For the seven weeks between the Jewish holidays of Passover and Shavuot, Jews ritually count the days, aka "counting the Omer." The "Omer" is a time of semi-mourning in the Jewish community.During this time, religious Jews can’t get married, get haircuts, or buy new clothes. The period of mourning commemorates the death of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the author of the main text on Kabbalah, the Zohar. It also commemorates a plague that killed many of the followers of the well-known Rabbi Akiva, who lived from 50–135 CE. According to tradition, the plague stopped on the 33rd day. (The Hebrew letters—lamed and gimel—which make up the acronym “Lag” have the combined numerical value of 33.) And as a result, the day became a holiday which interrupts the period of mourning.
In the Satmar Hasidic community of Kiryas Joel in upstate New York where I have been photographing for the last year, they host the largest Lag BaOmer celebration outside of Israel. The organizers claim close to 100,000 Hasids attended the celebration in Kiryas Joel this past Wednesday night. The night begins with music, a sign that the period of mourning has temporarily ceased. After about an hour, the Grand Rabbi Aron Teitelbaum spoke to the community in Yiddish and then made his way over to light the bonfire. The significance of the large bonfire is to commemorate Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and the "light" of his teachings. As the fire burns, the community gave out various refreshments from the back of trucks such as rugelach, water, and seltzer.
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