Description
Many ask why we especially mourn the 24,000 students of R. Akiva, great as they may be, similar to the way we mourn for the destructions of the Temples. Similarly, what's the source for the customs of bonfires and "bow & arrow"? The answer is connected to to the question, did they die in a plague, or were they killed by the Romans in the Bar Kochva rebellion? Many know that there is a connection between Lag BaOmer, R. Akiva, R. Shimon Bar Yochai and the Bar Kochva rebellion which took place at the time, but are confused regarding this association. The Talmud Yerushalmi, Rambam, Rav Kook and a long-lost passage from the Geniza, successfully explain many innocent passages in chazal which "by-passed" the Roman censors, but are only understood in the backdrop of the hushed-up Bar Kochva rebellion, which didn't wait for Mashiach, but tried to bring him, and achieved a Jewish Independent State for several years. The religious-Zionist take on this chapter in history, has obvious ramifications regarding the current events of the last century and the modern State of Israel.
0 comments Leave a Comment