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Isn’t Lag Baomer all about celebrating the rebirth of Torah after it was nearly destroyed? This is something we can relate to today by just looking at how much Torah is thriving in the US and Israel 80 years after the world of Torah was obliterated in Europe. After the Holocaust, no one thought Torah would survive. Yet here it is. So why do we leave the yeshivos on such a day? I just don’t get it. Can someone clue me in? I guess you can ask the same question about Chanukah break. The Greeks forbade Torah learning and we got it back.
Lag B’Omer is a Yom Tov.
You could also ask why there’s no Yeshiva on Chol Hamoed?
Lag Baomer is NOT a yom tov. Is there any issur melacha? One who equates Lag Baomer with Chol Hamoed is probably being Mevaze es hamoados. We learned about that recently in the daf.
@ujm what are you talking about? Lag Baomer is not a Yom Tov at all and not even on the level of Chol haMoed, where the Halacha is clear that melacha should be restricted to some extent. It only recently has become like a chag (historically it was a non-tachanun day and one with limited to no hespedim snd the like) and the avodah zara and zenus that takes place in Meiron is highly troubling. @the kneidle I agree with you that it’s strange to cancel school or dismiss early. I think there is value in making it a special day with special programming for the kids, but one that is more directly related to Rashbi, Torah and why it is important. It still can be fun, of course, but not the free for all it has become
UJM: bad analogy. It is a very good question and I have asked this for years. The question is stronger on lag baomer which is really a quasi yom tov. On a regular yom tov there is an inyan of “chatzi lachem” and simcha. There is no such inyan on lag baomer or chanuka.
What is especially bafling on lag baomer is that we don’t just give off but we go play baseball (at least that is what they did in my day).
Yeshivos shouldn’t be giving days off for family vacations. If that’s why there’s no Yeshiva on chol hamoed then it’s time to have Yeshiva on Chol Hamoed. No excuse.
I don’t know which Yeshivos you’re talking about, but the ones I know only skip English/secular studies. They have Limudei Kodesh on Lag B’Omer. And they learn about Rashbi, they sing Lag BOmer songs, they get a bow and arrow, etc.
All that does not negate that there SHOULD be Yeshiva on Chol Hamoed.
Do yeshivas really give the boys off on Lag Ba’omer?
I know of no litvish yeshiva in Israel that does that.
Yes, the chassidim go to Meron, but no one really holds them to litvish standards.Yeshiva on chol hamoed generally is impractical – kashering a school or building a large scale sukkah typically are efforts and expenses that make things challenging. There is also the matter of some poskim concluding that there are some isurei melacha on chol hamoed which would add further challenges to school. Having said that, as a kid I actually did go to school on chol hamoed sukkos for limudei kodesh (like sundays) but the school determined it was impractical and stopped. Either way, lag baomer does not fall into this category. I think yeshivas should spend more time thinking of more thoughtful ways to help kids appreciate the significance of the day rather than full dismissal or trivial festivities. But that disrupts status quo do it’s unlikely any time soon to change…
Well, for Chanukah there’s an answer, although it’s a joke. On Chanukah we do many things for a zaicher. Yeshivos give off to remember “lihashkicham Torasecha.”
UJM: The Chasam Sofer writes in a teshuva that Lag Baomer is NOT a yom tov.
one hardly needs the chasam sofer to know that lag ba’omer is not a yom tov. Of course, chazal used the term loosely, mentioning occasionally that when something good happened “וחכמים עשו אותו יום טוב”
obviously these yom tov days are simply happy days where one enjoys some wine and a good meal ( ועושים בו קצת משתה ושמחה) and have no connection to keduhas yom tov. Other examples are isru chag,and purim katanIt’s so the staff and students can celebrate Rabbi Shimon’s wedding/hilula. It’s a custom among the tzadikim.
I once came by a mention of lag baOmer (From about three hundred or so years ago.) as no tachanun and the boys go out of town to the fields. Nothing else. Interesting.
There are many parents who are incredibly thankful that some Roshei Yeshiva like Rav Edelstein issued an issur against their talmidim going to Meron and insisted they stay in school and continue learning.
Day schools run by Yirei Shomayim stay open on chol Hamoed so that the talmidim can experience a Sukkah and Pesach. One Yeshiva Day School required attendance Friday night to experience the Shabbos. The Mirrer Rosh Yeshiva Harav Kamai said his pilpul Friday at twilight. That was the appropriate time he said. Lag Sameach
>> issued an issur against their talmidim going to Meron
Do parents have any influence on where their children go or is it all in loco parentis?
Dear Always,
That is a good debate. But ‘issued an issur’ is not really correct. The R”Y was responding to the question of why the yeshivos ignore lag BaOmer. Although a better question would be, why should they pay any attention to it.
in the zechus of aleya nishoma of 44 niftorim zl, i took upon myself not to repond to stupid comments posted during the shiva
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