[Avodah] A Printing Mistake and the Mysterious Origins of Rashbi’s Yahrzeit

[Prof. Levine]

The following is taken from  http://tinyurl.com/3ddwkh4  Please see 
this URL for the entire article.

The most well known explanation to the connection between Rashbi and 
Lag Ba-Omer is that Rashbi died on that day, and he was one of the 
students of R. Akiva. Assuming for a moment that this is factually 
correct, it is quite strange that we celebrate Rashbi's death. We 
don't celebrate the yarzheit of Avraham Avinu, Moshe Rabbeinu, David 
HaMelech, or any other great people with bonfires. Rather, halakha 
states the opposite - to fast on a yahrzeit, especially on those days 
that great people died. This problem is addressed by the Sho'el 
u-Meshiv (5:39) and because of this question and others, he was very 
skeptical of the celebration that takes place at Meron. R. Aryeh 
Balhuver, in his Shem Aryeh (no. 13), points out that because of the 
celebration that takes place at Meron for Rashbi, people began to be 
lenient about fasting on the yarzheit of their parents.

Another problem is that neither Chazal nor any of the Rishonim 
mention Rashbi dying on Lag Ba-Omer; and as a general rule we do not 
make any form of a Yom Tov on a day that is not mentioned in Chazal. 
This issue was addressed by the Chatam Sofer in his teshuvot (Y.D. 
233) and because of this, he too was very skeptical of the way Lag 
Ba-Omer is celebrated.

The late Meir Benayahu z"l and, more recently, R. Yaakov Hillel, 
confirmed, based on many early manuscripts that this reading that 
does not have Rashbi dying on Lag be-Omer, is the correct reading 
from the writings of R. Chaim Vital. Recently, R. Yaakov Hillel 
printed the Sefer Shaar Ha-Tefilah from a manuscript of R. Hayyim 
Vital's actual handwriting, and in that location (p. 312), as well, 
the passage states that it was the day of Simchat Rashbi, not the day he died.

Interestingly, the Chida in his work Birkhei Yosef, printed in 1774, 
writes that Rashbi died on Lag Ba-Omer. But in a later work of his, 
Ma'aret Ayin, printed in 1805, he writes that the Prei Etz Chaim is 
full of mistakes and this statement regarding Lag Ba-Omer and 
Rashbi's death day is one of them. So the Chida's conclusion is that 
it is not a reference to Rashbi's day of death at all. This 
conclusion is accepted by later authorities, including Takfo Shel Nes 
(p. 59a), Shu"t Rav u-Po'alim (1:11), and Tziyun LeNefesh Chayah (no. 65)
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