From Plowing to Harvest

From Plowing to Harvest Lag Ba'omer Harav Hagaon Yehuda Wagshal Shlita The Rema, in Hilchos Sefiras Ha'omer, states that on Lag Ba'omer we are marbeh b'simchah a little. But the reason for the simchah of Lag Ba'omer seems questionable. On one hand, the Shulchan Aruch and the Rema say that the reason we rejoice on Lag Ba'omer is because it's the day when the talmidim of R' Akiva stopped dying. On the other hand, we all know from other sources that the reason for the simchah of Lag Ba'omer is that it's the yahrtzeit of R' Shimon bar Yochai, which was the day when the secrets of R' Shimon bar Yochai's Torah were revealed. The Shulchan Aruch does not mention that, but the Magen Avraham on the Shulchan Aruch alludes to it. In connection to the Rema's statement that we're marbeh b'simchah on Lag Ba'omer, the Magen Avraham records the following story, from the Kavanos of the Arizal. A certain gadol used to say the Nacheim prayer of Tisha b'Av every day, as a sign of his mourning for the Churban Beis Hamikdash, and he was punished. The Magen Avraham cites this story in brief, but it's brought down elsewhere at length. On Lag Ba'omer, the Arizal and his talmidim went to the kever of R' Shimon bar Yochai, and they celebrated and davened there. One of the talmidim recited Nacheim in his quiet Shemoneh Esrei, and the Arizal approached him and told him that R' Shimon bar Yochai himself had come to him and complained that his talmid was saying Nacheim on his day of simchah. Because of that, this talmid was punished severely: his child passed away and everyone came to comfort him, which was middah k'neged middah - he said Nacheim, so he needed a nechamah. Clearly the Magen Avraham is alluding to the other reason for simchah on Lag Ba'omer: the yahrtzeit of R' Shimon bar Yochai. I would assume that it's no mere coincidence that these two events - the end of the deaths of R' Akiva's students and the revelation of R' Shimon bar Yochai's Torah - happened on the same day. There must be some connection between the two events. In truth, it's hard to understand why we rejoice over the fact that R' Akiva's talmidim stopped dying on Lag Ba'omer. The Pri Chadash points out that on this day, there was no one left! All 24,000 talmidim had been wiped out, and the world was in a state of utter churban, as the Gemara says:והיה העולם שמם . That's a reason to rejoice? Are we b'simchah on Lag Ba'omer to commemorate the total destruction of all of R' Akiva's talmidim? Regarding the story that the Magen Avraham mentions, we can ask another question. What was so terrible about saying Nacheim on Lag Ba'omer that caused the Arizal's talmid to be punished? We know that we are obligated to remember the churban at all times, even during times of simchah. Even at a wedding, at the height of a personal simchah, we are required to remember the churban of Yerushalayim:אִם אֶשְׁכָּחֵךְ יְרוּשָׁלִָם תִּשְׁכַּח יְמִינִי. Why, then, is the simchah of Lag Ba'omer different, to the extent that a person who said Nacheim on that day was punished severely? Plowing vs. Destruction The churban Beis Hamikdash is described by the navi as "plowing" - צִיּוֹן שָׂדֶה תֵחָרֵשׁ- and this description really applies to any churban. In what way was the churban similar to an act of plowing? When viewed as an isolated act, plowing seems like an act of destruction: you take a beautiful field and rips it to pieces. In context, however, plowing is not destructive at all. True, if you plow the field and don't follow up by planting seeds, covering them with earth, watering them, and cultivating them, then the plowing remains an act of destruction. But if you follow the act of plowing with the constructive activities that result in the growth of a useful crop, and you harvest and utilize the fruits of your labors, then the plowing turns out to be the beginning of a process of tremendous growth. This is why the navi states, regarding the fast days for the churban:צוֹם הָרְבִיעִי וְצוֹם הַחֲמִישִׁי וְצוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי וְצוֹם הָעֲשִׂירִי יִהְיֶה לְבֵית יְהוּדָה לְשָׂשׂוֹן וּלְשִׂמְחָה וּלְמֹעֲדִים טוֹבִים. Even Tisha b'Av itself, which is the day of the churban Beis Hamikdash, will eventually be a day of Yom Tov. What happened on Tisha b'Av that is cause for eventual celebration? The answer is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu does not perform acts of destruction. Churban implies that everything is over, and that's not what Hashem does. Hakadosh Baruch Hu performs acts of plowing. The end result of the plowing is up to us. If we leave the initial destruction as a churban, and we don't plant new seeds and cultivate them to ensure future growth, the act of plowing is indeed an act of destruction. But if we plant the seeds and help them grow, then the churban marks the beginning of tremendous new growth. Churban