28 May KEEP THE FIRE BURNING

I was once talking to a
mother in our
community who has
several significant
challenges in her family.
I asked her an innocuous
question, something like,
how are you doing or
how is your day. Her response has stayed with
me ever since. She said, “Rabbi, any day
which ends with the same head count in my
home as it began is a good day, no matter what
else is going on.”
We can sometimes be so caught up in
insignificant and even significant things going
on, we forget to be grateful for the simple fact
of ending the day with the same head count in
our home as when it began. Tragically,
October 7 and the last seven months have
taught us, that isn’t a given.
Last week we celebrated Lag B’Omer, the
33rd day of the Omer. Each day of the Omer is
characterized by another kabbalistic attribute.
Lag B’Omer is Hod sh’b’hod, the glory of
glory, reflecting our appreciation of G-d’s
greatness and glory. The Hebrew word hod can
be understood as coming from the same word
as hodu, or modeh, meaning thanks. Lag
B’Omer is a day characterized as “thankfulness
within thankfulness,” or a day to celebrate
gratitude.
The Chassam Sofer, Rav Moshe Sofer says

that the miraculous mann that fell from Heaven
began to descend on Lag B’Omer. On the first
day, the mann was undoubtedly greeted with
great enthusiasm and appreciation, but as time
went on and there was an increasing
expectation the heavenly bread would descend,
it became much easier to take it for granted
and to forget to be appreciative for it at all.
Therefore, Lag B’Omer is a time that we
identify and say thank you for all of the
blessings that regularly descend into our lives,
but unfortunately, like the manna, that we take
for granted.
It is so easy to fall into a sense of entitlement
and to forget to be grateful. Why should I
thank my children’s teachers? They’re just
doing their job. Why should I be so appreciative
to the waiter, or the custodian, or the flight
attendant? Isn’t that what they are supposed to
do? When was the last time we said thank you
to the person who cleans our dirty laundry? Do
we express gratitude regularly to our spouse
who shops, cooks dinner, or who worked all
day to pay for dinner, or in some cases did
both?
As we celebrate Lag B’Omer, let’s remember
to say thank you to the people who do
extraordinary things in our lives. But even
more importantly, let’s especially express
gratitude to the people and to Hashem for the
ordinary things that make our lives so filled
with blessing, like having the same head count

in our home at the end of the day.
There is another theme of Lag B’Omer that is
particularly relevant this year. The Pri
Chadash in his commentary on Shulchan
Aruch asks, why do we celebrate it as a happy
day? Most would answer, because on that day
the students of Rebbe Akiva stopped dying.
But who makes a party because people stopped
dying? And moreover, they only stopped dying
because there were none left. Why would we
celebrate it as a joyous and festive day?
He answers, we don’t celebrate because the
dying ended, we are marking what came next.
Rather than be defeatist or despondent, rather
than give up or give in, despite all the loss,
Rebbe Akiva didn’t walk away or close up
shop. When the funerals were over and the
shivas concluded, Rebbe Akiva identified five
new students and he began again. He remained
optimistic, positive and resolute in forging
forward with the future of the Jewish people.
He took the time to mourn and grieve and then
he began to build again. Lag B’Omer
celebrates our commitment and resolve to
continue to light up the world, to dispel the
darkness, to be true to our mission and our
purpose, even after horrific loss and tragedy.
October 7 was the most tragic day for the
Jewish people since the Holocaust. In the
months that followed we have buried too many
of our heroic soldiers who paid the ultimate
price to defend our people. But like Rebbe

Akiva, rather than cower or fold, rather than
flee or give up, the people of Israel and the
Jewish people as a whole are tenacious and
determined, fully committed to continue to
light up the world.
Like all of the holidays since Simchas Torah,
each community and individual needs to
navigate how to observe and experience Lag
B’Omer while a war rages in our homeland.
But this year, whether Lag B’Omer for you
means only omitting tachanun or means a
bonfire or a tisch, pause to be grateful for what
we too often take for granted and further
consider what you can contribute to keep the
fire of our people burning stronger than ever.