[Avodah] Who First Said It? 7 - Mourning during Sefirah

[Allan Engel]

The problem I have is in marrying up what happened to the talmidim of R'
Akiva to the different practices of mourning today (if indeed, such a
connection can be made)

When did the talmidim stop dying?

a) If the last of them died on Day 33, surely it's a bit incongruous that
the day is a mini holiday, surely it should be the bitterest day. The
Sefardi practice to wait until Day 34 to resume festivities fits in well
with this theory, but not the Ashkenazi practice of having weddings on Lag
B'omer. And if it's a question of Miktzas Hayom Ke'Kulo, how could
(according the the Sfardi poskim) this aveilus be more Chomur than Shiva for
a parent, where everyone holds MHK'K on the last day?

b) If the plague began merely to slow down on Day 33, why is the mourning
period restricted to 33 days, when people were still dying after that time?

For either of the above hypotheses, What is the relevance of applying a
different set of davka 33 consecutive days of mourning, such as starting on
RC Iyyar, if this does not correlate to the original plague? If you say that
the aveilus is incompatible with Nissan, then don't be noheig aveilus in
Nissan, but why keep on after Day 33 or 34? Why such a specific role for the
number 33?

The issue is confusing enough, without coming on to the separate issues of
the Crusades and the supposed Yohrzeit of R' Shimon b Yochai.


On Thu, Apr 15, 2010 at 4:23 PM, Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org> wrote:
>
> There are 12 minhagim about how to count 33 days, actually. (Although a
> few only differ by whether miqtzas hayom kekulo is invoked for this day
> or that one. E.g. do you refrain on /or leLag baOmer/?)
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