B"H
Thursday, Iyar 15, 5784 / May 23, 2024 (30th day of the Omer)
Sunday will be Lag B’Omer, the 33rd day of the counting of the Omer. Lag B'Omer is a very special day in the Hebrew calendar and is associated with two of the greatest Talmudic sages, Rabbi Akiva and his student Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.
More than anywhere else, Lag B'Omer is celebrated in Israel, where over 100,000 people visit the burial place of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in the village of Miron, each year. This year, however, Miron is closed for security reasons, due to the war with Hezbollah, in Northern Israel.
Rabbi Akiva’s life story teaches a remarkable lesson; that through determination and will power, a person can accomplish almost anything. It is a story with a lesson year after year.
Rabbi Akiva was an ignorant shepherd who worked for Kalba Savua, one of the wealthiest men in Israel at that time. Kalba Savua had a beautiful and talented daughter, Rachel, who recognized Akiva's spiritual qualities. They married without her father's consent. When Kalba Savua found out, he drove the couple away from his home to live in great poverty.
Rachel encouraged her husband to study Torah. Akiva, who was 40 years old, didn't even know the Hebrew Aleph Bet! Akiva was so sensitive about his ignorance that he actually disliked Torah scholars!
Rachel, however, urged him to study Torah in Jerusalem, but Akiva was hesitant. He didn't believe that at the age of forty he still had a chance.
One day, Akiva passed a large rock on which drops of water continuously fell. Upon closer examination, Akiva noticed that the water made an indentation in the rock. He thought, "If water, which is soft, can make an impression on a rock, surely the Torah can make an impression in my heart and mind!"
Akiva then decided to listen to his wife and left to Jerusalem to study in Yeshiva. Upon being accepted in the Yeshiva, he sat together with little children and learned the Aleph Bet. Akiva dedicated his entire being to studying Torah and excelled. He eventually became one of the leading Sages in Israel and had thousands of students. The story of Rabbi Akiva is an inspiration of the value of determination!
Our sages tell that one of Rabbi Shimon's former disciples left for another country, where he became very wealthy. When he returned, some of the other students wanted to give up their Torah studies and do the same. Rabbi Shimon told his students to follow him to a valley. There he asked G-d to fill the valley with gold coins. The valley filled up with gold. Rabbi Shimon said to his students, "Whoever wants can take as much gold as he would like. But be aware that whatever you take now will be deducted from your reward in the World-to-Come." Upon hearing this, the students didn't take a thing.
Next Torah Fax will be published, G-d willing, in middle of next week.
HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY & SHABBAT SHALOM
Montreal candle lighting time: 8:11 / Shabbat ends: 9:25
UNITED WE STAND WITH OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CAPTIVITY. MAY THEY ALL BE RELEASED NOW.