos ..............................................................................................................................20 Learning from his Ways ................................................................................................25 Don’t give up ..................................................................................................................25 Judge Your Fellow Man Favorably .............................................................................27 Teshuvah ..........................................................................................................................29 Like Yom Kippur ............................................................................................................29 Tzedakah and Chesed .....................................................................................................30 Emunah .............................................................................................................................32 Torah Wellsprings - Emor - Lag B'omer Seϔiras HaOmer Pesach and Shavuos — when Gehinom is active and the resha’im are punished. The holy sefarim teach us that the korbanos that were sacrificed at the beginning and at The purpose of Gehinom isn’t to punish, the end of sefirah symbolize the spiritual rather to purify. The Chidushei HaRim growth that occurs during these days. On teaches that just as in heaven, the purification the second day of Pesach we bring a korban time takes place between Pesach and omer made from barley flour, which is animal Shavuos, so too, we purify ourselves during fodder. The sefirah culminates with the yom these weeks. And, if people take advantage of this time, they won't need to be purified ,שתי הלחם tov of Shavuos, when we bring the made from wheat flour – which is food that in Gehinom. is fitting to be eaten by humans. This teaches us that during sefiras ha'omer we elevate Each mitzvah has its own special segulah. ourselves from being on the level of animals The segulah of sefiras ha'omer is, as we say in לתקן את נפשותינו ,to becoming proper human beings. That is the tefillah for sefiras ha’omer ורוחותינו מכל סיג ופגם ולטהרינו ולקדשינו בקדשתך העליונה אמן !how great our growth is at this time of year To rectify our neshamos from all" ,סלה .(see Aruch HaShulchan 489:6) blemishes; to purify and to sanctify us…" The Mishnah (Idiyos 2:10) states, "[Reb Akiva] said: There are five things that lasted Counting the omer is a fairly simple for twelve months: (1) The mabul (in Noach's mitzvah. It's comprised of a brachah, a daily for the rebuilding , הרחמן,generation) was for twelve months. (2) Iyov count, and a prayer suffered for twelve months. (3) The ten of the Beis HaMikdash. Some add a few plagues lasted for twelve months. (4) The more paragraphs. Let us remember that this punishment in the future for Gog and Magog “simple” mitzvah purifies us. It polishes our will be for twelve months. (5) The resha'im souls and allows them to shine like the are punished in Gehinom for twelve sapphire luchos. It connects us to our Father months… Reb Yochanan ben Nuri disagrees in heaven. מן הפסח ועד with the fifth occurence. He says the resha'im are punished in Gehinom The Ohr HaChaim explains the words in ,העצרת from Pesach until Shavuos…" the pasuk (stated in this week's parashah, 23:15), to be originating from the word ,וספרתם לכם ,which is a sapphire stone. He writes ,ספיר There are different explanations for the final words of this Mishnah.1 The Chidushei "Chazal say that the neshamos of Bnei Yisrael HaRim zt’l follows the Shibolei HaLeket (and are like the luchos… [which] were made from sapphire stone. [Similarly, every Yid's מן הפסח עד other commentaries) who explain that is literal. Gehinom isn’t always active. neshamah shines like a sapphire stone]… But העצרת There are forty-nine days of sefirah – between due to sin, the neshamos become dirty and means all souls are re-judged at this time. Even after the primary מן הפסח עד העצרת explains that יכין ובועז The .1 judgment was decided and determined, every year between Pesach and Shavuos the souls in heaven are judged again. The Ra’v Bartenara zt’l explains that Reb Yochanan ben Nuri is saying the punishment of Gehinom is 49 days (the amount of days between Pesach and Shavuos) and not for twelve months. Those forty-nine days can be at any time of the year. Torah Wellsprings - Emor - Lag B'omer 5 they lose their shine…. Therefore, it says, of sefirah are also like Chol Hamoed as they which hints to counting and to are in between two holidays: Pesach at the] וספרתם לכם sapphire stone, because] by counting the beginning and Shavuos at the end. omer their neshamos will shine again like sapphire stones."2 As the Ramban writes, "The days of the omer are like chol hamoed. Chol hamoed are Chol Ha'Moed the days between the first and last day of a holiday. Similarly, the days of sefiras haomer The Gemara (Chagigah 18.) asks, "How do are between Pesach and Shavuos" (Vayikra we know that it is forbidden to work on chol 23:36).4 hamoed?" The Chidushei HaRim zt'l writes, everything that happens to a man throughout חג המצות תשמור ,Reb Yoshia replies, “It states Keep Pesach seven days.' This his lifetime, is dependent on the days of‘ ,שבעת ימים means, all seven days, it is forbidden to do sefiras haomer. Therefore, one should be work." careful to use these days wisely. Reb Yonoson makes a kal vechomer3 and says that since chol hamoed has a yom tov The Torah connects the holidays to חג האביב before it when one is forbidden to work (the agriculture. Pesach is called, , the first day of Pesach), and a yom tov afterwards holiday of bloom, because it falls in the (the seventh day of Pesach), we can deduce that season when the grains growing in the fields the ,חג הקציר the time in between, chol hamoed, one is reach their full height. Shavuos is also forbidden to work. holiday of harvest, because it is celebrated when the crops have ripened and are ready the holiday ,חג האסיף Following Reb Yonoson's explanation, to be cut. Succos is called the Ramban (Vayikra 23:36) writes that the days of ingathering, because it is celebrated when 2. The rishonim say that the yetzer hara becomes stronger in the summer months, when the sun shines brightly and the world becomes warmer. We count the omer at the beginning of the summer as a remedy that helps us overcome the yetzer hara. (This is also the reason we read Pirkei Avos at this time of the year.) It can be compared to a child who is vaccinated shortly after birth so he won't become ill. Similarly, in the beginning of the summer HaKadosh Baruch Hu gives us Sefiras Ha'Omer to strengthen us, so we won't become ill and sin. 3. The kal vechamor is as follows: The first and the seventh day of Pesach don’t have holiness directly before them, and yet they are yom tov and it is forbidden to work on those days. Chol hamoed has a yom tov directly before it and a yom tov directly after it. Certainly, one should be forbidden to work on those days in between. 4. The Shulchan Aruch (489:1) states that we don’t make chasunos during the sefirah because they are days of mourning. The Rebbe of Ruzhin zy"a asks that there should be another reason we don’t make chasunos. Sefirah is like chol hamoed. Just as we don't celebrate chasunos on Chol HaMoed, we shouldn’t celebrate chasunos during sefirah. The answer is, it really depends on the person, and how he treats the days of the omer. If he is involved in Torah, tefillah, etc. during the days of sefiras ha'omer, the days are like chol hamoed for him. He won’t make weddings these days as one doesn’t make weddings on chol hamoed. If someone doesn’t sanctify himself on the days of sefiras ha'omer, and he isn't occupied in Torah, tefillah, etc., he will also refrain from making a wedding during the days of sefiras haomer, but for him, the reason will be because they are days of mourning. 6

Load more