Bayis Rishon and Churban Bayis Sheini were terrible calamities, but if Klal Yisrael followed those acts of plowing by planting seeds and helping them grow, then the end result will be the building of the third Beis Hamikdash, which will be on a higher madreigah than the first and second, and will never be destroyed. That high madregiah can come about only because of the churban of the first two Batei Mikdash. In essence, then, the churban - the plowing - if used properly, will eventually turn into the beginning of new growth, the higher madreigah of the third Beis Hamikdash. And that's why it's going to be a Yom Tov. Tisha b'Av will be the Yom Tov of the geulah, because the process of that ultimate geulah really began on Tisha b'Av, when the field was plowed, so to speak, and its growth began. Similarly, every churban in and of itself is a destruction, but it can potentially become a Yom Tov if it is utilized as an act of plowing. Planting Toras Rashbi The Gemara in Yevamos says that between Pesach and Shavuos, twelve thousand pairs of R' Akiva's talmidim died, and the world was desolate due to this loss: עד שבא ר' עקיבא אצל רבותינו שבדרום ושנאה להם - until R' Akiva found five talmidim in the south and taught them, at which time the world was refilled with Torah. The Gemara seems to emphasize that the new talmidim of R' Akiva were in the south of Eretz Yisrael. Why is that relevant to the story? What's the difference if where they were located? Perhaps the Gemara is alluding to the following idea. R' Akiva and his original talmidim lived in the north. Presumably, had these talmidim remained alive, R' Akiva would have had no reason to travel to the south, and he would never have found his five new talmidim. After losing his original 24,000 talmidim, there was no one left in the north to teach, so he had to search for new talmidim until he found רבותינו שבדרום and began teaching them. He found these new talmidim in the south only because of the death of the original talmidim. Among these new talmidim was R' Shimon bar Yochai - and that means that the Torah greatness of R' Shimon bar Yochai came about only because of the death of the original talmidim of R' Akiva! R' Shimon bar Yochai himself testified, as the Gemara in Gittin teaches, that his primary greatness came from R' Akiva. The Zohar teaches that on Lag Ba'omer, right before R' Shimon bar Yochai's passing, profound secrets of the Torah were revealed to world. It turns out, then, that on the very day when R' Akiva's talmidim were completely wiped out, R' Shimon bar Yochai's Torah reached its zenith. And this revelation really began with the death of R' Akiva's students. Although their death was a tremendous churban, in retrospect it was an act of plowing - and the fact that it was an act of plowing became evident many years later on Lag Ba'omer, when the fruits of that churban were revealed, in the form of R' Shimon bar Yochai's Torah. This explains the connection between the two events we commemorate on Lag Ba'omer, and this answers the question of the Pri Chadash. No, we are not making a party on Lag Ba'omer because the last of R' Akiva's talmidim died and there was no one left. Rather, we are celebrating the idea that because of the end of the deaths of R' Akiva's talmidim, he traveled to the south, found new talmidim, and set in motion the process that caused something greater and bigger than before: R' Shimon bar Yochai's Torah! We can now understand why the recitation of Nacheim on Lag Ba'omer was so incongruous. Nacheim is a tefillah that we say in the midst of galus, when we don't yet have the perspective of viewing the churban as an act of plowing, and we see it purely as a churban. But le'asid lavo, when צוֹם הָרְבִיעִי וְצוֹם הַחֲמִישִׁי וְצוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי וְצוֹם הָעֲשִׂירִי יִהְיֶה לְבֵית יְהוּדָה לְשָׂשׂוֹן וּלְשִׂמְחָה וּלְמֹעֲדִים טוֹבִים, the churban will be revealed as an act of plowing. In galus we don't yet see it that way, but on Lag Ba'omer we got a glimpse of that perspective, because the very desolation of the death of R' Akiva's talmidim was shown to have lain the groundwork for R' Shimon bar Yochai's Torah. Therefore, Lag Ba'omer is not a day to say Nacheim, and that is why R' Shimon bar Yochai protested its recitation by the Arizal's talmid. This is the significance of the simchah of Lag Ba'omer in general. Lag Ba'omer is the day to realize that there's really no such thing as churban, and that any difficult situation we find ourselves in is, in truth, an act of plowing. Klal Yisrael now is experiencing a difficult situation that is a churban on many levels, but on the day of Lag Ba'omer we have the ability to view it as an act of plowing. May the fruits of all the tzaros and churbanos be revealed speedily, and may Hashem bring about the time when they will be לְשָׂשׂוֹן וּלְשִׂמְחָה וּלְמֹעֲדִים.