B"H

Friday, Iyar 19, 5782 (34th day of the Omer)/ May 20, 2022

Yesterday was Lag B’Omer. On this day a plague which took the lives of 24,000 of Rabbi Akiva’s students, stopped. Rabbi Akiva was one of the Ten Martyrs who were murdered by the Romans for teaching Torah. 

The Talmud tells that before Moses passed away he asked G-d to show him the leaders of the Jewish nation throughout the future generations.  G-d granted his request and when he saw Rabbi Akiva’s greatness in Torah, Moshe felt humbled in comparison to him.

Until the age of forty, Akiva was a simple shepherd and ignorant of Torah. Then, with his wife Rachel’s encouragement and support, he began studying Torah and eventually became the greatest Talmudic sage of his time.

Rabbi Akiva’s story is a reminder that it is never too late or too old to begin studying Torah. 

One of Rabbi Akiva’s famous sayings was, “Whatever G-d does, is for the good!” 

There are many stories about Rabbi Akiva throughout the Talmud and Midrash.  The following story is one of the classical stories of Rabbi Akiva with a very profound lesson to each of us. 

Once Rabbi Akiva was traveling and toward evening decided to go into town and sleep over at the local inn. But the people of the town were wicked and didn’t allow him into the inn. 

Instead of being upset, Rabbi Akiva said, “Whatever G-d does, is for the good.”  So he went out to the field and slept there.

Rabbi Akiva had with him his donkey to ride on, a rooster to wake him in the morning and a candle which he used in order to study Torah. 

During the night, a lion devoured the donkey & a cat ate the rooster.  Rabbi Akiva said, “Whatever G-d does, is for the good.”

Later during the night, bandits attacked the city and took all the people prisoner.  In the morning Rabbi Akiva and his students realized what a great miracle happened to them and how their lives were spared thanks to the fact that they were not allowed to sleep in that city. Had the donkey or the rooster made noise or if the candle had been lit, they would have been discovered and would have been killed.  Rabbi Akiva said to his students, “Always remember, whatever G-d does, is for the good!”

Rabbi Akiva always gave credit to his wife for his Torah knowledge.  He used to tell his students, “Know that all my knowledge and all of your knowledge is because of her.”

SHABBAT  SHALOM

Montreal candle lighting time: 8:06 / Shabbat ends: 9:19