Lag B'Omer |
The 'Omer' was the offering of new barley brought to the Temple on the second day of Passover. Fifty days were counted from the day after the omer offering to determine the date of the Shavuot festival. Lag B'Omer is the 33rd day in the Omer counting period. 'Lag' represents the combined numeric value of two Hebrew letters,'lamed'=30 and 'gimel'=3. On this day the plague that had decimated Rabbi Akiva's disciples during the Second Century C.E. came to an end. Because of the tragic events of this period, semi-mourning is observed. On Lag B'Omer, however, marriages are performed and other mourning observances relaxed. |