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Lag Ba'omer

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Rav Shim'on Bar Yochai Additional Lessons

Iyar 18 5780 | Rabbi Yossef Carmel
Lag Ba’omer
Parashat Hashavua Additional Lessons
Iyar 18 5780 | Rabbi Ari Shvat
How Did Rabbi Akiva's Students Die?
Why is the mourning period for the students of R. Akiva, so much more halachically serious than similar tragedies, in Jewish history? The class deals with the historic background of the time, as seen in the sources and archeology, which explicitly prove that the tannaim, R. Akiva's students, learned in a "Hesder" Yeshiva, combining Torah study with army service. They didn't wait passively for the redemption, but actively tried bringing it in the religious-Zionist way, which in their time was premature, but nevertheless serves as the Rambam's precedent for the future geula. Many other "innocent" sources in the Talmud are explained here, on the backdrop of the historic events of their time, and show that the Omer period mourns the fall of the 3rd State of Israel, a true national tragedy.
Additional Lessons
53 min
5778 | Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Rimon
Why Do We Rejoice on Lag Ba'Omer?
Lag Ba'omer
5775 | Rabbi Daniel Mann
Does Acknowledging Lag Ba’omer Count as Counting?
Ein Ayah Lag Ba'omer
Rabbi Stewart Weiss
Post-Atzmaut musings: Rabbi Akiva and the Hillel sandwich
The Essence of the Day Additional Lessons
5771 | Rabbi Dov Berl Wein
Lag B’omer
Lag Ba'omer
Iyar 5768 | Rabbi David Dov Levanon
Rashbi - Basing Law on Thought
Many Jews visit the grave of Rashbi on Lag BaOmer, but the real point of this occasion is to attach oneself to this righteous sage through his teachings. The sages thus say, “We do not make gravestones for the righteous; their words are their memory.”
Rav Shim'on Bar Yochai
Iyar 5767 | Rabbi Ya'akov Peleg
Success and Ideal
Why do we continue to praise and commemorate the activities of Rabbi Akiva and Bar Kokhba generation after generation? Was not their war on the Romans a reckless step, a lost cause that brought nothing but tragedy and hardship upon the Jewish people?
Rav Shim'on Bar Yochai
5765 | Rabbi Gideon Weitzman
Lag Ba'omer The Physical Spiritual
Rav Shim'on Bar Yochai
5755 | Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaLevi Kilav
Lag Ba'omer R' Yehuda the Head Speaker
R Yehuda said, “How pleasant are the doings of this nation (Rome). They have built marketplaces, bridges, and bathhouses.” R' Yose kept quiet. R' Shimon ben Yochai responded, saying, “Everything they have built, they have built for their own good.”
Rav Shim'on Bar Yochai
Iyar 5761 | Rabbi Eliezer Melamed
Lag BaOmer
The accepted way of marking the death of a righteous person is by fasting. How then is it that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai's expiration has become occasion for joy and festivity?
Rav Shim'on Bar Yochai
Iyar 5761 | Rabbi Chaim Avihau Schwartz
Shifting the Focus of Lag Ba'Omer
Focus on R. Akiva The Spokesman Who Were the "Students"? His Greatness
Rav Shim'on Bar Yochai Other Great Leaders