Happy Lag B’Omer!

[Guest guest]

Happy Lag B’Omer! Chag Sameach!

Peace, Dan

 

Lag B’Omer & Vegetarianism:

Making Every Day Count

 

Daniel Brook & Richard H. Schwartz

 

Lag B’Omer is considered a minor holiday in the Jewish calendar, but

even a minor holiday is still a holiday and therefore worth celebrating.

A great way to celebrate Lag B’Omer is through vegetarianism, as Lag

B’Omer is deeply connected to vegetarianism.

Lag B’Omer represents the 33rd day of the counting of the omer, the

fifty days between Passover and Shavuot, reminding us of the link

between these two holidays. While Passover celebrates our freedom from

slavery, Shavuot celebrates our receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.

During Passover, Jews would bring barley to the Temple in Jerusalem; on

Shavuot, Jews would bring their first fruits. Between these two

holidays, while counting the days, Jews traditionally brought an omer of

grain to the Temple. The word lag represents 33 and an omer is a

measurement. The goal is not only to count the omer but to make the omer

count.

According to a midrash, there were fifty days between the Exodus of

the Israelites from Egypt and the receiving of the Torah—between

liberation and law—because the Jewish people were not yet spiritually

pure. On our modern journeys, in our efforts toward liberation, we can

increase our purity by eating vegetarian foods. We can purify our health

and purify our planet, while purifying our spirit. Many people who

switch to a vegetarian diet report feeling physically, emotionally, and

spiritually better. Lag B’Omer presents a special opportunity to reflect

back upon where we’ve come from as well as to look forward to where we

might, and should, be going, as it is a time for self-awareness,

self-growth, and community development.

We sincerely hope that Jews will enhance their celebrations of this

ancient and beautiful holiday of Lag B’Omer by making it a time to

strive even harder to live up to Judaism’s highest moral values and

teachings. We certainly don’t need more “things”in our homes and we

don’t necessarily need to make an agricultural pilgrimage; instead, we

do need more meaning, purpose, and spirit in our lives. There are a

variety of ways to accomplish this. One significant way is by moving

towards vegetarianism.

By sharing grain with others, Lag B’Omer demonstrates the power of

cooperation and community. In contrast, meat-eating demonstrates the

opposite. Raising animals for consumption, besides being cruel to

animals (and therefore violating tsa’ar ba’alei chayim, causing

unnecessary harm to animals), uses and wastes a tremendous amount of

grain as well as water, land, soil, and fossil fuels (transgressing bal

tashchit, the injunction not to waste anything of value), while

destroying communities (the opposite of tikkun olam, healing the world),

degrading the environment (not the way to be shomrei adamah, partners in

re-creating our world), and damaging human health (going against pekuach

nefesh, the need to protect our health and lives).

Judaism also stresses the importance of tzedakah, that we be kind,

assist the poor and weak, and share our food with the hungry, yet

approximately 3/4 of major U.S. crops - e.g., corn, wheat, soybeans,

oats - is fed to the billions of animals destined for slaughter.

Further, Judaism repeatedly suggests that we pursue peace and justice,

and vegetarianism is one key step on that path.

While millions of people annually die from over-consumption,

particularly consumption of fat and cholesterol, millions of people

annually die from under-consumption, from starvation and hunger-related

diseases. Indeed, it takes many pounds of grain, rich in fiber and other

nutrients, to produce a single pound of cholesterol-laden meat. Although

the world produces more than enough food to feed all its people, the

inequality of wealth and power, along with the inefficiency of land use

and food distribution, creates conditions that lead to scarcity, chronic

hunger, malnutrition, and starvation. Lag B’Omer reminds us to enjoy the

bounty of our crops and to share our resources.

World hunger is neither necessary, automatic, nor inevitable.

Vegetarianism creates conditions that are more fair and just, more

efficient and sustainable, thereby potentially allowing more people to

be fed, rather than using land, grain, water, labor, energy, and other

resources to produce food to be fed to animals that are later killed and

fed to people. In addition to being better for health and the

environment, vegetarianism is better for food security and the

alleviation of world hunger. Food security, in turn, may prevent the

all-too-common instances of jealousy, covetousness, ethnic tensions, and

then violence, war, and genocide.

