“We Will Dance Again” - The True Meaning of Lag B’Omer | 10@9 | 2026.05.05

Today is Lag B’Omer. We are taught that we celebrate because there was a pause in the deaths of Rabbi Akiva’s 24,000 students. But why would we celebrate that nothing terrible happened? Rabbi Yaakov Ruderman reveals a deeper meaning. Rabbi Akiva, already an old man, lost everything - his students, his life’s work, his entire legacy. In the face of unimaginable grief, he made a decision that changed Jewish history: he began again. With just five remaining students, he rebuilt what had been lost - and more. Lag B’Omer is not a celebration of what stopped. It is a celebration of what came next. It is the quiet, unbreakable Jewish refusal to give up. It is the voice that has carried us through loss after loss, generation after generation - a voice we have heard again so powerfully in our own time: We will dance again. Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship. Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5FLcsC6xz5TmkirT1qObkA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adathmichael/ Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/mining-the-riches-of-the-parsha/id1479615142?fbclid=IwAR1c6YygRR6pvAKFvEmMGCcs0Y6hpmK8tXzPinbum8drqw2zLIo7c9SR-jc Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3hWYhCG5GR8zygw4ZNsSmO Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions or feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.