Lag B'Omer is a most mysterious holiday. We know it marks the end of 33 days of mourning for Rabbi Akiva's students (why and how they died is also a mystery), but it is best known for the bonfires lit by one and all, lighting up the landscape of Israel. What do these fires signify?


Lag B'Omer is also the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai ("Rashbi"), undoubtedly one of the most mysterious figures in Jewish history. Who was he and why do we celebrate his life so "brightly"?


To begin to answer, let's recall a very mysterious story about Rashbi. Sought by the Romans for slandering them, Rashbi and his son run away and hide in a cave for 12 years. A carob tree and a spring of water miraculously nourish them; they take off their clothes and sit in sand up to their necks, blissfully studying Torah all day.


Then, Eliyahu the prophet comes and informs them the emperor has died, and that it's now safe to emerge. Stepping out of the cave, they see men plowing their fields and angrily declare: "These people forsake eternal life and embrace temporary life!" Whatever they look at is burnt up in fire. G-d then orders Rashbi and his son back to the cave for another year. When they emerge again, they see a man running late on Friday afternoon with two bundles of myrtle.


"What are those for?" they ask him.


"To light for Shabbat," says the man, "one for zachor and one for shamor!"

Rashbi needed to learn that not everyone in this world can be a tzadik.



Rashbi is impressed: "See how precious the mitzvot are to Israel," he says, and his spirit is finally eased.


We are told - as a way of indicating the righteousness of Bar-Yochai - that in Rashbi's generation no rainbow was seen. Why not? Because the rainbow is a post-Flood sign of G-d's promise to protect us, but when a generation has a tzadik like Rashbi in it, he protects the nation, and so, no rainbow is needed.


But Rashbi needed to learn that not everyone in this world can be a tzadik who learns Torah in a cave all day; most people need to work and lead normal lives. We "regular" people make lots of mistakes, but we have redeeming qualities, too. And when we do even the simplest mitzvah - such as lighting Shabbat candles - we are precious in G-d's eyes.


Rashbi's eyes are illuminated when he understands that humanity itself is a rainbow; we come in all colors along the spectrum, and each human being has a spark of holiness.


The fact that all Israel lights fires on Lag B'Omer - even though they may not even know why! - is a symbol of our collective kedusha. In fact, Lag B'Omer may be a tikun (correction) for the actions of Rabbi Akiva's students: they did not respect each other enough, but by our joining together in one giant blaze of glory, we shine a beacon of unity into the Heavens that can dispel any plague.