Traditionally, many Jews refrain from open celebration during the

counting of the omer. However, Lag B’Omer is a day during this season

upon which marriages, haircuts, and other celebrations are allowed to

begin again because miracles have occurred on Lag B’Omer. It was on Lag

B’Omer, for example, that a plague that had killed 24,000 of Rabbi

Akiva’s students finally ended. Choosing vegetarianism champions life by

saving lives everyday. Shortly after the plague, Rabbi Akiva chose five

students to carry on his work, one of whom was the great sage Rabbi

Shimon bar Yochai.

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his son Rabbi Eleazar hid in a cave for

thirteen years after Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, known by the acronym

Rashbi, was condemned to death by the Roman conquerors of Jerusalem for

speaking out against them, following the murders of Rabbi Akiva and many

others. While they lived in a cave, they were sustained by their studies

of the Torah, a local stream, and a nearby carob tree for their food.

These great sages demonstrated that a vegetarian diet, like the manna

the Israelites received in the Sinai desert, is enough to sustain a

person as well as a people.

Rashbi taught that our world and the unseen “higher” worlds are

unified, as manifestations of the Divine Soul, and that the meaning of

life is to reunify Creation with the source of Creation. Based on this,

Rashbi said that “one must remember that every act we do affects not

only us but the entire world”. He also affirmed that the “crown” of a

good name, doing good deeds, is the most important thing, even more so

than studying Torah, and is within the reach of everyone. He further

asked that his day of passing be a day of celebration. Rabbi Shimon bar

Yochai died on Lag B’Omer.

The Omer is sometimes referred to as the Sefirah, The Counting.

Sefirah also means illuminating. Literally for some and figuratively for

all, it is important to count each day and to make each day count.

Eating vegetarian may allow us to live longer and healthier lives, as

many scientific studies have shown, while saving the lives of countless

animals. Doing so illuminates our lives as well as theirs, allowing each

of us to continue the blessing of counting the omer for more years.

In addition to resource conservation and economic efficiency, a

switch toward vegetarianism would greatly benefit the health of

individuals, the condition of our environment, and would sharply reduce

the suffering and death of billions of animals. Further, the social,

psychological, and spiritual benefits should not be underestimated.

The founder of Chasidism, Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, known as the

Baal Shem Tov (Master of the Good Name), became known to the rest of the

world on Lag B’Omer (he died 26 years later on Shavuot in 1760). Among

his great teachings, the Baal Shem Tov said that “People should consider

themselves, and the worms, and all creatures as friends in the universe,

for we are all created beings whose abilities are God-given.”

This season, while we count the omer, we should re-educate ourselves

about the hazards of meat production and consumption and the benefits of

vegetarianism, as well as bring offerings to our inner temples. We can

do this by practicing the powerful teachings and highest values of

Judaism. One way to achieve the wonderful aspirations of Judaism is by

switching to a vegetarian diet. A shift toward vegetarianism can be a

major factor in the renewal of Judaism, as it would further demonstrate

that Jewish values are not only relevant but essential to everyday

personal life and global survival.

During the counting of the omer, between Passover and Shavuot, it is

customary to read Pirkei Avot. In it, Rabbi Tarfon demands that “It is

not your obligation to complete the task [of perfecting the world], but

neither are you free from engaging in it”. Another Talmudic sage, Ben

Hay Hay, says in Pirkei Avot that “The reward is in proportion to the

effort”. It’s up to us to get off our good intentions and do the best we

can. Shifting toward vegetarianism would be a great start! And as Hillel

asks, “If not now, when?”

 

For more information, please visit Aish at aish.com/omer, Counting the

Omer at countingtheomer.blogspot.com, the Jewish Vegetarians of North

America at www.JewishVeg.com and The Vegetarian Mitzvah at

www.brook.com/jveg. View a free documentary called A Sacred Duty at

ASacredDuty.org.

 

Daniel Brook, Ph.D., is an author, speaker, part-time instructor of

sociology and political science, and is a member of the Advisory

Committee of Jewish Vegetarians of North America. He can be contacted

via brook.

 

Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D., is the author of Judaism and Vegetarianism,

Judaism and Global Survival, and over 150 articles located at

JewishVeg.com/schwartz. He is President of Jewish Vegetarians of North

America (JVNA) at www.JewishVeg.com and Coordinator of the Society of

Ethical and Religious Vegetarians (SERV) (www.serv-online.org).

 

http://www.jewishveg.com/lagbomer.html