Lag B'Omer

The thirty-third day after Passover is known as Lag B'Omer. The period from Passover until the holiday fifty days afterwards, Shavuot, is called the Omer and is a semi-mourning period in the Jewish calendar. Traditionally during this time weddings and parties are not held and hair is not cut (as a symbol of mourning).

However, the 33rd day (the Hebrew letter Lamed represents 30 and the letter Gimel represents 3 so L'G or Lag is 33) of the Omer is a day of celebration (attributed to various positive historical events on the day) and weddings and haircuts are encouraged.


Part of the festivities of Lag B'Omer include bonfires. While we were traveling last week, we saw several groups of children with shopping carts full of wood scraps. We wondered why o many kids were carting around wood and then it dawned on us that Lag B'Omer was coming and thus so were the bonfires.

Last night was the start of the day-long holiday and so shortly after sunset, the park began to fill with campfires (there really weren't any fires large enough that we saw that I would confidently call a bonfire) and the air filled with smoke. We walked around the streets of our neighborhood and into the park to see children and families lighting all sorts of wood on fire. Then, we found a big pile of pallets that were apparently strategically provided by someone to encourage fires. From that pile, many kids were filling up shopping cards to build their fires or to add more fuel.


Happy Lag B'Omer!