Lag BaOmer 2 - A new beginning - The resurection of the Torah

The Hida, explains that Rabbi Akiba after the death of his 24,000 students refused to give up and simply retire to Miami Beach and on Lag BaOmer, he began teaching his five new students.    The gemara then states that the world was subsequently desolate, until Rabi Akiva came to the rabbis in the south and taught them, these being Rabi Meir, Rabi Yehudah, Rabi Yossi, Rabi Shimon [bar Yochai], and Rabi Nechemyah. It was through these five that the Torah would continue and flourish.    Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava was a third generation Tana and a friend of Rabbi Akiva. He sacrificed his life at age 70 to ordain five of his students and continue the Smicha tradition. Rabbi Yehuda ben Baba is considered one of the Asara Hargay Malchus.    Followingthe Bar Kochva revolt, the Hedrianic Roman government issued many cruel,ruthless decrees against the Jews. Realizing the continuity of the JewishNation was depended on the chain of Smicha, they decreed that any individual thatordains or is ordained will be executed and the entire city that housed theceremony will be demolished. Despite the grave danger, Rabbi Yehuda ben Bavathen age 70, went ahead and ordained the leading elders of the forthcominggeneration; RabbiYehuda bar Ilai, RabbiShimon bar Yochai, RabbiMeir, RabbiYossi ben Chalafta, Rabbi Elazar ben Shamua and possibly RabbiNichemya.   In order to prevent the destruction of the hosting city, the Smicha was performed in between two large cities Usha and Shafram but outside their city limits. Ordaining the students was a lengthyprocess that required handing down various mysteries as well as Halachic rules and conclusion. In middle of the ceremony, they were discovered by a legion of Roman soldiers. Despite his students protests, Rabbi Yehuda ben Baba chose to remain and block the enemy so the newly ordained Rabbis could flee and continue the chain of Jewish survival. Using intense Kabbalistic meditations he wedged himself with stone like force in the narrow pathway, preventing the Roman soldiers from budging him although they pierced his body with 300 spears, giving his students a chance to escape.   Significantly, it was Rabbi Shimon who affirmed the immortality of the chain of transmission of the Oral Torah. In a discussion recorded in the Talmud (Shabbat 138b), some sages voiced the opinion that the Torah was destined to be forgotten. Rabbi Shimon said, “God forbid that the Torah shall ever be forgotten!” He buttressed his view with a verse from the Torah, “For it (the Torah) will not be forgotten from the mouth of progeny of the Jews.”   (Although the Arizal clarifies the day as a transformation from an aspect of din to an aspect of mercy still rooted in Din – a bit heavy and for another time), perhaps we can suggest that an aspect of celebration on Lag BaOmer is the transformation from death to rebirth. Perhaps the lesson lies in that although we suffered a tragedy, we must have faith that out of the ashes of that tragedy came the strength to build a future. We are told the 24,000 were not worthy of carrying the torch of Torah and transmitting it to the future. Although we mourn their deaths, wecelebrate that there were those who came after them or because of them who could transfer the light of Torah in those darkest of times of the Hadrian persecutions and still ensure it would not only survive, but blossom even within millennia of darkness  I had a note scribbled in my margins at that time, most likely from Rabbi Abittan. I wrote: “We may not understand tragedy, but we must understand that within what we perceive as bad, within what we can only say baruch dayan emet to, there is a seed of resurrection and hope for the future – a phoenix.”    The Shulchan Aruch, section 580, reports that on the 28th day of the month of Iyar a fast day is observed, marking the anniversary of the death of Shmuel HaNavi (Samuel the Prophet).(3) Because this is considered a so-called 'minor fast' many Jews are unaware of the significance of this commemoration. However, in antiquity this day was widely celebrated. RABBI ARI KAHN We learn that in that same period, Jews began to travel to Meron on the 18th of Iyar (better known as Lag Ba'Omer), where they would give their sons their first haircut. It is possible that this custom, practiced first in the outskirts of Jerusalem on the 28th of Iyar, was transported to the outskirts of Zefat on the 18th of Iyar when the tomb of Shmuel became off-limits for Jews.(5) Shmuel was a nazir, and as such never cut his hair, which would make his tomb an excellent place for a child to have his hair cut for the firsttime. Furthermore, the 28th day of Iyar, which falls after the 33rd day of the Omer, is a far less problematic date on which to cut hair: Sephardi minhag prohibits cutting hair until the 34th day of theOmer.(6) This, too, seems to support the theory that the custom was transported to the less-desirable, less-logical date of Lag BaOmer when conditions made the original custom untenable.  The history of this minhag being as it may, we have a clear testimony that the 28th day of Iyar was, in antiquity, a day of pilgrimage as well as the yearly remembrance of Shmuel HaNavi. On that day, of all the days in the calendar, Jerusalem was the destination. We might even venture to say that the power ofthe prayers uttered all those years ago on this day by the pilgrims at the end of their arduous journey contributed to Jerusalem's liberation on the very same date, causing it to once again become the day when people venture up to Jerusalem. Yet there are other, deeper aspects of Shmuel's connection with Jerusalem that shed light on this special date.